64. Eh?? He Wants To Put Me In The Water???

[@Culturedropout]

Congratulations! It's been a long road, but it looks like a great boat! You should be very proud.

[@narrowboatmlc]

Hi Culturedropout. Thank you. I have to say, the boat looks so much better in the water (where it is meant to be 😊). Need to get some paint on her thought 🙃

[@johnneal7832]

Well you didnt sink,allways a good day mate😂😂

[@narrowboatmlc]

This is very true John 😀

[@johnneal7832]

@@narrowboatmlc i found it strange feeling the boat move around at first after being on hardstanding🤣🤣

[@narrowboatmlc]

@johnneal7832 I agree. Although aside from that, even though my boat is quite ‘bow light’ at the moment, it’s still much less at an angle [bow to stern] than I was on the hardstanding- which I am really appreciating 🙂

[@arrowflyer5544]

Congratulations…. Not so much for the launch, but for handling the huge amount of stress you must have been under. Great to see you on the water and reaching such a big milestone for you. It may not have gone exactly to your plan, but you’re there and a success and the result of at least 18 months of work and planning. Bask in the success. Take a breather and then think about what’s next…..

[@narrowboatmlc]

Hi Arrow flyer. Thank you for the nice compliment 😊 Yes, it IS a great milestone and I DO look forward to taking a breather - but, alas, that will have to wait a few more weeks… as you will see in next week’s video.

[@jongriffin-u8v]

All your hard work's paying off, looks good in water :-)

[@narrowboatmlc]

Thank you very much John - yes, it is finally feeling like I’m getting somewhere and I agree - boats look a lot better in the water rather than on dry land 🙂

[@ProjectNarrowboat]

Congratulations on making it into the water - a reward at last for all your hard work. Terrible of that boat yard though - very bad practice to rush someone at such a critical stage - what if you hadn't been "sea worthy" yet?

[@narrowboatmlc]

Thank you. But yes, you are absolute right. I guess if I wasn’t seaworthy I’d have to have refused. Mind you, in that case, I’d probably be still on the hardstanding by now 😀

[@forresteralex]

Thanks for the video love the name iv been building up the courage to taking my lister sr2 out my boat and fitting a electric motor you have given me the courage keep up the great vids mate happy floating

[@narrowboatmlc]

Thanks for the nice compliment Alex ☺️ hope you are able to do the conversion- I can imagine it’s quite daunting- both the task itself and the cost 🙃

[@peterodonnell5820]

I just saw this video today (late February 2024) but when I saw the title I wondered if I could guess where you were - and I was right! It's that unique Debdale Wharf experience of constantly shifting plans where the paying customer is expected to just fit in with the manager's whims. How do I know? because the boat on high blocks outside Andicraft that your boat passed at 7:13 is mine, in fact I watched them trying to get your boat past the cruiser from my window. After Andy of Andicraft had done a great job fitting an external skin tank on my boat I decided to get it blacked by the Debdale crew, the man who did the work was great but he didn't want to give me a timetable of the job as, "The boss will probably come in and change it all" - which is what happened. The man turned up unannounced and did the sides, then while I was repairing some old paint knocks the crane suddenly appeared and they hoisted me up high so the bottom could be blacked. Not sure I'll go back there....

[@narrowboatmlc]

Hello Peter! Please don’t think I’m lacking in empathy when I say I read of your Debdale experience and was totally unsurprised. Like you touched on, we often used to say about the place, lovely location, nice staff, shame about the…. TBH there were many times during the videos I was tempted to be a lot more scathing, but I thought being on public record I had better remain cautious. My experience with my bent rudder still rankles. Like you, I’m not sure I would go back. Trust you at least got it sorted to your satisfaction in the end. Cheers, Stephen

[@ajw1467]

I feel for you have heard of several self builders that debdale marina moving people on after a year of so which i find as discustting . im going to be doing the same very soon when house sells and hope to be using redhill marina as they seem a great team for self builders . Boats looking great thanks for all the vlogs safe life on the cut

[@narrowboatmlc]

Hi AJW! Yes, there is a bit if a theme. Redhill was the other marina on my shortlist - I went with Debdale as it was marginally nearer London, but like your say, RH seemed like a good place for self-build. Good luck with your own build!

[@hazzalandy]

Congrats on the launch, was a bit bloomin cosy getting it out wasn't it!

[@narrowboatmlc]

It was indeed! But not as cozy as getting out there next day the 70 footer that was behind me - it took them about 5 hours to manoeuvre that out and Paul’s boat on the other side got quite a thumping 🙃