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The progress of the restoration was best shown in pictures, though the Canals Newsgroup (uk.rec.waterways) and the Canals Mailing List (UKcanals@yahoogroups.com) had a weekly blow-by-blow of the restoration in words.
BEFORE AND AFTER 14th June 1976 (photo Harry Arnold) 14th August 2000 (photo Molly Mockford)
The Illustrated History of Rumpus
The Rumpus Photo Archive - Original Pictures Taken for the Boat Review in Waterways World
As found, in December 1996, "under the arches" at Castlefield in Manchester
Rumpus Goes To a Little Chef on her way home - 14th November 1998
After great amounts of repair work on the hull (and burning the bottom off) June 1999 sees the new baseplate alongside Rumpus.......
..... and a new ply skin for the cabin.......
November 1999 sees the front half of the cabin insulated - the plywood plates on the cabin sides are for the Portholes. Note the mains light.
February 2000 sees most of the floor down - note the problem with long planks!
Launch Day - 1st April 2000 - the bow rises as she goes back into the water for the first time in years.
(photo Susan Dominic)
A fortnight later, the ballast went in...........
..... and we all had a play! (photo Keith Midgely)
The new cabin top lining, portholes and lights...........
............ was followed by a useable cabin, with galley (with pots and pans) food, chairs, a table and A CARPET (well, an Ikea mat, anyway.....) ready for the trip to Stafford for the Great Internet Get-Together at Stafford Boat Club in the August.
The only way to incorporate storage AND a table was to build a traditional-style table cupboard , here seen after decorating.......
..... which came in useful for storing materials!
These days, instead of containing water, she carries bottles of beer - just as useful!
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...... which when it was panelled and painted quite looked the part.
The engine went in vertically........
With the final decoration and the upholstery installed, floor painted and rugs down, she looks like a little palace!
.... and just to prove it's possible, here are no less than NINE people eating in the cabin! (picture taken by the ninth person, Sean Neill)
Rumpus (like all good narrowboats) has her water can on the cabin roof. It was painted by Jan Deuchar and the design of the decoration includes 3 panels which give a potted history of the boat: the one to the left of the spout shows a kingfisher (for Kingfisher Line, the boat's builders) the one on the right shows some colliery headgear, (for Colliery Narrowboats, the boat's second owners) and the spout itself has a cotton boll and some rain, as I found her in Manchester!