Sileby Mill Boatyard is an independent family run business established in 1985 on the site of a watermill dating back to the 9th century A.D. The mill, now a residential building, still retains the original wheel chamber and fittings. The boatyard was set up in its current form in 1985, and has evolved much since then, the current owners celebrating 22 years of service this year. We offer a full range of boatyard services including day hire on our purpose built all weather narrowboats, a well stocked chandlery, moorings, and a busy slipway and servicing division.
On a day trip from Sileby Mill you can explore the beautiful River Soar in either direction. Head south and you will pass Watermead Country Park and through some delightful and surprisingly remote countryside with abundant wildlife. Birstall makes a good lunchtime destination with a large riverside pub, or you can press on a bit further towards Leicester.
Head north and you will meander through lush water meadows, past the villages of Mountsorrel and Barrow. Loughborough seen from the canal is an interesting mix of industrial heritage and housing with a canalside pub.
We have full facilities for removing your old engine and fitting a new one, and usually do 4 or 5 each year. Our preferred supplier of engine is from Beta Marine, but we will happily fit any engine of your choice. A written quotation is given for each job, together with a realistic completion date.
We are experienced in all aspects of boat fitting, and have undertaken complete stripouts and refits, new kitchens, bedrooms, cratches, hatches etc, as well as structural repairs on wooden and GRP boats.
We have a variety of long term secure non-residential moorings both on and offline, including some for wide-beam boats. We can sometimes facilitate short term moorings if you need to leave your boat somewhere safe for a while.
For bottom blacking and paintwork we can accommodate narrowboats up to 72′ long on our adjustable trailer. We have a variety of levels of service including a budget DIY option, should you wish to undertake the work yourself.
For topside repaints narrowboats are usually slipped and pulled into our undercover paint dock. Dave, our resident full time painter then gets to work, usually 7 days a week until near completion. Any signwriting, scrollwork and artwork you require is done by the highly talented and experienced ‘Letterknight’.
What a fantastic service. Sandra was so helpful in an emergency managed to get us in on the same day for our boat to be repaired. The engineer looked at the gearbox straight away and 3 hours later we were on our way. The engineer was polite freindly and most of all did a fantastic job. 5 star +++ many thanks.
We had a fabulous day on the river. Having known the owners for years, this was our first independent trip. Our phone booking was easy and our welcome was fab. The day boat was clean and adequately suitable for our day out. We all enjoyed steering and the locks. A fantastic day out – one which will definitely be repeating. Thank you.
Fantastic day out and amazing customer service! We had a fantastic day out with friends and our small children. Great to see the river soar from all angles and the children especially enjoyed learning how to operate the locks. The boat itself was great, very clean and tidy and well equipped with a camping stove and kettle, perfect for making a cuppa to go with our picnic we had packed. Routes north or south both have conveniently placed pubs which are also great for a pit stop. We couldn’t fault the team at Sileby Boatyard, the customer set was great, we had very clear instructions on all aspects of operating the boat and we were even given a demonstration through the first lock!
