Free Line 109 — October 2026 - Flipbook - Page 190
GRAHAN STEVENS
was time to go back afloat.
Throughout most of my adult life, I’ve at least had access to a boat on the
river, the first one being a 38ft Norseman with twin Bedford engines, which
was owned by a friend of mine, Martyn Halsey. It was such a lovely old boat
with loads of mahogany called San Antonio. It was like a home from home
on the inside with a double bedroom at the stern, complete with ensuite
bathroom, wheel house/lounge, kitchen, shower room and two single beds
in the bow. I was only around 16 or 17 at this time and used to ride my bike
down to the mooring with a rucksack full bits and bobs to work on the boat
for a bit of pocket money.
Any wood on boats takes so much maintenance, and this one had loads.
Every year it needed sanding down completely then reapplying seven coats
of yacht varnish. Obviously, this was done with the rods out during the open
season. But with it being so big, I was restricted to fishing the mooring it
was on, and there were just no carp present. It was quite a novelty to have
access to a boat like that at the age I was. At times I would take some female
company down on the cross bar of my bike, and they’d have a drink and a
sunbathe whilst I got some work done, then wined and dined… and we make
use of that double bed in the back, LOL. All in all, it was a bit big to use as a
fishing boat, and it wasn’t mine. It did teach me about boats and life on the
river though. Let’s face it, after learning to manoeuvre a 38-footer, the rest
should be easy. We made a good job of the restoration, and when it was sold,
it made the front cover of a boat and yacht magazine with Martyn and me
keeping a silver goblet each that was engraved with its name to remember
it by.
After that, there were a few inflatables and little dinghies, which were
mainly used for transportation to areas that couldn’t be reached from the
bank, but none were really suitable at all. Then I had joint ownership of a
boat and trailer that a friend of mine, Steve Beeby, had kindly sold us for a
cheap price, as he needed it gone from where it was stored. This is always
FREELINE 76
