Name Envoy

ENVOY was built in 1973 by Malcolm Braine of Norton Canes, Staffordshire. She is a purpose-built leisure narrowboat, to be used as a houseboat in the canal system. She has a welded steel hull and a long prow, typical of the period of her build. She has all solid wood and painted top rails, as well as the original solid hardwood panelled painted doors in roses and castles style. She has the original tongue and groove pine interior throughout her five rooms, from saloon to engine room. Originally, she was fitted with a one-cylinder engine, which at some point was replaced with a four-cylinder Lister engine.

Her current owner purchased her in 2003, before which she had travelled throughout the country. Picked up near Telford, on the Shropshire Union Canal, ENVOY is currently based on the Grand Union Canal. She has a traditional stern and painted hatches in roses and castle style at engine room’s rear and side doors, along with the original engine’s start mechanism, and she is kept in traditional paintwork. She is also fitted with her original 1970s Calor Courier gas stove.