I had a call at the weekend from someone that I know who has come into possession of what is believed to be an ex 1908 steam pinnace from a battleship, she is 54' and around 14' wide.

We don't know any of the details, ie who she was assigned to or even if she was for definite what everyone believes that she is.

She is free to a good home as the previous owner was looking at dragging her out and burning her, however she is in too good a condition for that.  don't get me wrong she does need a lot of work, she will need a new superstructure and deck, plus repairs to the hull, however she is afloat and from what I could see her bilge was dry apart from rainwater.

She was used as a livaboard for the previous owner for since the 80's.

The tarps on the rear cover an open area, no deck, nothing.  From what I could see she seemed solid, had some rotten stringers, but they were straight so wouldn't need a huge amount of work.

 

She is currently near the Tarleton Sea Lock, apparently she was slipped a couple of years ago and the hull appeared sound.  she has an engine, from what we can tell its never been run, so don't know its condition, but it doesn't appear in too bad a condition, however we don't know if there is a prop etc.

She is a teak double diagonal construction and as I say, seems quite sound, I only spent about 30 mins aboard and couldn't see anything massively wrong.

Its probably not worth restoring her back to her original configuration, however as a starting point for something new she would probably make a great boat, due to her ketch style hull she has a great space, can easily have galley, heads, living and bedroom on her, with a nice sun deck on the rear.

As I say, she needs a great deal of work, but can be towed to Preston Marina and lifted there if you wanted to transport her to somewhere to be worked on.

Any questions then PM me and if you are serious about taking her on I'll put you in touch with the guy who is looking after her at the moment.

Hopefully someone will, I must admit I was tempted to take the pinnace on, especially when the owner was saying that he was looking at slipping her, chopping her up and burning her.

Don't get me wrong, she needs a lot of work, but its easily doable for someone, plus she is a size that can be easily transported by road to somewhere that suited someone.

I think restoring her back to how she was would be almost impossible and probably would limit the use of her, but the previous owner had it laid out with galley, living room and bedroom and it makes a great space for someone.

As you say, hopefully someone will take her on.  Always happy to help others with these historic vessels, otherwise, once they are gone, they are gone.

Take care

Paul