Winter 2010 - Shipshape Magazine Bristol

feature
Shipwright Gary Grizzell
invites Shipshape aboard
his burgeoning waterbased
business, Floss’s Fuel
Delivery Service
The fuel-delivery service is a spin-off, really.
My main job is as a shipwright at the Bristol
Classic Boat Company on Redcliffe Boat
Yard. It was my first job out of marine school
and I was lucky enough to be part of the team
that built the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter for
the Island Trust. Daytime work is building,
repairing and maintaining boats that people
bring in – we’ve got nine boats in for repair at
the moment and have just taken delivery of a
big yacht for a refit for winter. We do all the
maintenance for Bristol Ferry Boat Company
too. I do my wood and coal delivery at the
evenings and weekends.
The idea for the Floss’s Fuel Delivery
Service came about after a conversation I had
with Mark [Rolt, director of Bristol Classic
Boat Company] about selling the spare wood
produced on the yard as fuel. We produce a
lot of wood waste on the yard so I thought it
would be a good idea to chop it into logs and sell
it on. I did a census around the docks and got
pretty positive responses – before I knew it I was
buying coal wholesale. I also do waste collection,
picking up old batteries and used oil.
I’d had my eye on Floss for quite a few
years, when I was living down in Cornwall.
I begged the owner to sell her to me but he
refused. I got her in the end though. I didn’t
buy the boat with fuel in mind – I just bought
it because I really wanted it. I absolutely
haemorrhaged cash doing it up and then had
to come up with a way of paying the bills.
I started delivering in December 2009
after a bit of delay in getting Floss ready. But
this year we’ve hit the ground running. I’ve
got the boat here, the coal here, last year’s
customer base to work off. Were thinking of
offering a general recycling service too but
there are quite a few hoops to jump through.
We’d need a bigger boat too.
I reckon I’m up to about 100 customers now.
And I’m starting to get random calls about
collecting waste oils and batteries. There have
also been enquiries from Saltford and Hanham
too, so that’s something I’m looking into. The
business has developed into a nice thing but
it’s all down to Mark’s generosity and patience.
I operate out of the yard and can store
everything there so it’s really down to him.
If I do have any spare time, I don’t go very
far from the habour – there’s everything you
need down here: the Old Duke, Grain Barge,
eighteen
Shakespeare Tavern, Nova Scotia – nice
pubs, good food, great music venues and a
good community spirit.
The redevelopment of some of the dockside
is a benefit to the city. I’m a big fan of
interesting architecture and new design but I
don’t see a lot of that going on. I think the city
should be doing more to encourage boats in,
making it a more interesting and inviting place
for big commercial yachts. We’ve got bags of
space, after all. A lot of the boats that are fitted
out in France and Spain should be coming
here – we’ve got the skills and infrastructure
but they’re enticed away. The facilities abroad
are taken care of and looked after and I think
the Council has taken its eye off the ball a
little bit here. If you’ve got big privately owned
yachts coming in, it brings the money in.
I’ve lived and worked on the Harbourside
for about 12 years. I live on boats, work on
them and deliver door-to-door so you could
say that I live and breathe boats, really. The
people who I’ve been nodding
and saying ‘all right’ to I’m now
having conversations with. It’s
definitely a very friendly place to
be – everyone living the same way,
slap-bang in the middle of the city
centre, not that you’d know it. It’s
a different way to live. Not freezing
cold in the winter, like everyone
thinks. Once you get the woodburner
going it’s lovely and cosy.
More: bristolclassicboat.co.uk,
07530 173989
s
Coa
Shipshape