Downpatrick pensioner (80) built 24-foot river barge from unused pallets

Downpatrick pensioner (80) built 24-foot river barge from unused pallets

26 October 2022

A DOWNPATRICK pensioner who built a boat using recycled pallets was celebrating when his pride and joy hit the water for the first time recently.

Eighty year-old Francie Morgan launched his 24-foot river barge, which he built on a budget of £2,500 during the Covid lockdown, on Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh.

However, it won’t be until next May that he sets sail on his maiden voyage — hopefully in the company of old schoolmates.

Originally from Clonard in west Belfast, Francie is seeking out his former chums at St Gall’s School to join him in a cruise down the Shannon.

The boat is named Hockaninny — a word which came about while Francie was on a school holiday in the Dundrum area around 70 years ago.

It’s taken two-and-a-half years to build and has cost a fraction of what it would normally take for a boat of its size and specification.

It’s totally fitted out inside and comes with four berths, an engine and a kitchen area — or galley, to use boating parlance.

Starting in April 2020, he worked three hours a day, making the boat in three separate sections in the large workshop at his home on the Ardglass Road before putting them together.

His attention to detail and planning was so thorough that he built a 24-inch scaled model of the boat in four weeks so that he could see exactly how his design would work in practice

“I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning to work on it, it was so exciting and great to see the progress and it finally coming together,” he said.

He scoured scrapyards for recycled materials, including pallets and aluminium which he got either free of charge or at a fraction of their original cost. He reckons that 95 per cent of the materials used in the construction process have been recycled.

Innovative

He devised an innovative way of creating ballast in the boat by drilling holes in the hull to allow in water, which is offset by the air pressure inside, creating air pockets for the right balance of ballast and float.

“The whole point of building the boat is show people that it can be done from recycled materials and even though something is made out of what some people might see as rubbish, it can still be done well,” he remarked.

A retired woodcutting machinist, who also designed sets for the 

Lyric Theatre and Grand Opera 

House, Francie can turn his hand to many a trade — even building a two-bedroom cottage for him and his wife, Patricia.

The couple moved to Downpatrick with their children in the early 1970s due to the Troubles in Belfast.

He got his first taste of river boating when he and Patricia hired a 

cruise boat on Lough Erne about 15 years ago.

“It was absolutely beautiful and I loved going along at about five miles an hour as you had time to see everything around you,” he said.

“It was a bit of a shock than to get back in the car and go then even at 40mph. I really enjoyed the speed that the river boat goes at.”

Francie hopes that his family, which includes 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, will also get the boating bug.

“The boat should last about 30-40 years and we all hope to enjoy it.”