These two views were taken on Whisper's maiden voyage in April 1999, moored on the summit of the South Oxford Canal.
!!!STOP PRESS!!!
nb Silkwood - Jan's very latest project
nb Apperley - Jan's latest project
A lift-out full of surprises!
The Issima Whisper 1700 - Jan's new project
A sequence of pictures of the bed/engine room in action!
Pictures of the National Waterways Festival 2003, Beale Park
More Beale Park pictures a little later in the year
See Elektra, a gas-free boat loosely based on Whisper
OLDER NEWS
Lots of photos of the construction here.
'Inspired' by some of Whisper's unusual features, see Robin Cocker's new narrowboat 'uisce' take shape.
Pictures of the Great Internet Get-together '99 at Stafford Boat Club can be found here.
Whisper was built by Warble Narrowboats Ltd and launched at Warble Wharf, Hyde, Cheshire on Monday 29th March 1999, and after a successful maiden cruise of ten days duration is now safely moored at her home base in Reading, Berkshire. You may see us out and about on the Thames or the Kennet in the Reading/Oxford/Henley areas.
If you see us, give us a wave or pop in for a chat and a cuppa (or
something stronger ;-)
Whisper was one of the Warble exhibits at the Braunston Boat Show in May '99 and attracted many favourable comments from visitors. In three days we had approximately one thousand people through the boat, and I spoke to just about every one of them! My personal recollections of the show can be found here.
So far there is information here on the technical design and interior design of Whisper, plus links to a number of other waterways-related sites for you to explore. There are a number of pictures of various aspects of the construction of Whisper, with more to follow....
If you wish to go to a suitable starting point to find out more about UK waterways and narrowboating in particular, you could do no better than George's Canal Boating in the UK and Europe.
Whisper is fitted with a constant speed cocooned
diesel engine driving the prop via a hydraulic gearbox with a trolling mechanism
to control prop shaft speed. We have had a number of slightly puzzled looks
from moored boaters as we pass, who think that we are speeding or showing
discourtesy by not slowing down (i.e. dropping the revs) because they have
heard no change in the engine note as we approach. I can assure everyone
that we do indeed slow down for moored boats (and keepnets) as witnessed
by our prop-wash and the lack of any bow wave. Engine note is no longer
a reliable guide to forward speed! Sorry!
Whisper is a 'fisherman-friendly' boat. If we're doing something that is not to your liking we'd like to know about it. In lieu of any other instructions we try to keep to the centre of the channel (not always the centre of the water surface!, please note) and drop our speed when we see keepnets in the water. Otherwise we will maintain a steady speed to get out of your way as soon as possible.
Whisper, at her moorings in the Thames & Kennet Marina, minus cratch.
 Before Whisper
was even born we were "founder" members of the 'Blacksheep' canals
mailing list and newsgroup (uk.rec.waterways).
Click on the logo to visit the site. |
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Please send any comments to andy (I'm the ugly one with the beard ;-).
