A disused maintenance boat (left of picture) keeps sentinal over a lock at Hatton Locks.

Once a very commonplace sight on British canals, it was an essential piece of equipment which had a crew of two to three, and aided them in repairing the sides of canals.

Better, longer lasting materials replaced the wood they used to repair and maintain the sides of the canals over time, and the need to have the boats largely unneccesary over time.