About

Zulu Warrior, Coventry Basin, Summer 2008

Zulu Warrior, Coventry Basin, Summer 2008

Zulu Warrior is a 49 foot steel narrowboat with GRP/timber roof built by Harborough Marine in approximately 1973 and still running with her original Lister SR3 diesel engine, as far as I can tell.  The distinctive and often copied Harborough style with high bows and cruiser stern was adopted by many of the early hire fleets, notably Anglo Welsh, and beneath the old paint we can clearly see evidence of the chocolate brown and butterscotch Anglo Welsh livery.

Anglo Welsh Hire Brochure 1979

Anglo Welsh Hire Brochure 1979

Anglo Welsh had hire boat bases in Market Harborough, Wooton Wawen, Great Haywood, Aynho and Trevor in the 70s, and although we can’t confirm her former name, she was almost certainly a Crinan Class, 6 berth, probably based at either Trevor or Aynho due to being fitted with bridge guards (removed long ago but fittings still there) and possibly the Worcester, although without the original interior it is very difficult to be sure.  Even if there is another Worcester around, Anglo Welsh replaced many early boats with one of the same name, so Worcester she is, for now at least.  Thanks to all those former Anglo Welsh people who have attempted to identify her.

Zulu was then owned by the Railways in the early 80s, possibly changing her name to Zulu after leaving the hire fleet,  and seems to have been purchased in the mid 1980s by the Royal Navy to operate as a training and leisure boat for naval personnel based at HMS Warrior also known as Northwood Headquarters, the Stone frigate from where the Falklands War was coordinated, conveniently located near the Grand Union at Rickmansworth.  Another name change created Zulu Warrior, sister to the purpose built Viking Warrior.  The two were based throughout the late 1980s at Uxbridge, from where they were available to hire for all naval personnel, although senior ranking officers were allowed to take precedence up to 4 weeks from departure!

From approximately 1995 to 2008 Zulu has been moored at Batchworth and used as a residential boat, without much cruising and that’s where I found her, for sale at a price I couldn’t refuse following a rather poor survey.  Some of my early blog entries describe the days I collected her and took her to a nearby boatyard for repairs and during the summer of 2008 I enjoyed travelling to her new home at Big Lock offside moorings on the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich.

2009 was largely filled with travelling on our other boat, but I made good use of Zulu and explored many of the Cheshire waterways.  When the chance came up for a new mooring for 2010 I jumped at it, so over Christmas until Easter 2010 I have been making slow progress from Middlewich to Uxbridge, our new home mooring.

And if anyone can fill in some more of her history for me I would love to hear from you.

Was this Zulu Warrior in the 1980s?

Was this Zulu Warrior in the 1980s?