Originally, the idea was to look for, buy and move onto a Dutch Barge.  After having looked at some barges and spoken to their owners it seemed that the ideal course of action was actually to get a barge built to order.  Neither of us wants to live on a floating museum, so the idea of buying an original Dutch Barge and renovating it to its former glory has never appealed.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  I, more than Selena, am very keen on the idea of building a modern boat that uses the most appropriate technology to create a new kind of living space.  Plus, converting an existing boat that was designed for carrying freight means that there are unwanted bulkheads and anchor wells in all the wrong places.  With a new build there is less necessity for compromise.

Whilst it is all very well for me to extoll the virtues of modern boats and materials there remains a single, seemingly insurmountable problem – where will we keep the bloody thing?  We live in east London, and want to continue living there.  We had already chosen Springfield Marina as the destination of choice, and we knew full well that there was no chance of turning up there with a 70ft boat and asking for a place to stay.  So, we thought, why not buy a smaller boat, one that we can get lots of use out of and which can familiarise us with boats and their ways (and they do have their own ways!).

The best way to get a boat is to buy one that is already on a mooring so we started looking for a barge (a narrowboat, that is), 30-40ft long, for sale in the marina.  We also looked elsewhere since it was much more likely that we would find something we wanted that didn’t come with a mooring – we could worry about that when the time came.  The best place to look for boats is on the internet, with Apollo Duck and Boats and Outboards being the best sites.  Personally, and in contrast to my opening statements about new boats, I wanted to get something classic.  Something, that is, with a bit of character and not some plastic monstrosity.  I was also looking for other boats besides narrowboats.

In December of 2005 I saw this advert on Apollo Duck: “27ft/8ft converted WW2 Dutch Patrol Boat (1941). Steel Hull. Double Bedroom, incredible use of space with decent storage. Fully equipped bathroom with shower/sink/toilet. Spacious wheelhouse/kitchen. Beautiful carpentry. No other boat like this on the Thames. Reluctant sale after very happy time living aboard due to pregnancy.”

Hmmm….. I thought, that sounds more like it.  I went to see the boat in Kingston.  ‘Ordu’ was moored behind Marks & Spencer for the day, and I loved her as soon as I saw her.  I now committed the cardinal sin of buying boats – I wanted to get it without having a survey done.  And this in spite of the fact that I knew that the gearbox needed replacing and that the boat didn’t have a safety certificate (or, therefore, insurance)! Well, I just felt that it was right and that it was an adventure and that the best thing to do was to go with it and have some fun.

Anyway, Selena came to visit the next weekend and she fell in love with her too.  We brought a chequebook with us so that we could put a deposit on her immediately, which we did.  Rather than being moored in central Kingston, this time she was moored at the bottom of the garden of an abandoned house in Thames Ditton along with a motley collection of narrowboats.  This was not a good sign, but we went with it anyway.  The deposit was given on condition that the current owner replaced the gearbox for us.  We tentatively arranged to pick the boat up on Boxing Day.

When we got home we looked up ‘Ordu’ on Google.  We found this advert from the previous owner: “1927 Dutch steel cruiser,`ORDU’, really lovley little craft, 15,000 pound overhaul 2 years ago, change of situation means quick sale required, this little boat is a huge bargain. Shower room, fridge, electric central heating, solid fuel stove, etc.”

She now appeared to have been built in 1927 (the correct date, as we subsequently discovered).  We also found that we were paying somewhat more than the current owner had paid, but since we were happy with that price we couldn’t complain.  We had, after all, found ourselves a boat!

Background, Ordu