My Floating Home on More 4
Last April, I got a call from an old friend asking if I could help a young couple make a stove for their Dutch Barge.
They were being filmed for a Channel 4 programme called ‘My Floating Home’ which was following their conversion of a Dutch Barge into their London Home.
Charles and Ani are a very hands on couple who really wanted to do as much as possible themselves and had some radical ideas. They wanted to make their own stove and were pointed in my direction for advice and workshop facilities. And who wouldn’t want an excuse to come and stay in a VW camper van in St Ives for a weekend?
They stayed on the garden in a spare camper and came with Matt the camera man who was also van camping at the other end of town.
In one weekend we designed and built the stove which we Christened the NautiBuoy as it was made from a trawl net roller which Dan Snr had found washed up on a beach about 30 years ago ( so not strictly a buoy but we thought the name was good) and a splendid Brass porthole which Charles and Ani had found in a marine salvage yard in Exeter.
The pedestal that the Pod stands on was the tube we cut out of the center to start with. These trawl net rollers are made from 10mm thick steel so they are absolutely perfect for a stove which will outlive all of us.
We replaced the glass of the porthole with Heat resistant ceramic glass and made an air wash air control in a Hotpod style.
I wasn’t sure how it would work so when it worked beautifully on the test firing on camera we were all understandable stoked. Its a very lovely thing and is a perfect fit on the barge especially with the Cor-ten steel surround Charles and Ani made for it.
The programme is being aired on More4 on Tuesday the 17th April at 9pm and you can see the series trailer here:
Just watching My floating Home, what an amazing thing you all created. So love the fire & the history of the original buoy. Keep up the good work.
Thank you 🙂
Loved the stove, it looked fantastic a wonderful reuse of material.
I have in my kitchen an old solid wood stove and I wonder if it’s possible to cut a window into its door as I have often thought it would be a good to actually see the fire? I would love an idea re price if possible….
Congratulations on the programme it was lovely to see the journey of this old barge.
Thank you Maria, (I have only just worked out that I can reply to these comments so I apologise for the delay). I have seen a few old Rayburns with customised doors with glass and I think it’s a great idea. If you could email me some more information I can give you an idea of price.
Cheers
Dan