INLAND NAVIGATORS

Tim and Bridget Carter have a long association with canals and vintage narrow boats. 

Tim was born in London in the mid 1960’s, his parents owned and lived aboard the ex-Severn and Canal Carrying motor boat Ash. He grew up with the Royalty class pair George and Mary and on leaving school spent the next 20 years working hotel boats, camping boats, passenger trip boats and commercial barges.  In the off-season learning boat building and repair, working alongside some of the country’s leading experts in the restoration of historic vessels mastering hot-riveting, vintage engine maintenance, wooden boat repairs, re-planking, corking and coach painting etc. For those that are interested, vintage craft that Tim has either owned, part-owns or currently owns: George and Mary, Mabel and Forget-me-not (wooden hotel boats), Victoria (sister ship to William) , Norfolk County, Coleshill & Virginis (Harland and Woolf), FMC Buffalo (part) LMS Exeter (part) BCN joey boat and The Royalty class motor William. 

When not working with boats Tim spent a number of years working with outdoor events companies and was an Associate Director of an outdoor theatre company that specialised in large scale, open-air events and pyrotechnics touring internationally, however even with this there was no getting away from boats, Tim worked on board a touring theatre ship as a pyro-technician and specialised in aquatic spectacles commandeering boats of all shapes and sizes! 

Bridget met Tim in the early 1990’s, she left nursing and they ran a number of hotel boats together, the traditional back cabin of the royalty class narrow boat Victoria was home when their son was born. Bridget and Tim designed and built a hotel barge and went on to own the ex-steam sailing drifter Norfolk County. 

Today they run a small holding with their two children and Bridget has mastered the craft of vintage canal boat decoration and is responsible for the traditional roses and castles on William.