Yard News
Email: steffan@classicboat.co.uk
BRISTOL
Change in the air at Underfall
Something of a shock awaited at Bristol’s Underfall yard on a recent chance visit: RB Boatbuilding, run by John Raymond Barker, has officially shut up shop. John moved to this site in 2002, and built from this modest shed in Bristol’s city centre, no fewer than four Bristol Channel pilot cutters, not to mention a rebuild of the original. We’re not talking boarded-up shops here though: John is now just as busy managing the maintenance of the city’s pleasure ferries, of which three are wooden (the other two are in steel). And it seems he’s nearly as passionate about this as a project. In his shed on our visit was , a c40ft (12.2m) wooden ferry, in the distinctive blue-and-yellow livery, built in 1927 in the north east of England as a ferry, a role she’s conducted ever since. Thanks to her licence to carry 48 passengers (not an easy thing to come by these days), John is leading a pretty comprehensive refit, which will largely address the superstructure and accommodations. John is clearly enthused by the prospect of improving her style to make her an unofficial flagship of the fleet, after years of unsympathetic boxy additions. Relaunch is slated for 2023.
