The Eileen Dover

When we realised that we would be able to afford a boat of our own, we spent some time trying to decide whether to go for a second hand one, or to commission a new build. We visited the Crick Show in May 2018, looked at a number of the boats on display there, and picked up details from several builders. We also discussed the idea with a few people with experience of buying boats, and we were advised fairly consistently to look at the second hand market. One strong point made was that we would inevitably lose a significant percentage of the value as soon as we sailed it away - as with a new car. Perhaps a stronger factor was the realisation that we really did not know enough about all the myriad options available, and the pros and cons of each. We would be better to find a boat where someone else had made those key decisions, based on more experience than we had.

We began to look at the market, especially boats reasonably local to us in the North West. One thing that we immediately noticed was that every boat which seemed promising was already sold or under offer, even before we saw the advert. One boat bucked this trend though, a distinctive craft called the Silver Kroner, berthed at Tattenhall, not too far away. In June we went to look at her, and we were immediately struck by several features, most notably the stern, which was enclosed by stainless steel fencework perfect to keep the dogs on board, and a remarkable sliding glass roof on the saloon. We looked at a few other boats, but we couldn't get the Silver Kroner out of our minds, and to cut a long story short we had her surveyed, made an offer and became the proud owners of our first boat.

During the purchase process we found out a bit more about the history of the boat. She was built by the Narrowboat Navigation Company in Nantwich in 2009, to a bespoke design specified by the purchaser, Steve Dugdale. At that time he owned a company in Sheffield which imported windows from Sweden (hence the name Silver Kroner); he was clearly fairly wealthy, and had some clear ideas of what he wanted in a narrowboat. One - related to his business - was the idea of a retractable glass roof over the whole saloon, and building this was clearly a challenge, leading to the distinctive stepped-roof outline of the boat. But he had other clear ideas, and the boat was specifically designed for one couple. So for example there is a single cabin right forward, with a full size bed occupying the whole width. There is virtually no foredeck, because with just the two of you on board, and one at the helm, the other is not going to be sitting in the bows. By contrast the stern is a focus, with bespoke stainless steel railings all round, a sound system to pipe music or radio, and a table which can be set up in the centre. The saloon is very roomy, which is helped by the fact that there is no dinette convertible to a second bed - this is unashamedly for one couple (and their dogs). The bath/shower room is full width, again no problem for a single couple - and the shower cubicle even features glass panels monogrammed with the boat's initials.

I guess it was this distinctive nature which had kept the boat on the market for so long. Fortunately for us, though, it matched our needs perfectly - one couple plus several dogs. We love the stern - quite rare to find one that is fully enclosed to keep the dogs on board, but still allowing them to see out. Inside the added height makes it feel very roomy, helped by the glass roof, and the full width shower room and bedroom right forrard are ideal.

We planned to berth her at Preston Brook Marina, only a couple of miles from our house, but we had a specific problem in getting her home. The Shropshire Canal link to the Trent and Mersey had breached near Middlewich in March, and repairs were not expected to be complete until the end of 2018. This meant that a comfortable 35 mile cruise back from Tattenhall to Preston Brook becomes a 125 miles epic, down the Shroppie to Wolverhampton and then back up the Staffs and Worcs and the Trent and Mersey. We decided to take advantage of the fact that we were close to Nantwich, where she was originally built, and get her blacked and various bits of work done there, before starting on the Home Run in August.

So in late June we took possession, fuelled up and sailed from Tattenhall up to Nantwich. We left her at the Narrowboat Navigation Company, where they took her out of the water, and did the blacking and other maintenance chores. One specific thing we did was to replace a porthole in the saloon with a large window - although the glass roof meant that it was already very light, we did feel that we would like to have more of an outside view. We also had her repainted, and renamed as the Eileen Dover, in memory of my mother - the artwork was done by Andy Russell, who had also done the original painting in 2009. The builders and Andy both did a great job, and we were very happy to take possession at the start of August and set off on our shakedown cruise.