Help James’ back on his feet!

Over the bank holiday local boater and friend, James, boat has sunk. It was intentionally flooded by the Fire Brigade to put out a fire that started in the afternoon.

James had allowed a friend facing homelessness to stay on the boat for a week.

The solid fuel stove was left open while his friend was out and devastatingly the whole thing caught alight.

He has managed to get some ratchet straps tied to stop her sinking to the bottom completely, but to re-float it he needs generators, pumps and a lot more straps.

As there’s no damage to hull itself, it seems if we can get straps to lift as the pumps remove water, there may be hope!

The hire cost for equipment he doesn’t have is significant, roughly (£500) as are the recovery costs from CRT (£5k) and the Fire service (£1k)

Due to the circumstances of the fire the insurance wouldn’t pay out.

With limited funds to do this himself, we’re hoping as a community to band together and raise as much money as possible to get his home back or something to help him back on his feet.

We’re sourcing quotes for the hire of equipment, as well as from salvage yards and RCR, any monies donated that exceed the costs of getting her raised will go to helping James get back on his feet!

The fact he has become homeless from helping others out of that situation is a cruel addition to an unbelievably sad situation.

Please help if you can, any amount would be appreciated.

UPDATE!

It looks unlikely the boat can be re-floated, though we’re trying to find a salvage or scrap who can do it, James is going to use the money to buy a van or put towards finding a new place.

The circumstances remain sad but he is in good spirits and very thankful for all the support.