WATERDOG c. 1876
89' x 15'11" (27m x 4.85m) Humber Trading Barge
The black and white photo above is from Waterdog's trading days on the Humber, Trent and Aire & Calder. She is pictured near Pollington Lock in the 1950s or 1960s.
Lorna saved Waterdog from the scrap yard in 1996 and her & Lawrence worked together, in Goole from 1997 till 2008, to make her ready for crossing the North Sea and cruising Europe. We had full time jobs in the offshore industry which slowed our progress on Waterdog. We set sail from the Humber to Dunkerque in July 2008 to carry on the adventure in France. We cruised the waterways of Northern France and Belgium for 9 years until things became more difficult in the oil & Gas industry, this made cruising more difficult due to working trips becoming less regular and more unpredictable in length.
In September 2016 we crossed the North Sea in Waterdog for a second time from Nieuwpoort, Belgium to Woodbridge in Suffolk. We now moor bow on to the Deben river front with only a 5 minute walk to the town centre. In 2017 we voyaged along the coast to Essex for a month in dry dock and then back via Harwich.
With the new galley in place we set about finishing the main saloon area with wall panels, ceiling, trim and painting, WOW, it looks great. Before finishing the ‘craft end of the lounge’ we got the spare room turned into bedroom 2 and fitted a fold up bed. This had been Lawrence's extra workshop so with less space, some tools had to be sold off. The new wheelhouse roof was followed by solar panels, LiFePo4 batteries and the systems to control al that. We now use very little shore power, especially from spring till autumn.
Through Covid we built a new galley, which is great, and took out the old one. We’ve lowered the main saloon floor by 3 inches and floored it in solid oak. The new wheelhouse roof was fitted with solar panels, and then LiFePo4 batteries completed our new electrical setup.
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