Lucy Welsh and Callum Hall recently took on the 94-year-old river cruiser the Kuonana, and say it’s very easy for a boat to fall into disrepair and begin to sink
Many boats have fallen into disrepair along the River Hull(Image: Lucy Welsh)
A couple who have taken on the major restoration project of renovating a 94-year-old river cruiser are now attempting to clear the Beverley area’s waterways, one boat at a time. Lucy Welsh and Callum Hall have been restoring the Kuonana, currently moored at Beverley Beck between Beverley and Tickton on the River Hull. Now, they have simultaneously set their sights on re-floating abandoned or derelict vessels along the river in order to clean up the waterways and reduce hazards for the boating community and for wildlife.
Lucy, who works full time as a housekeeper, said: “We just want to make the river a little bit safer for everybody, for all the river users. With it being a tidal river, especially over the last couple of days, we’ve had extremely low tides all day. For fibreglass boats, it is quite easy to damage the fibreglass if it hits something that is harder than it. There are wrecks that pose risk to people if they don’t spot the hazard in front of them, and damaged boat hulls can cause leaks. There’s the risk that there is to wildlife as well. Some of the vessels that have gone down still have engines on board which will have fuel and oil on them. It benefits not just us as river users but also the animals and the wildlife that live there too. It’s not nice knowing that your water isn’t clean.”
She said they is working with local dock owners to gain access to the boats, where they hope to refloat them using a pump. Boats like the Kuonana can deteriorate quickly, and there are many reasons owners are unable to keep them afloat.
Lucy, 26, said: “We’ve got quite a lot of vessels taking on water down the River Hull. With the right effort from volunteers we could refloat these vessels and tie them up so they are not dangerous to other users. We don’t have the means to do removal and all these boats have got owners. It’s not within our rights to remove other people’s property and the owners may not have the equipment to refloat their own boats. We are also helping the other river users along the way.
“It could be the situation with mine and my partner’s boat, the previous owners have had to part with her. The only reason is because sadly the previous owner fell really poorly. They couldn’t maintain the lifestyle of it anymore, although his family members really did try. Due to age and health reasons they couldn’t do what was needed to maintain her, and she’s not far away from being in the same state as some others along the river.
“It’s only taken around four years for the Kuonana to deteriorate. It can happen in the blink of an eye. The current plan is to speak to the relevant bodies and get permission to help. It’s a case of a generator and a pump which we’ll be taking out on the water with us and pulling up next to these vessels so we can lower the pump and start pumping water out. Then we’ll check if they need any patching, so we can patch any damage. We can do that to stop them sinking again.”
The couple are taking on the clean-up project alongside extensive restorations to the 94-year-old Kuonana, which has a fascinating history and originally hails from Goole. She was built in 1932 in the Smith Brothers’ boatyard. She was then requisitioned during the Second World War by the Royal Navy for an operation in Hull, which Lucy describes as similar to the smaller boats that helped at Dunkirk. The Kuonana was poised to rescue men aboard larger vessels at the mouth of the Humber in the case of German invasion, but the attack never happened. After her war service, Lucy’s research found that the Kuonana, which means “to see each other” or “to meet” in Swahili, spent a lot of time in the Norfolk Broads.
“There is a rumour that during the 1950s she was owned by the Attenborough family,” Lucy said. “It would be lovely if I could find out whether that is fact.” It was after then that the Kuonana went into private ownership, and has changed hands a number of times before making her way to Lucy and Callum, 31.
So how does a young couple come to acquire a river boat? Lucy said: “I had a little bit of interest in boating beforehand and I have quite a few friends within the community in Beverley. It’s me and my partner’s first project and we wanted to try to do something to save such a beautiful boat. I knew about her from walking down the beck. I remember saying to one of my friends what a beautiful boat it was and I’d love to own something like that one day. It’s pretty amazing that we get to enjoy her restoration.” She says the aim is to live on the Kuonana eventually, but where it is currently moored they will only be able to use it as a holiday getaway.
“The ideal plan is to live in it,” she said. “Where we are moored currently is not a residential mooring area. It will be a holiday boat but once we find our forever place, there is the possibility of living in it.” She says she is learning a lot from Callum, who is a professional joiner.
“I wasn’t expecting her to be so fascinating but her story never fails to surprise me. Even just the fact she’s still here after 94 years. There’s been blood sweat and tears so far. In the early days it was a realisation it was never going to be an easy job, it was going to take a lot of time. This is probably going to be a labour of love for us for the next couple of years. I think we both just love it. We love the fact that we are getting to do the work that needs doing, and are learning the boat inside out. By the end of it it’s going to be the way that we want it to be – the way it should be – because of the hard work we’ve put in.”
The couple are documenting the painstaking restoration process on social media. Follow their journey on Facebook.
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