I Have Started Battening

I finished a small amount of welding this morning and then got inside the the compartment that will house the bow thruster to apply some seam sealant.  This compartment is about the size of a coffin! so not very easy to work in.  I'm gonna have to paint the inside of this sometime.  Thats gonna be fun........... NOT.

I then did some drawings for the metal shop and took them over.  These will be the pressings for the gas locker and other outside lockers.  Hopefully I will get them back in a couple of days.

With that done I found by mid afternoon I was out of jobs.  So I went to the builders merchants and got 40 2 x 1 batons and started the battening.

The lower batons will be put on with nails.  The gun in the picture is driven by compressed air and will fire a hardened nails into mild steel up to 8mm so the 5mm angle is no challenge.

I had this gun to put floors down in trailers when I had my trailer manufacturing business.  It runs at 150psi and uses 1/3 cu/ft per shot so needs a good air supply.

As you can see these nails are spiral fluted a bit like rifling but in reverse.  This spins the nail as it penetrates the steel and screws its self home.  Its virtually impossible to pull out.  Its easier to cut the head off then cut the nail once the wood is removed.

This method of fixing is also very fast.  To put these 5 batons on took less than 20 minutes.

I will do a video tomorrow.

Still Working On The Back

I have finished welding in the porch area and have created the first step down now.

You can also see in this picture I have modified the drainage channels. They are now in front of the porch, not the rear bulkhead as before.

I have also made and fitted the base for the gas locker from left from a window cutout.

And to comply with RCD and BSC I have fitted a drain from the bottom of the base to the outside of the boat.

I have also bee cutting holes in various places for services.  The hole in this picture will be for the toilet discharge pipe.

Work has now started on the hatch.  Today I made the runners.  I saw on another boat a nice detail that also enables any water to drain away.  This is what I did.

Cuts marked out

Then using the plasma cutter and the grinding disk as a template I cut them out.

 All cut

This is what the raw finish is like

A small amount of de-burring and smoothing and thats it.

I think this looks so much better than just straight bar.  The rails are tacked in ready for full welding when the rain stops.

Rear End Work Now

I am altering the rear entrance of the boat.  Originally there were to be stairs going straight down I think.  The way I have planned the inside will mean the stairs will come down to the starboard side and turn as you go down into the saloon.

To get the correct fall on the stairs and create good head room I need to create a stair down before the rear bulkhead.  The only neat way of doing this I could see was to create a porch.  A standard stair is around 9" wide but I felt this would be too narrow to be safe so I have gone for 13". 

 This is the before

 This is the beginning of the porch

This will mean the deck drains will need altering too.  The porch will now provide the side for the lockers. To the right there will be a 2 x 13kg gas bottle locker and on the left there will be 2 lockers for general kit as well as the box that will hold the steering gear instruments and control gear.

Water Tank Construction

After a lot of research and discussion I have decided an integral water tank was the way to go.

I have been working on this on an off for a couple of weeks in between holidays.

The first job was to cut an inspection hole and create a flange.  I have made quite a large one to make repainting a bit nicer when the time comes.

I plasma'd some holes to weld the flange bar from on top. A much neater way of keeping a nice edge with the lid on.

This is what it looks like for inside with the seam sealant applied

Once this was done I put a first coat of blacking on accept where I was going to weld the front wall in.  Last time it will be that easy to paint!

Next I drilled the holes for the water sensor gage and outlet.  I set the level gage about 20mm above the outlet so we will have a little in reserve even if it gets to show 0 on the readout.

5mm Plate welded outside

And inside

With that done it was time to bolt down the hatch and test for leaks by blowing up the tank with compressed air to 4psi.

Nice neat edge :-)

This is the pressure gage and inflation valve

Some soapy water revealed a few porous bits which were soon fixed with a bit of weld.   This test was done before blacking was applied to the internal weld which would probably have solved it anyway.  

I have quite a large leak in part of the tank which is going to need some more welding but its right at the top so in all probability won't cause a problem, but I am going to fix it anyway.

Next came time to call in some help.  My wife had to get in the tank to hold the outlet nuts on the inside of the tank while I did the final tightening.

All thats left to do now is sort out the leak in the top then put a couple more coats of blacking on.

Bottom Blacked

The bottom of the boat now has 2 good coats of blacking on.  That will do to hold it for the winter.  Took about 12.5L

I like the shiny finish

I am now busy working on the integral water tank.  I will blog this in one hit when its done.

Work Resumed

Before I had a break for some holidays I did some reinforcing to the hull in preperation for the hull to be blacked while I was away.

In general the welding and construction on the part of the shell done by the original builder was very good.  I did however have reservations about 4 of the joints on the vertical freeboard.

I am sure these were throughly V ground before welding so good penetration should have been a given, however as the external welds were ground so smooth so as to be virtually invisible and the inside only had a single pass I thought these could be areas just right for cracking or splitting is we took a knock.

Before

A you see the the weld is very thin, and while its true the welds on the rubbing strakes outside would stop it pulling apart, this only applied to the front 2.  The lower weld on the otherhand is much hevier and on the outside it has not been ground off so I was happy with these welds.

To strengthen these welds up I have over-plated them with 50 x 5 strips after grinding down the bit of weld inside first.

This is a rear one. See no rubbing strakes

After

I'm much happier now.

Day 8 That's Better!

Today has been a much more civilized day.  We awoke at about 10am :-) All the other boats on the March town moorings had gone.  Due mainly to the fact that they were from the local hire base and were siting out their last night 1 mile from the hire company.  At £200 a day this has to be one of the most expensive nights moorings in the country.  Heaven knows what it costs to over run your hire period!

Throughout the week we came across the same family on our trip.  Sure the were nice enough people, but HIS boatman ship was disastrous. Now' I am no expert, but I very quickly realized long ago that in a boat weighing 17 tons that slowly and gently were the key elements in safe and effective passage.  He on the other hand had the mindset that full power was the way. It's not, and never will be. We came upon him on a mooring where there were some Plastic, Tupperware, or if you prefer GRP boats.  Now, like Scissor, Paper, Stone so it is with boats.  Steel V's GRP.  Steel WILL win.  Its no wonder the chap with the GRP boat was justly pissed of by the hire boat hitting him in a botched attempt to moor on FULL power.  T'was entertaining for us to watch, accept for the fact we were holding station until he had finished so we could slip in behind him, which we did without incident.  Unfortunately we got the wroth of the GRP owner for being a narrowboat to the tune of F*cking narrowboats, F*cking hire boats, F*cking amateurs F*cking this and F*cking that.  So we let the dogs out which further f*cked him of and he promptly left.  I think its like penis envy, the problem GRP boat owners have.  Mine is longer than his :-)

Our cruise today was back to our beautiful home mooring at Bill Fen, Ramsey.  About 4 hours in all from March.  

As a novelty for August weather it remained dry.......... Just!  We were back and tied on not more than 1/2 hour and the heavens opened with thunder, lightening, and a rainstorm that would wake the dead.  Not that we were bothered, we had taken to our bed for a very late afternoon kip.  We woke a 8pm which is why I am blogging at 1.30 in the morning.

So all in all a very enjoyable week.

This was our entire route out and then back..................

Best route from Ramsey to Jesus Green Lock

Middle Level Navigations (Ramsey High Lode)
From Ramsey to:
	Saunder's Bridge Junction of Old River Nene and Ramsey High Lode	1 mile, 1 flg, 0 locks	(total 1 mile, 1 flg, 0 locks)
Middle Level Navigations (Old River Nene)
From Saunder's Bridge to:
	Well's Bridge Junction of Old River Nene and Forty Foot River	0 miles, 7 flg, 0 locks	(total 2 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks)
Middle Level Navigations (Forty Foot River)
From Well's Bridge to:
	Chatteris Road Bridge A141 road	6 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks	(total 8 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks)
	Sixteen Foot Corner Junction of Forty Foot and Sixteen Foot Rivers	1 mile, 6 flg, 0 locks	(total 9 miles, 6 flg, 0 locks)
	Horseway Village Bridge B1098 road	0 miles, 2 flg, 0 locks	(total 10 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks)
	Welches Dam Sluice Junction of Forty Foot River with the Old Bedford River	2 miles, 0 flg, 2 locks	(total 12 miles, 0 flg, 2 locks)
River Great Ouse (Old Bedford River)
From Welches Dam Sluice to:
	Delph Bridge Welney Village (A1101 road)	6 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks	(total 18 miles, 0 flg, 2 locks)
	Salter's Lode Junction Junction of Well Creek with Great Ouse and Old Bedford River	6 miles, 2 flg, 0 locks	(total 24 miles, 2 flg, 2 locks)
River Great Ouse (New Bedford River)
From Salter's Lode Junction to:
	Denver Junction Junction of Old West River and New Bedford River	0 miles, 3 flg, 0 locks	(total 24 miles, 5 flg, 2 locks)
River Great Ouse (Old West River)
From Denver Junction to:
	Denver Sluice	0 miles, ½ flg, 0 locks	(total 24 miles, 5½ flg, 2 locks)
	River Wissey Junction Junction of River Wissey with Old West River	1 mile, 1½ flg, 1 lock	(total 25 miles, 7 flg, 3 locks)
	Brandon Creek Junction Junction of Little Ouse or Brandon River with Old West River	5 miles, 5 flg, 0 locks	(total 31 miles, 4 flg, 3 locks)
	River Lark Junction Junction of River Lark with Old West River	5 miles, 3 flg, 0 locks	(total 36 miles, 7 flg, 3 locks)
	Ely	4 miles, 1 flg, 0 locks	(total 41 miles, 0 flg, 3 locks)
	Soham Lode Junction	2 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks	(total 43 miles, 0 flg, 3 locks)
	Pope's Corner Junction of River Cam with Old West River	1 mile, 3 flg, 0 locks	(total 44 miles, 3 flg, 3 locks)
River Cam (main river)
From Pope's Corner to:
	Upware Junction with Burwell Lode	3 miles, 1 flg, 0 locks	(total 47 miles, 4 flg, 3 locks)
	Swaffham Lode Junction Junction of Swaffham Lode with River Cam	2 miles, 2 flg, 0 locks	(total 49 miles, 6 flg, 3 locks)
	Clayhythe Bridge Waterbeach village half a mile northwest	2 miles, 4 flg, 1 lock	(total 52 miles, 2 flg, 4 locks)
	Fen Ditton	3 miles, 0 flg, 1 lock	(total 55 miles, 2 flg, 5 locks)
	Jesus Green Lock Moor for Cambridge just below this lock	2 miles, 6 flg, 0 locks	(total 58 miles, 0 flg, 5 locks)

Total distance is 58 miles, 0 flg and 5 locks.

Day 7 Monster Day

What a marathon today has been.  We needed to make a tidal lock and had to be there by 12.30, which meant a get up at 6.30 for a 7.00 cast off. 

I think more water has fallen out of the sky today than we wer floating on.  It has hossed it down ALL DAY and I do mean hossed and ALL DAY.

We made good time and reached the lock in plenty of time, only be told that we would be the last ones through because of our length.  Normally our length puts us through first, but not today 'cos of tides, wind, moon phase blah blah blah!  The upshot of this was we could have had an extra 2 hours in bed and a leisurely cruise to the lock, instead of 2 hours waiting our turn.  

I haven't taken any pics today.  The weather was so wet I dare not get the camera out.

This was our route today............

Best route from A142 Road Bridge - Ely to March

River Great Ouse (Old West River)
From A142 Road Bridge - Ely to:
	River Lark Junction Junction of River Lark with Old West River	4 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks	(total 4 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks)
	Brandon Creek Junction Junction of Little Ouse or Brandon River with Old West River	5 miles, 3 flg, 0 locks	(total 9 miles, 3 flg, 0 locks)
	River Wissey Junction Junction of River Wissey with Old West River	5 miles, 5 flg, 0 locks	(total 15 miles, 0 flg, 0 locks)
	Denver Sluice	1 mile, 1½ flg, 0 locks	(total 16 miles, 1½ flg, 0 locks)
	Denver Junction Junction of Old West River and New Bedford River	0 miles, ½ flg, 1 lock	(total 16 miles, 2 flg, 1 lock)
River Great Ouse (New Bedford River)
From Denver Junction to:
	Salter's Lode Junction Junction of Well Creek with Great Ouse and Old Bedford River	0 miles, 3 flg, 0 locks	(total 16 miles, 5 flg, 1 lock)
Middle Level Navigations (Well Creek)
From Salter's Lode Junction to:
	Salter's Lode Lock	0 miles, 1 flg, 0 locks	(total 16 miles, 6 flg, 1 lock)
	Outwell Junction of Old River Nene with Well Creek	5 miles, 2 flg, 1 lock	(total 22 miles, 0 flg, 2 locks)
Middle Level Navigations (Old River Nene)
From Outwell to:
	Upwell	0 miles, 6 flg, 0 locks	(total 22 miles, 6 flg, 2 locks)
	Popham's Eau End Low Corner. Junction of Popham's Eau and Old River Nene	3 miles, 0 flg, 1 lock	(total 25 miles, 6 flg, 3 locks)
	Twenty Foot End Junction of Twenty Foot River and Old River Nene	1 mile, 7 flg, 0 locks	(total 27 miles, 5 flg, 3 locks)
	March B1101 road	2 miles, 2 flg, 0 locks	(total 29 miles, 7 flg, 3 locks)

Total distance is 29 miles, 7 flg and 3 locks. There is at least 1 small aqueduct or underbridge.
Made up of 29 miles, 4 furlongs of broad canals; 0 miles, 3 furlongs of tidal rivers; 3 broad locks.
This will take 9 hours, 56 minutes. 

It did + 2 hours fannying about at the tidal lock.  We are both knackered!!!! as too are the dogs.

We are now moored at March, and we are gonna sleep to midday!