Historic Narrow Boat Hardy - 1940

02/11/2024

Leaks were found and mostly stopped so a very satisfactory work session. Huge thank you to the Hardy restoration team: Craig, Brian and Richard led by Jacob Beak

02/11/2024

I think I might be posting this twice...

02/11/2024

The team hunting down a possibly leak: we're really looking forward to buying those power tools and being able to start replacing planks! And we might need a few more brooms as well..

So, , please take a look at our prize draw fundraiser, enter to win a forge experience and share the Hardy love (and possibly the mud)

29/10/2024

Like to win a two hour forge experience with Ems, the talented blacksmith at Tooleys Boatyard Forge? And help Hardy at the same time?

We have the perfect opportunity for you! The Hardy Christmas Draw. As well as the forge experience, there are other lovely prizes: an exclusive trip on the Dancing Duck with delicious refreshments for you and your party, tickets to the family Christmas show at the Mill, the Gruffalo or a posh tea at the museum cafe. All for a mere £3.

We now have a good collection of wood donations: planks to replace damaged ones in the hull, softer wood for lining the hull and timber to rebuild the bow. We are using traditional tools (well, except for Ian Staples famous alternative caulking hammer!), some of which date back a century to the days of Old George Tooley but a few with a bit of modern oomph wouldn't go amiss!

So the prize draw is aiming to raise £600 to buy a powerful saw and a planer plus some smaller tools and items like protective wear. And if we can stretch it a bit further we will add a power drill to help with both removing screws and then adding new ones.

You can buy one entry or 20, every one will give you a chance at a prize and every one will help us to continues working on Hardy, preserving not just the boat but the skills to work on wooden boats.

So, get your entry in for a chance at a prize and please share this with your friends and neighbours if you can.

We’re restoring an historic wooden canal boat: we have wood but need tools for our volunteer team to return Hardy to her former glory

24/10/2024

Rounding off our videos of h**p rolling and caulking at canal weekend - Nathan and Jacob weighing with the (yes we know it's not a caulking...) hammer and caulking iron!

And heads up - we'll be launching a fundraising prize draw at the weekend with some very nice prizes aiming to raise funds towards increasing our stock of both traditional and modern tools.

12/10/2024

Here's a bit more of last weekend's canal festival and the demonstrations of caulking: Jacob learning how to tease out and roll h**p ready to pleat and then hammer it into the gaps between the planks of Hardy's hull. With some sage advice on had from Ian Staples!

08/10/2024

A busy festival weekend in Banbury with all sorts going on including boat trips, a floating market, live music and more (not that yours truly got out of the dock to see any of it, but it was all there). Our wooden boat expert, Ian Staples was demonstrating caulking on Hardy. Here's how it's done...

30/09/2024

Coming up! Banbury Canal Festival this weekend (Oct 5th/6th). We'll be working on Hardy with demonstrations of caulking between 12 noon and 3.30 each day.

Come and watch or have a go - you probably won't be filling a hole quite as big as Jamie worked on in the early days but you can still help Hardy's restoration journey!

07/09/2024

Today's work on Hardy:

A messy session lead by Ian Staples: heated up the Charlie that we made a few weeks ago. Mixed it with Oakham and filled a troublesome hole up from the inside and outside of the boat. Found a galvanised steel plate on Hardy, drilled holes around the perimeter and coated the back of the plate with Charlie, put a strip of Oakham on and nailed around the steel plate so it was central over the hole.
Each section of the boat between the pairs of knees is called a room. We worked on one room, stripped off the shearing to one side of that room and prepared the inside for further work.
All in all a very satisfying day.

27/07/2024

Coming up this afternoon... preparation for learning about Charlie making...

05/07/2024

WIN A BOAT TRIP! For four people.

Please like and share this post, and we will enter you in to a draw at the enter of the month. 🦆

We still have spaces available on our boat trips for this Saturday. You can pop in to the boatyard to book your tickets or book online https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/.../banbury/tooleys-boatyard

Castle Quay, Banbury Banbury BID Banburyshire Info

22/06/2024

A combination of drier weather and last week's jaunt has caused Hardy to spring a few small leaks. Here's Craig, one of the team, at work with some h**p and a caulking tool...

12/06/2024

Have you got your Father's Day present yet? A forge experience voucher makes a great gift!
Order your voucher here https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/tooleys-forge/t-nogajko Tooleys Boatyard ForgeTooley's Boatyard Trust

09/06/2024

We're mostly moving wood about at the moment so, for something a little different here is John Carey, Tooley's volunteer archivist and curator who has been researching Hardy's history as well as Tooley's, with a short summary of Hardy' history.

19/05/2024

Now we've got the new planks, we need your help - we've set up a Ko-fi fundraising page to top up the donations we have already received, to start making a real difference to Hardy.

We're hoping you would all like to buy Hardy a coffee - £3 - except she'll get it as 10cm of lovely green oak! We'll even add your name to a plank... it will eventually disappear under a coat of bitumen but we're planning other ways to say thank you to everyone who helps Hardy towards a new future.

Here's the link. Feel free to share it. https://ko-fi.com/historicnarrowboathardy

And if you would like to support Hardy as a volunteer, sponsor or to make a larger donation (as a charity we can claim GiftAid) please get in touch via messenger, email [email protected], phone 01295 272917 or pop into Tooley's 10-1 Tues - Sat.

Support Historic Narrow Boat Hardy On Ko-fi. Ko-fi lets you support the people and causes you love with small donations

18/05/2024

Now we have planks, a day of planning... Ian Staples, our resident wooden boat expert came to have a proper look at the new planks and advise on storage until we start using them.

08/05/2024

The planks have arrived! And after a lot of hard work and team work! Are safely stored in the yard. A HUGE thank you to everyone who came along and helped us with moving them 👏

30/04/2024

Another update!!
Now arriving tomorrow (Wed 8th) at about 8am. We hope...

Update On the planks!

They are now coming sometime probably after 3:30pm today but not sure. If anyone is around and feeling strong a help would be very appreciated.

UPDATE
The delivery location has been changed - the timber merchant has offered a bus station sized lorry to bring the planks, so they will arrive at Tooley's sometime tomorrow.

I think I've been in touch with everyone who has offered to help, if you did and haven't heard from me please comment or message.

And we're still looking for someone to take photos and some video because yours truly (Kate) has got herself stuck on the Thames on red boards! Any offers gratefully received.



Very exciting news: next Tuesday we have a consignment of planks arriving for Hardy's hull. They will arrive on a very big lorry to Broadmoor lock from whence we will transport them down to Tooley's by boat.

However, we need a team to unload them! The nature of these things means we don't yet know the exact hour but hope to be able to get a clearer picture by the end of Monday or early Tuesday.

It isn't huge load - just ten planks but they are quite big - and will take less than an hour. Including tea and biscuit breaks!

If you live nearby, free on Tuesday and would like a bit of sociable physical exercise please get in touch - via messenger, comment, email [email protected] or phone Tooleys 01295 272917

If plank heaving isn't your thing we'd also love to have photos and video of this momentous occasion. No need for any great expertise, just enthusiasm and a phone!

Thank you
Team Hardy

24/04/2024

UPDATE
The delivery location has been changed - the timber merchant has offered a bus station sized lorry to bring the planks, so they will arrive at Tooley's sometime tomorrow.

I think I've been in touch with everyone who has offered to help, if you did and haven't heard from me please comment or message.

And we're still looking for someone to take photos and some video because yours truly (Kate) has got herself stuck on the Thames on red boards! Any offers gratefully received.



Very exciting news: next Tuesday we have a consignment of planks arriving for Hardy's hull. They will arrive on a very big lorry to Broadmoor lock from whence we will transport them down to Tooley's by boat.

However, we need a team to unload them! The nature of these things means we don't yet know the exact hour but hope to be able to get a clearer picture by the end of Monday or early Tuesday.

It isn't huge load - just ten planks but they are quite big - and will take less than an hour. Including tea and biscuit breaks!

If you live nearby, free on Tuesday and would like a bit of sociable physical exercise please get in touch - via messenger, comment, email [email protected] or phone Tooleys 01295 272917

If plank heaving isn't your thing we'd also love to have photos and video of this momentous occasion. No need for any great expertise, just enthusiasm and a phone!

Thank you
Team Hardy

23/04/2024

It's a fine sunny morning in Tooley's Boatyard. A boat is in the dock for blacking, another is having some interior work done.
The workshops are murmuring with the noise of industrious activity.
In the classroom, a helmsman course is being taught, and the chandlery is open for business.
Tooley's is pottering along on a fine spring day, just as it has for hundreds of years.

17/04/2024

Beau, Melanie and Meriel from Port Townsend (well known for it's wooden boat training) in the NW of the USA are enjoying their first experience of narrow boats and came into Tooley's to browse our display. So we took them off to meet Hardy...

06/04/2024

Jacob summing up the day's work...

Shearing is the lining of the hull inside and a 'room' is a section of that lining - the area between each set of knees (the angled bits that hold the sides to the base) is one room.

06/04/2024

Here's some pictures of the tarpaulin and pallets the wonderful people at MG Scaffolding near Deddington have donated. There was a certain amount of mulling over the possibilities before getting stuck into dismantling pallets and applying the tarp to Hardy.

Very Important Note: the cover is simply to make working in the hull of Hardy easier and to keep a little more of the rain out, it's temporary, we promise that one day Hardy will have proper sheets and neat ropework!

30/03/2024

Meet one of our hardworking Hardy helpers, Nathan...

25/03/2024

Saturday's task was to use the wood we sourced a couple of weeks ago to build a sturdy workbench. There was a lot of sawing...