Lifting out Narrowboat home out the water ⚒️ I get asked a lot of questions about what kind of maintenance our Narrowboat home needs, and ironically the most important part of the boat is under the water! The hull (which is essentially the ‘body’ of the boat) is what suffers the most damage with scrapes, knocks & erosion. It is covered in a protective paint often referred to as ‘blacking’. Traditionally you would pull your boat out the water to be ‘blacked’ every 2-3 years, However we learnt of a place close to Nottingham called Gibson & Kentwright who have developed a special technique of blacking that uses epoxy 2pac rather than traditional Bitumen. Their paint & method replicates what they use on bigger boats out at sea and protects the hull for an amazing 10-12 years! Unlike other methods, they also grit-blast the boat first taking it back to bare metal to identify any minor or major issues before applying the paint. They came highly recommended and although it costs more than traditional blacking, it actually works out a lot cheaper in the long run and means we’ve had a strong insight into our boats condition (she’s looking great!) and are now worry free for years to come. The guys at Gibson & Kentwright were so kind, accommodating & knowledgeable and treated our boat as if it was their own home. The cost is £80 per foot (including the base plate) & £75 per foot without the base plate and we simply cannot recommend them enough ☺️ #narrowboat #maintenance #homemaintenance #boatlife