Bathroom Ceiling

Today was the first day in ages that I didn't have the heating on while working in the boat.  Sure it's cold and damp out but suddenly +5ºC seems positively warm after the weeks of freezing weather we've had.

Only having a few hours to work on it today I decided this would be just about right to put the ceiling up in the bathroom.

I needed to cut another hole in the roof for the extractor fan.  This was fun (not).  It meant plasma cutting through then roof and into the foam insulation.  To catch any ejector I wedged a bucket part filled with water under the cutting area.  I was told the foam was flame proof by being self extinguishing.  Plasma cutting steel attached to it would be a pretty good test of the claim.

There is a fair bit of smoke damage / staining where the bucket retained the ejector, but as you can see no mass fire.  This was exactly how it ended up with no extinguishing required.  I conclude that it is flame retardant and self extinguishing, but it still makes a shed (or boat) load of smoke.  I'm not sure if it's toxic to any degree but its pretty stinky.  I should point out that my wife served as fire watch officer as I cut the whole.  She can certainly confirm the smoke and smell. 

Once the hole was cut it was time to fit the drain pipe liner for the extractor.  More by luck than judgment it was a perfect interference fit as seen in the photo above.  All that was needed then was the ceiling its self.

This is a white UPVC board with a wood grain patten embossed into it.  It's the same one as I used in the motorhome I did.  Its a very nice quality board and has been commented on many times.  I like it and so chose to use it again in the boat bathroom.

I abraded the back of the board and used adhesive and hidden staples to attach to the wooden battens.  Once fixed,  the extractor was installed.

The extractor is 12v AC which means it needs a 240v transformer but needs to switch when the 12v DC lights are operated.  This will be done with a relay.  It has to be used with the transformer as this also has the over-run timer and control built in.

Finally today I connected the plumbing to the towel rail.  The CH system is now ready for a wet test.

Seasons Greatings

                           to all my blog readers.

Thanks for taking the time to read and follow, and thanks for the comments.

Bathroom Tiled

I tiled the floor a few days ago and got the shower tray fixed down and waste installed.  The floor tiles were fairly easy and I'm not the greatest tiler.

Knowing this and how bad tiling can look if its not done properly I got a local tiler in to do the walls.  With tiling its all about the setting out, thing is if its done right it never notices.

I am delighted with the job.  Thanks Marc.

 Still to be grouted

The colours haven't reproduced very well, but you get the idea.  140 tiles were estimated and we were left with only 1 tile with just a bit of cutting waste.  All the adhesive used is the flexible type and is vibration tolerant.

All the tiles and adhesive weighed 305kg the shower tray weighs 25kg, and the glass door is 34kg.  All of this will be added to the weight spreadsheet.

Been On A Bit Of A Drive Today

I got up at 4am to head off to Newark to pick up my calorifier. I made good time on the trip and with a hour to spare before they opened I indulged myself with a good ol' British fried breakfast in a proper workmans cafe.  Facebook Places Linky

Teddy one of my Airedales explains " This is a 120L calorifier 900mm x 450mm twin coil with 3bar rating pressure releif valve and a 1kw 90° C immersion heater with 50mm PU spray foam lagging."

Next stop was Birmingham to collect the domestic batteries. Linky  6 x 2 volt traction batteries providing 1000A/h at 12v.  Total weight 325kg.  Good job the car has air suspension!  After getting the tyres blown up a bit the added weight wasn't noticeable at all.

I also got the engine start battery and the bow thruster battery.

 2 x 620amp cranking power

Then it was off to Worcester to collect the oak internal window frames and liners from Linky

This is 1 of 8 + 2 port hole trims

Total trip was 498 miles and I was out for 11½ hours.  No traffic hold ups either!  Most unusual for the UK.

Finally I would like to share a picture with you.

This is our second lounge which we use when we have guests.  Well we did, until I turned it into a charndlerey store.  Someone in the house is not amused! and now until I fit the calorifier thats in the main lounge bay window.

Under Pressure

Today I cleaned out the starboard fuel tank fitted the filler cap and bunged up all the holes.  I have 2 flow, 1 return and one drain off hole in each tank and a breather on the rope bollards.

The fuel tanks have to be pressure tested at 3psi (20kPa) for 1.5 seconds per liter capacity for the RDC.  I know from metering previously that this tank is 280L.  So it needed to hold pressure for at least 7 minutes.  I'm please to say it held it for well over an hour when I disconnected the guage to test the C/H plumbing.

I actually tested at 4psi just to be sure

Then it was on the the C/H plumbing test.  A much higher test pressure is used here.

Testing at 3 bar

Currently this is losing a small amount of pressure an hour but the technical advise line at Speedfit said that an air only test is not really the right test on their products so was not surprised at the small drop in pressure.   I think I will fill it with water and re-test it.  I'll report back.

Bit More Done

I have been having a debate about portable gas fires on boats on another blog.  I concede they are not the very best solution, but I can't find any evidence for tragedies where a portable gas heater was cited .  However there are plenty to be found involving solid fuel fires.  So with that in mind I though I'd share the heater that I am using to warm the boat at the moment.  This should raise the game and comments :-)

Its running on low here at a mere 58kw and pumping out 1600 cu/m an hour. About 10 minutes is plenty every 3-4 hours.  In fact I left it on for 20 minutes this morning  while I took a phone call outside.  I needed to strip the the waist to work in there. I had to give up on the electric heaters. They're way too slow.

On the gas theme I have fitted the auto changeover and put the first part of the gas main in to the boat.

I have been working on the central heating as well. I have connected the port and starboard flow and returns together, and put the tails out to the engine bay where the heater is and I have started to connect the radiators in preparation for a pressure test.  I should pick up my calorifier next week so I can finish the heating system.

Plasma Cutter To The Rescue Again

After cutting out the old step with the plasma cutter I got the replacement pressed and fitted now. 

The next part of the steps will be made from wood and will be on the inside of the wall.  The outside (cavity side) of the wall will attach to the face of the lower section of the steps. 

Today the show tray finally came . I got the "key hole" cut out for the shower waste trap but there was part of the central beam of the boat in the way.  How else could this be cut out in a few minutes without setting fire to the wood floor?

I love my plasma cutter :-)

Snow Stopped Play

OK I could have done some work inside, but to be honest, my wife had a snow day because her work was shut and I thought Na!  

I had a meeting with the kitchen manufacturer though, and they will make the carcases to fit the profile of the boat if I provide them a template.

Also I think I have sorted out the batteries and calorifier and the waste tank and diesel tank senders are on order.  Finally the correct inverter charger arrived. 
Victron Phoenix Multiplus 12/3000/120-50

So not a wasted day, and I finally got to watch Avatar as well.