A GRIEVING dad has ‘lost absolutely everything’ – including photos of his late son – after his houseboat was gutted by a fire.
Pete Evans was fitting out his narrowboat home to help him with his disability when a welding accident blew a hole in the wall – just two days before the second anniversary of his son’s suicide.
Soon the inside of the boat – which Pete’s son Thomas had bought for him – was engulfed by flames.
Pete said: “Within 11 minutes it had gone up and I lost absolutely everything – photographs of my boy, clothes… I’ve got nothing.
“The boat burned out two days before Thomas’ anniversary, which was a double-whammy for me.”
BEFORE (left): Pete’s new kitchen. AFTER (right): Now the interior of the boat is charred and uninhabitable.Pete stopped working full-time as an electrician and systems engineer five years ago after a bone marrow infection and a tumour in his spine left him disabled and in pain, which he alleviates by taking morphine.
Thomas bought him the boat so the two could live closer together – but depression led him to tragically take his own life in 2016.
“That ripped me in half,” said Pete. “I’m still grieving badly for him. He was only 30, and an absolutely beautiful boy he was.
“It’s affected me badly with anxiety and depression.”
Before the fire, determined Pete had already installed a new kitchen as part of renovations to make the boat – which he named after his son – more disability-friendly.
But now he is living in a chilly tent at Clifton Wharf – the same boatyard where a couple’s boat was damaged by a fallen tree two weeks ago (see September 27 issue, page 3).
Born-and-bred Rugbeian Pete said the boat – which was out of the water during the renovation – was not covered by insurance when the accident happened.
“It was classed as an ‘unfinished project’ so I only had basic cover,” he said. “I would have had it surveyed and insured in a couple of weeks, when it was back in the water.
“I’ve spent my savings on this, so now I just live on basics.”
Boatyard owner Rob Over has already agreed to repair the boat for free – and has launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise £10,000 for the materials.
“Rob’s been brilliant and helped me with labour,” Pete said. “We’re hoping to get it back in the water in four weeks.
“I’ll have to buy a temporary bed and something to sit on, and then hopefully over the next year buy bits and pieces to try and put it back together internally.
“At least I’ve got a wood-burner I can put in to keep warm.
“I handle it well, I’m a strong old boy. I just have to get up again and keep fighting – which I’ve done all of my life.”
Visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rob-over?utm_id=108&utm_term=5jK8QGNGb to donate.
