Built in 1878, probably by Bewley & Webb, Dublin, who built most of the early iron trade boats, she would have cost in the region of £300. 61'3" in length and 13'3"wide, she is constructed of 3/8-inch Swedish iron, and her ribs, which are 21/2" x 2'1/2" angle iron, are at 2' centres. Everything is held together with "hot rivets" which are 2" apart.

Her pointed nose, rounded stern and her keel allow her to be moved easily through the water, as No.2 was designed as a horse boat and never had an engine in the trading days.

She was last weighed and calibrated in Killaloe in 1907, she would have carried all types of cargo, from manure, turf, coal and gravel to flour, wheat, Guinness and other general groceries.

No.2, as with all the other horse boats of the time, had a crew of 3, consisting of a captain, a deckhand and a horseman. The Captains quarters were at the stern of the boat and contained one bed and a closed fire. The crews quarters were at the bow and this room had 2 beds and a pot-bellied stove.

She ended her working days as a 'dumb barge' carrying muck and dirt etc. on the building of Ardnacrusha power station. Construction completed, she lay abandoned to a watery grave opposite the hotel in Killaloe. Seeing her sunk in Killaloe in 1966 Sean and Brigid Bayly fell in love with her design as No. 2 was unlike the other trade boats on the canal, which were flat nosed and flat bottomed. Raised from the bottom by John Weaving, she was towed up the canal to Clondalkin by Paddy Wilkinson on 76M, where her conversion to 12 berth cruiser would take place over the next 8 months.

A stern tube and No. 2's first engine, a Perkins 120hp S6M, were installed between the 10th and 11th locks along with a timber superstructure and wheelhouse. After Sean's death in 1984, his son Robert (Robby) replaced the timber superstructure with a steel one and Dabu has continued to travel to all corners of our waterways ever since. The S6M was replaced by a more mod¬ern Ford 6 cylinder engine in 2004 and a new wheel¬house built in 2005. That combined with regular hull maintenance should ensure that she will still be seen around the system for many years to come. In 2005 she made the journey from Dublin to Waterford to partake in the Tall Ships festivities. 2006 will see her throughout the Shannon and Erne Navigations.