The Graphics Boat

Written by Gerry Mulvaney | 20 November 2011

A narrow boat is only 6’ 10” wide because it has to fit into a standard single lock on the British Waterways network. I only mention this because you will have to picture the rather cramped inside of the narrow boat Robyn, home to The Graphics Boat run by Will Graham and Michelle Guest, as I tell you about their business.

I went to meet the couple at their winter moorings in the Engine Arm canal in Smethwick, just outside Birmingham City centre. They will be here until March 2012, when they will begin their summer cruising programme around the canals of the Midlands and the North. The Graphics Boat started life three and a half years ago to fund the couple’s new boating lifestyle. Prior to that Will had been a tiler, travelling the length and breadth of Britain working on building sites. After a canal boat holiday, the pair decided to buy a boat as their permanent home and lead a more relaxed life.

The front of Robyn has been converted into a workshop, equipped with a Roland Uniform Cadet SP750c, a small workbench and storage area for the vinyls, chemicals and other consumables. The couple’s dining table also doubles as a workbench when they are producing some of the larger signs and banners. Knowing a bit about boats myself, I wondered how they managed to power the Roland from their 12 volt batteries, but Will explained they had installed a large 2.5Kw inverter to give 240 volts and had a pretty powerful set of batteries which are charged by the engine, so they are self-sufficient. Boats are notorious for being damp, something that would ruin the vinyl rolls, so everything has to be kept in waterproof bags, stored under their large double bed at the back of the boat. Will has also fitted an air extractor system through a small roof mounted chimney.

From the start they decided to focus on the market for boat signage. Michelle designs boat name panels and decorative patterns, as well as patterned frosted glass for portholes and windows, using Corel draw as the main application, driving the Roland through a ColorRIP running on a PC. The customer base is drawn from the boating community and they get their orders from their web site, www.thegraphicsboat.co.uk or from passing boaters, who spot their well-placed signs on the roof.

Usually Michelle will get some photos of a client’s boat and then superimpose the proposed designs into the picture for the client to choose and approve the finished result, although they are currently investigating an online portal for their website, so the prospective customers can enter their own boat name or design, select from several fonts and layouts, proof the finished results and generate a PDF for production. 

Will and Michelle will spend the summer months attending many of the canal festivals and exhibitions held every year which provide a ready source of prospective customers. They are often contacted several weeks after an event, by people who saw their boat and have decided to upgrade their signage.

The canal community also has a large number of authorised traders selling everything from coal to cheese, and they too are good customers. This wandering lifestyle requires a high degree of planning to arrive at the canal festivals on time, since with a maximum speed of about 4 miles an hour, the Robyn doesn’t get anywhere very fast.

It may be a slow paced life, but running a business means they need access to modern amenities. Internet connection is provided by a 3G dongle, which seems to work very well for them. It also enables them to order their consumables and I was intrigued to find that their suppliers manage to track them down by the postcode of the local pub, garage or Tesco store close to their temporary moorings. MDP Supplies Ltd gets a special mention from Will as one of their key suppliers, happy to supply complete vinyl rolls to some strange locations!

Once the jobs are completed, Will and Michelle prefer to fit the panels and signage themselves. This requires a bit of planning as well, since Will needs the boat to be alongside the towpath to fit the vinyl. He doesn’t want to be leaning over the boat to do the other side and this entails turning the boat around, something that needs a special turning point, called a winding hole, on a narrow canal.  Where customers are too far away, Will and Michelle have a 125cc motorbike carried on the back of the boat, which enables them to reach the local Post Office and despatch the items around the country.

Boat signage used to be painted in the same way as vehicle signage, but now modern vinyls are taking over and the traditional arched and shadowed boat names can be cut in solid colours giving a 7/10 year life on the waterways. There is also a traditional type of artwork which decorates the inside door panels of many older canal boats which is called “Roses and Castles”. It is pretty descriptive of the style and Michelle produces a range of printed vinyls in all the traditional designs. They get some strange commissions as well. One lady wanted a series of stars on her boat bedroom ceiling and another ordered frosted glass panels depicting Egyptian dogs. Strange people these canal folk.

Will and Michelle are spending the winter in Birmingham updating their web site and putting the finishing touches to Michelle’s new kitchen.  They want to create a web portal where customers can design their own boat names and panels and see the finished result before ordering - a sort of Canal MoonPig. They also want to get their Roland serviced, so if any of you freelance engineers out there are looking at GDW, give Will a call. Come March they will be back travelling around, so do look out for them on your next canal towpath walk.

www.thegraphicsboat.co.uk