Conversion; 

We became canal enthusiasts by chance and through Tom Rolt’s highly influential book  Narrow Boat.  This first conversion quickly led us to a second when we found and bought a seventy foot Thomas Clayton tar boat Rea to convert and live aboard and for canal cruising. This project was a major pioneering venture at a time when know-how and facilities were few to non-existent and power tools and materials were, by modern standards, basic and expensive.