Teewee

[MgtTeewee]

I have only just now registered to be a user, but have been following this forum for several years.

I thought it might be helpful to letyou all know that my late husband and I originally bought a Freeman 22 - 6'10 in a real impulse and the first proper cruise we had on her was in October. We went up the Thames (we'd started from Sheridan Marine) and we had so much help from the lock-keepers then. They taught us how to throw our ropes, also a lot of really useful information as to what might happen to our engine (thankfully nothing did!).

Sadky we lost our original Teewee in the fire at Sheridan - we could tell where she had been by the engine and, more particularly, by the teapot which had miracously survived.

However, we found another Freeman 22 - 6'10 in Tewkesbury and renamed her Teewee and brought her back by boat. Since that we have had many wonderful journeys, both up and down the Thames but also around the canal system.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year and look forward to all your exploits in 2019!

 

[oldgit]

Thanks for posting on the forum, interesting to hear of your exploits.
A beautifully restored Freeman frequently visits our moorings at RCC and often takes part in some of our events.
One of our club members has a weeny little Freeman which struggled a bit during one of our annual visits round to the Thames and unfotunately he had to turn back. Think he was going backwards off Sheerness.
Not discouraged, the following year, boat was loaded onto a low loader, then launched at PH, he beat us there.
Probably saved himself a fortune in fuel and skipped the somewhat tediously dull first bit of the journey out in the esturary..

 

[Phill]

I have very fond memories of our Freeman 22. Blue Orchid was a mid 1960’s mk1 which my wife and I bought from Bray Marina in late 1988 for about £2000. It was our first boat and as it was already over twenty years old, we had it lifted onto the hard and started to do a little work. This turned into a full restoration carried out over the winter. The engine and gearbox came out and I rebuilt those at the garage that I worked at then. The interior was removed and taken to my dads workshop. He was a cabinet maker and by the time he’d finished we had the most beautiful and highly varnished mahogany interior. My wife completely washed out all the bilges and painted them with dark red bilge paint. After I’d put in some new wiring and reinforced the softening foredeck, it was all put back together. A new fresh water tank, pipe work and hand pump were fitted, then my wife made some curtains and the interior was finished. Interior cushions recovered by Jeckells were added the next year. The battered and bruised hull was cleaned but still looked poor, so Blue Orchid was painted beige! All her metalwork was given to the local chroming company for plating. She looked gorgeous with a new blue hood and was launched in May 1989 on our first wedding anniversary.
We explored most of the non tidal Thames and went as far upstream as Lechlade which was all new to us, a real voyage of discovery. We had several years on that boat until the children arrived which forced us to buy something a little bigger. It was definitely that boat that got us hooked on boating and the Thames and here we are still doing it some 30 years on.
I don’t have many photos from back then but this is prior to launch.



And a couple on the river





And just to prove it never rained in the old days

 

[oldgit]

Excellent potted history.
Easy for any Ab initio entrant to the world of boating to assume that the skippers of the shiney white glassfibre monsters on show in any marina, started out life with such beasts.
Suspect the vast majority of folks began with somewhat more modest heaps, run on what ever surplus funds became available. Sometimes funds that were better spent elsehwere. ?
Those, who despite everything that common sense teaches and who steadfastly refused to give boating have probably worked their way up the food chain.
My first boat was a rowing dinghy and after making far too many "mistakes" and lot of fun,ended up with my present boat.

 

[prof pat pending]

Welcome to the forum, I suspect we’ll see Teewee on the river, where are you keeping her?

 

[MgtTeewee]

Welcome to the forum, I suspect we’ll see Teewee on the river, where are you keeping her?

I'm so sorry - we had to stop boating in 2012 as my late husband developed a condition similar to motor neurone syndrome. We sold our beloved Teewee but I still have a very fond memory of her at home. Some years ago, Andrew from Sheridan Marine held a Bank Holiday event at the boatyard and there was an RSPCA stand there. We bought a stuffed animal - a pink pig - and this pig stayed in the front window of Teewee for many years. Now, I have "Pink Pig" looking after my kitchen!

 

[prof pat pending]

I’m sorry, I misunderstood