Wide Beam Canal Barge, MONTY

Broker’s Comments

We are privileged to offer this exceptional wide-beam barge to the market.

Wide Beam Canal Barge, MONTY was launched on the River Thames in May 1990, having been built by P Walsh, ex. of Tough Brothers, Ferry Road, opposite Teddington Lock. Tough Brothers was founded by brothers Douglas and Gordon in 1917, working out of Bunn’s boathouse, and expanded with the outbreak of World War II, and their subsequent management by the Admiralty. In May 1940, Douglas Tough famously mobilised around 100 little ships for Operation Dynamo, which helped rescue over 385,000 soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. At the start of the War, Tough’s employed sixteen men – by the end there were two hundred and twenty. Teams of Tough’s workers travelled along the south coast to repair damaged boats, and the boatyard built vessels for the fire service that were used during the Blitz on London’s docks. After the War, the focus of Tough’s shifted. The yard created a number of boats for the film industry, including a dinghy for From Russia with Love and underwater chariots for The Silent Enemy. Douglas died young in the 1950s and the business passed to his son Robert. In 1954, Bob Tough worked on the design of the Havengore, for the Port of London Authority, the vessel used to transport Winston Churchill’s coffin along the Thames, and watched by 350 million people across the world.

From the 1960s, Pat Walsh worked at Tough’s as a boat builder. He was also a key part of the civil engineering side of the Tough’s business, and established his own civil engineering and towage company on the river. In the 1980s he was part of the team who built one of Tough’s last boats, a 150 foot yacht called BRAVE GOOSE, for Sir Donald Gosling. This is where the Tough’s story intersects with ours, since Sir Donald Gosling commissioned Pat Walsh to build him a 70’ wide-beam canal barge, which came to be known as MAISIE. She was berthed off the Gosling family’s Thames house at Hampton Wick and was predominantly used to ferry their guests up and down the Thames in traditional style, and yet complete comfort.

Following a recent change of ownership out of the care of the Goslings (fear not – the brass BRAVE GOOSE still adorns the tiller, sheltering his down under the canopy of his brolly), the barge changed her nom de plume to MONTY – in celebration of her owner’s beloved and rather mischievous Chihuahua. She then went into a fastidious refit under the wise eyes and capable hands of Steve Dennett at Michael Dennett’s Boat Builders in Chertsey, where her interior was re-vamped to provide more than her original double berth cabin – she now sports two doubles – and she was refined in terms of her systems, furnishings, canopies, infra-red Lava heating and storage solutions – with new engine seacocks and batteries to her engine room. Her interior walls were given a spruce-up in terms of paint and varnish, and where any damp was found, this was removed, dried through and replaced with new. In June 2022, she was ready to cruise down the Thames, and is beautifully presented and absolutely ready to move onto. She has a current BSS certificate, and we would welcome you on board on the Thames for a personal viewing.

We note these recent works, ending in Summer 2022, including:

Interior:

• Supply, fit and commissioning of 2 x 500W, 2 x 350W, 4 x 240W and 1 x 240W mirrored infrared LAVA heaters, along with wireless thermostat and remote control.
• Raymarine Axiom+7 MFD with TDX and Icom M25 handheld marine VHF.
• New Master cabin berth created, with 10’ deep Custom Talalay Latex Foam mattress, and bespoke storage.
• New canvas including folding aft canvas enclosure with stainless steel framework over cockpit.
• 3 new batteries fitted with new Mastervolt charger, VSR, solenoid, cabling and Mastervolt 500 remote panel, and new Marinco shore inlet & 32a cable. .
• 3 new bilge pumps, uprated engine alternator a new fuse box fitted.

One might note that her Visitors book, as per her charm, is expansive.

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