Invicta was built at Les Allen’s yard in Oldbury West Midlands in 1979. It was then 40 ft long with a composite construction cabin side and roof. The sides were pine planks covered with aluminium faced plywood sheets. The top was pine planks covered with fibreglass.
Apparently the intended owner who ordered it never returned and it was taken over by Jim Horton and completed by him and his brother John who worked at the boatyard and a painter and boat fitter.
Jim once told us that they turned the Kelvin engine with an electric motor for a day and half before they got it started for the first time!!!
Invicta got it's name due to someone "acquiring" the brass plate from an Aveling and Porter steam roller. It is reputed the the owner was best pleased when he found the plaque had gone missing. If you think you have seen the plaque before it is the same as the ones on the front of the late great Fred Dibnah's steam engines.The plaque is a collector's item now.
Jim sold Invicta to my brother John in 1984 and he brought it back to Mirfield in Yorkshire. I helped him part of the way. My brother used it for a while and did engineering improvements but it then stood largely unused for several years before we bought Invicta of him in July 1990 with our friends John and Marion Woods.
We took it back down to the midlands and moored at Long Buckby. Firstly in Weltonfield marina, then at the canal side by the New Inn pub.
We used Invicta extensively over the next 10 years having many holidays and weekends on it. Sharing worked well and we got to see a lot more of the canals than we would have done if we alone had owned it.
In 1999 we decided it was too small for our growing families. John and Marion’s daughter Robyn being confined to wheelchair made life very difficult for them on such a small boat.
We brought the boat back up to Dewsbury where it would made into a 60 ft boat. This is known as stretching.
As usual the anticipated costs escalated by double (at least) and the anticipated time to complete of 1 year went on to nearly 3 years!!!!!!.
Here are the photos form the refit works to give you an idea of what we went through. Apologies for the poor quality but they were grabbed from a video recorder
23rd October 2000. The last view at 40 ft
28th October 2000. The interior has been stripped out.
4th November 2000. No going back now. It's in 2 pieces!!!
15th November 2000. We kept the roof frame in situ to set out the new steel top so it looked exactly the same profile.
23rd November 2000. The new hull sections of steel are put in place
28th Novemeber 2000. The new steel top starts to take shape
18th Decemeber 2000. The new sides are nearly complete.
21st December 2000 The new roof starts to take shape.
12th Januray 2001. The new steelwork is clearly visible.
Thanks to Gordon Lambert of Calder Valley Cruisers Dewsbury for all your hard work with the steel
1st February 2001. The 5-1/2 tons of steel ballast has been hauled into the boat, scraped, painted and sorted out to fit the floor frame. What a job that was in the freezing cold weather!!!!!!
17th February 2001. The new steelwork has been painted with primer.
28th February 2001. The insulation is started to be installed.
1st April 2001. The insulation is completed.
1st April 2001. As above.
4th May 2001. The electrical wiring being installed.
9th June 2001. The galley and bathroom area floor tiles have been installed
16th July. Wiring and other interior work underway.
1st September 2001. First coat of top paint is applied.
28th April. Normal state of disarray inside as fit out continues in such a small confined space.
8th December 2002. Signwriting completed.
13th December 2002. Final clearout before soft furnishings are installed
18th Janury 2003. Interior is comnpleted.
7th march 2003. Invicta on the truck for it's journey south. We had made it longer than the local canal locks so we could not sail it away!!!!
7th march 2003. Leaving Dewbury boatyard at last!!!!
7th March 2003. Heading down the M1. This is the fastest speed that Invicta will ever travel at!!!!
7th March 2003. What a surprise, there are roadworks on the M1!!
7th March. Our truck driver Eric (also a loacl boat owner) was magnificent in getting the truck through the tight entrance to Calcutt Marina. Rear wheel steering helped.
7th March 2003. The homemade boat hoist at Calcutt worked well. The weather was terrible througout the procedure
7th March 2003. It floats!!!!! I have to confess of being thoroughly p*%$£"ed off with the thing at this stage. After sailing it to Long Buckby the next day I told John I didn't want to see the boat for at leasat 2 months.
If anyone asks me if I would do anotherI would have no hesitation in telling them to P*&! off
Following the refit we and the Woods family used the boat for a couple years but we eventually agreed that we would buy the wood’s out and they ordered a specially adapted new boat for themselves.
Hence we became the sole owners of Invicta
Once leaving Fazeley junction the Coventry canal is actually the Birmingham and Fazeley canal as far as Huddlesford when they had to pay for the construction when the Coventry canal went bust. Here the former and now redundant Wyrely and Essington Canal left to join the Staffs and Worcester canal at Calf Heath. Plans are in hand to restore the canal with the Actor David Suchet (Poroit)being a prominent member. The new Birmingham toll road had an aqueduct built over it in readiness for the canal to pass over in future years.
From Huddlesford the canal again becomes the Coventry canal as by that time they found some more money to complete the intended line to Fradley Junction. Here the canal joins the Trent and Mersey Canal.
At Streethay Wharf they specialise in stretching boats. We got a quote before we started but did not use them.
The unusual paint scheme on this boat is actually the mud from the River Avon. We first saw this boat in Stratford on Avon when it had gone over a wier in the floods and became stuck with the back end on the bank and the front under water. It appears to have been towed all the way to Lichfield after recovery.
If you look just in front of the chimney you can just make out the A38 which is actually the roman road Rykneld Street. It was here in 1939 that Tom Rolt in his book Narrowboat commented on the fact that “the drivers adjacent on Rykneld Street stove at all cost to maintain their 50 mph” It’s more like 90 now!!!!
Approaching the junction at Fradley with the Swan Inn.
Looking east towards Burton on Trent down the Trent and Mersey
Leaving Fradley at Shadehouse Lock with it’s very small bridge
Bogs for the Blog. 100's of them at the ideal Standard works at Armitage
Armitage “tunnel” now opened out except for a wide modern road bridge
Spode Hall used to be the headquarters of the Spode pottery. It was derelict for a long time and is now a conference/business centre and part of a golf course
