I Googled Nuestra Barca, the name of my dad's old Dawncraft 25 and lo and behold, it popped up in the Dawncraft owners Forum!
Here it is in 2009 still looking well loved and looked after:
Here's a closer shot:
Finally a shot of the rear:
I spent many great Teenage holidays on this boat. I learned how to service outboards and sort any boaty mis-haps on her. I shouldn't really say this, but I lost my virginity on it as well! Ah, the attraction of being a teen in charge of a shiny boat...
Nostalgia indeed.
UPDATE:
I dug this photo out of us on the same boat and scanned it into the computer:
This picture was taken around 1982 at the Tameside Canal Festival. I'm the one sporting the semi-afro on the right, then next left is my late brother, then my mother and my brothers wife. The girl is my mum's boyfriend's daughter and the young chap with the dummy is my nephew.
At the time my brother and I were heavily into Citizen's Band CB, hence the sweatshirts which sported our "handles" (the names we used over the air).
Nice to here stories of the boat. I restored it about 6 or 7 years ago, then sold it 4 years ago - the photos were the day I finished painting the hull on the Macclesfield canal, where it still lives. Name is now Sweet Pea. Spent a lot of time and effort as it was a lovely boat :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for updating me on it's history. You certainly did a good job of the restoration, it looked immaculate!
ReplyDeleteMy father bought it as a bare hull from Dawncraft I think around 1980 and spent a year fitting it out in his back garden. I spent many Sundays "helping" as most teenagers do. :-) But I still learned a lot.
I certainly enjoyed the trips to the boat shows while dad hunted for parts.
I forgot to mention the unusual colour. As far as I remember my dad had the boat moulded in that colour especially to match the Green Austin Maxi he had at the time. The original name, Nuestra Barca was chosen because he had learnt Spanish and went to Spain regularly.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was an individual colour choice, but I liked that and still in it's original gel except the white part of the hull, which I had to repair and paint. Has a port hole on the bathroom side which is rare too. Glad you enjoyed your holiday on board - we didn't use it as much as we should but really enjoyed doing her up. Think it is moored at Adlington Marina near Macclesfield still. You can spot it on google earth because of the colour ;-)
ReplyDelete