The owner of a steam boat company in Ellesmere fears his flagship vessel could rot over the winter season if he doesn’t find suitable storage soon.
Gavin Lewery, owner and manager of the Shropshire Steamboat Company, is calling out for help to provide storage for the Lady Katherine when it finishes its Mere trips at the end of October.
Last winter the boat was stored at Wem Industrial Estate, but Mr Lewery said he could not keep up the £700 a month charges and is now looking for somewhere else.
But nothing has been found, and company staff fear that if the boat is left in the water over the winter, winds and storms could cause the boat to deteriorate.
Each winter the Lady Katherine is stripped down, revarnished and other work is done to bring it into the correct condition for the next season’s trips.
Mr Lewery said: “We haven’t found anywhere to store the boat yet so we are looking for premises. We had an industrial unit in Wem but it is a big unit and very expensive.
“We had to move out of there earlier this year as I couldn’t afford £700 a month. We are looking for something smaller, a barn or hay barn. We have to find somewhere for it to stay out of the water otherwise it would deteriorate.
“It is in the water all summer and needs to be stripped down and revarnished. It really needs to be out of the water because of the wind and gales that come with the winter, it is only tied to a buoy so it would not be secure either. The Lady Katherine has become a part of Ellesmere.”
The Lady Katherine is a lake steamer which was designed and made for Ellesmere and was only launched in the town last year.
The boat is a reproduction of a nineteenth century Fellows, Morton and Clayton canal boat engine. It has a steam engine of 20 horsepower and is driven by a modern bio-fuelled boiler.
For more information visit the website www. shropshiresteamboat.co.uk.
