Time On the Water

A 16 foot old Coal Boat, it would have been used to row out to larger coal barges to bring some to shore to sell on, a hard way to make a living.

The bow and the cuddy were added (not by me) I just did some repairs, removed all the old paint, and repainted.

Altered the transom and put a metal plate on it to reinforce it to tale a long shaft outboard, worked well, and could do about 6 Knots, not fast but good enough to mess around. Used for some fishing and here on the way back to East Beach after watching Southend Air Show from the ray Channel.   

Dauntless made by the Dauntless Co. Canvey Bridge, South Benfleet the Dauntless Yard is still there today. Most of the Boats were built from surplus war timber this was a 20ft Motor Cruiser. this one like many had the cabin made short and a cuddy added to make an open wheelhouse and better space for sea fishing.

When bought had a lot of help from my Dad and we spent many weeks and repaired everything replaced rotten wood, rebuilt the engine, and rewired. Kit it was added too, VHF, Fishfinder, Life Jackets, and of course a way to make a hot drink.

36 Feet long having got my license it was time to grow and take out fishing party’s, did this project with a friend this time, did sort of work out but not as well, it ended up a bit like a beach hut but was sound! 

we did get on well and run trips for four years from Southend. The boat was 10 feet wide and had a good size cabin and wheelhouse. Had VHF, Fishfinder, Tons of Safty Kit.

The engine was very large for the boat and had so much power the boat would be at full speed as 1/4 throttle. Southend to the fishing off the coast was about an hour out.

Was also in the maplin marine angling club for a few years, got fed up getting lots of trophies not becase i was good but for turing up when not many did.

After selling the charter Boat ended up missing having a boat, so another Dauntless cam up very cheap sound’ish hull but the rest was in very poor shape. This one was the 21 Ft De Lux Motor Cruiser so every so slightly larger.

The rebuild was massive, broken down to just a hull that was then repaired with no floor or bow. Having had one before gave me the experence to redesign it layout with less cabin and more fishing space.

Made the cabin sides from Canadian Redwood Ply, used the original curved mahogany roof beams with a marine ply roof and bow. Everything was done from scratch, engine, and wiring. Ended up with a great little boat.