The Garden Transformation!

In order for our plans to cruise the canals on our narrowboat Muleless to be possible, we have to sell our house.

Having been on the market for 8 months without a buyer, we decided that we had to change our garden to make it simpler for buyers to imagine it as their own.

When we bought our house in 1999, it was on a new development and we had the chance to use a big digger to help us achieve our dream garden including a big pond - and I mean a BIG pond (almost 4m square!). We did tell the estate agents that we would fill in the pond for prospective buyers if they did not want it, but as by August there was no sign of a buyer, we knew the time had come to remove our lovely fish and fill in the pond to help things along.

We had about 40 Koi, Ghost Carp and Orfe which we needed to find a new home for! Luckily we came across someone who "rescued" fish and was happy to take ours away to a new home.

All packed up and ready to go!

Bye guys!

Then the really big job began. After a few weekends of hard work and 13.5 tons of filling later we turned our garden from this -

 To this!

And as luck would have it, just as we were filling in the pond, a buyer came for a second viewing! And a week later (after a bit of haggling) a deal was struck - and the house is now Sold (subject to contract)!

We are at the end of the buying chain, and all involved wish to move before Christmas, so if all goes well (fingers crossed everyone!) we should be able to move into rented accommodation just before Christmas and the next stage of the grand plan can start!

We are hoping to pay a visit to Nick Thorpe this week to see how Muleless is progressing - so more pictures of the boat build next time.

No longer a flat pack boat!!!

On Friday 19 October we made the long trek back up to Nick Thorpes Steel Works to see how Muleless was progressing.

What a shock we got! A whole boat (well nearly!)

Martin from MGM Boats was busily marking out where the windows and portholes would be, and the length of each "room" in the boat. (Click on image below to enlarge to see chalk marks).

We spent the next couple of hours enthralled at the workmanship and discussing various bits with Nick and Martin.

 Nice detail!

Nick explained that it had taken a whole day to ensure that the cabin was square before they could start the weld. He had used all the props and chains he had in the workshop!!!

 One of the lads hard at work welding.

This is where our water tank will be - in the bow (it is much bigger than it looks).

Nick Thorpe (on the right) who is the man responsible for the beautiful craftsmanship on our work of art!

The beginning of the adventure

This blog is for our family and friends to follow our adventures on NB Muleless. We start the blog as Muleless is built for us by MGM Boats using steelwork by Nick Thorpe Boat Building.

On 1 October 2012 the baseplate was laid!!! On 5 October we visited Muleless for the first time!

NB Muleless will be a 60ft semi trad using a Hybrid diesel engine.