Helius
Introduction
Owners David and Vanessa live in a very beautiful and very modern pavilion on the River Thames. At the end of a long garden is something from another time. A narrowboat called Helius.Â
Helius, was the Greek god of the sun who drove a golden chariot across the sky daily, bringing daylight. An ancient day key worker.
Helius, whilst being an ultra modern boat, is very much the antidote to the modern lines of the pavilion. What’s particularly striking is the quarter sawn oak timber that features in the boat, below the gunwales and on transverse bulkheads.Â
Quarter sawn boards have a very fine grain and highly visible rays. These have been exaggerated with a blend of oils to give the boat’s interior a richly grounded base hue.
To add to the texture of the oak a rust velvet has been used on the chaise longues, these have been trimmed with floral patterns. The flora and fauna continues in the blinds and other soft furnishings. But just like nature, these are not the same and they change from room to room adding to the quality and fun of this boat.
All fittings are of brass and copper and these too add to the atmosphere of the interior of this boat. When briefing Mothership Marine, David and Vanessa specified quirky. There’s quirky charming and there’s quirky ‘you can’t be serious’. This boat is very much the former.
Specification
- 15 kW Direct Drive water-cooled
- 40 kWh lithium battery
- 1.8kW integrated solar array
- 7kW 1500 RPM back-up generator
- 3.6kW isolation transformer
- 8kW inverter
- 62’ Semi cruiser reversed layout
- Steel 10,6,5,4
- 2 pack paint system
- Teak deck
- Pump out toilet with 400L tank
- 600L fresh water tank
Layout Description
The sociable semi-cruiser sterns are proving to be very popular with Mothership owners. Helius himself would approve. Beneath the deck, like the unseen power of the sun, 40kWh of lithium batteries and our ever-reliable PMAC water-cooled electric motor.
As you descend the companionway stairs into the boat, you’ll discover the electrical cupboard on the starboard side, with a washer dryer cupboard just ahead. On the port side, a spacious loo fitted with a pump out toilet that doubles as a cloakroom.
Walk forward and you enter the lounge/dining area, a space designed for both relaxation and social warmth. Here, a brass Refleks stove flickers casting heat across the room. The centerpiece is the pair of double-ended chaises longues—an imaginative, versatile design that can transform into seating, dining, or sleeping.Â
For entertainment, there is a pivoting TV screen linked into an Amazon Firestick and an Alexia.
Move further up the boat and you’ll reach the galley. The breakfast bar is just the beginning, with appliances including a fridge-freezer, a Quooker tap, oven, induction hob, and dishwasher. Beneath your feet, hidden in the floor, lies wine and beer storage.
Pass through the sliding door into the bathroom, where another pump out toilet resides, alongside a large, bespoke shower crafted from 10mm plate glass, trimmed at the top with fibreglass-lined oak, this design traps steam inside the shower keeping the bathroom steam free.
The forward door of the bathroom opens into Helius’s ‘dressing table’, a luxury rarely found on a narrowboat. The bedroom features the Mothership drawbridge bed, which lifts to reveal six spacious storage bins beneath. At the base of the beds are draws. There is more clothes storage on the starboard side and the boat’s 5G Teltonika Wifi Router. The wifi draws its signal from a 5G antenna mounted atop the tunnel light at the boat’s bow.
To gain access to the tug deck there is a hinged ladder. With the addition of 2 fixed seats either side of the tug deck this area has become very sociable.
Under the tug deck lies a 600-litre freshwater tank and a 7kW generator plus storage for a 20kg anchor and chain necessary for river travel.
Side Elevation
Day Plan
Roof Plan
Sleeping plan
