Conversations on the Water 1

Neville Wright is the owner of Oundle Marina. He purchased from Fairline Yachts when they moved to a new industrial site. In many ways he is an accidental Marina owner as he acquired it to ‘park’ a few million pounds. Mothership Marine has rented a unit at the Marina for the past 6 years and during this time Tim Knox has developed a friendship with Neville.

Natural business man

Tim Knox is passionate about boats, Neville is not. Tim Knox, by his own admission, is not a natural businessman, Neville is. However they have one thing in common and that is dyslexia. On the 6th September 2023 Tim convinced Neville to venture out of the Marina on the electric narrowboat Shine for a journey on the River Nene. During that time they talk a lot about electric boats, electrification, where’s all the electricity going to come from, and solar power.

Fueled by the Sun

This was a sunny day in September, and the whole journey was undertaken with electricity generated from the solar panels on the roof of the narrowboat. One of the benefits of electric narrowboating is being able to have easy conversations on the back of the narrowboat whilst motoring along. Something which is not very easy on a diesel driven narrowboat. Neville and Tim are free thinkers and have a slightly left field view of the world, something that has perhaps been honed by having dyslexia, and needing to find alternative ways of doing things.

Not Stewped

Dyslexics have difficulty reading, writing and spelling together with other quirks like not knowing the difference between your left and your right, getting confused with stop/go signs, difficulty with road signs, difficulties with forms, however, they have an uncanny ability to solve problems. Dyslexic people often find school difficult and their childhood is often marred by being called stupid, however, famous dyslexic people include Albert Einstein, Picasso, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Branson, George Washington and Steven Spielberg.

Innovative People

Mothership Marine is a very forward thinking boat business that challenges the norms and has found creative solutions to age-old narrowboating problems. Mothership Marine was the first narrowboat company to elegantly promote solar as the primary source of power. Other innovations include direct-drive water-cooled motors with internal thrust bearings. Informative and easy to understand monitoring systems. The drawbridge bed. The CBD (Chaise, Bed, Diner). Championing the use of reclaimed timber for the interior fit out of the boats.