Fuel Tank Capacity And A Leak

Armed with my water meter I decided to see what the fuel tanks would hold.  The Starboard one is 280L the Port 326.  So I have a tad over 600L

The bad news was the Port tank leaks !!!  It was quite a leak as well and wasn't easy to trace.  In the end it turned out to be in a bloody awkward place meaning upside down welding in a confined space.  My favorite!  

At this point I want to make it clear that I didn't make the fuel tanks.  They are an integral part of the shell I purchased.  Given the quality of the rest of the welding and construction of what I bought I am very supprised.  

I have welded and stopped 99.9% of the leak but its still tracking a bit so I need to to a bit more welding.  I will probably need to cut the drainage channel to get a weld behind it as the tracking is coming from the tiny gap between the tank and this channel.

 The small leaks

The first repair attempt.  Awkward to get to

How glad am I that I decide to fill them with water to to find the capacity?

This could have been diesel
had I not checked it with water and red food dye!

More Jobs Done

After much consideration I've decide not to insulate the floor.  Doing this would reduce airflow in the bilges which is considered a bad thing to do.  I asked about this on the canal forum and the replies were pretty much 50/50 on to insulate or not.  So in the end it was my call.  All of the reasons discussed made sense though.

I've now finished the gas locker and storage lockers on the port side of the hatch. All the lockers will have decorative hard wood lids and the tall locker will have doors on.  The middle part is the helm and instrument panel.  Parts are removed for priming so it looks a bit odd.

Gas Locker

I have painted the bottoms of the floor ply with bitumen to seal it.  The floor in the bathroom is now fixed down and the temporary fix of the wall has now been made permanent.

Blacking the board backs

This is the best view I can get of the bathroom area. Its 1525mm x aprox 2440mm.  I say approx as I haven't finalised this and its not critical at the the moment.

Looks a lot narrower than it really is

The toilet arrived today.  So I can move this around to set up a design. Original plan was to have a bath, then a shower bath, but its now back to a shower.  We will have the washing machine in the bathroom now.

I got to work on the bilge as well this week.  It was pretty grim as it had been open to the elements for 2 years before I bought it so the paint was shot to bits, then its had all sorts of crud in it from the bushes around.  So when I finally cleared it out it was pretty stinky. 

I ground it back to bare metal where the water had damaged the original paint and have now re-primed it.  It looks a whole lot better now

A fair bit of rain had previously got in the engine bilge because the self draining decks weren't working properly.  There was a big dip so the water was finding its way in where the removable bar goes.  I have jacked the back to level and glued the removable bar in.  Just need some rain now to test it.  The weekend is coming so I suppose we'll get some then for a change.

Size Is Relative

I was trawling the net as you do and found this picture.  This is about the size of boat I am building (the small one in the picture). In fact the one I am building is a foot wider, not that on this scale you would notice.

The really amasing thing is the tanker will go about 3-4 times faster than the widebeam.

Partitions

Yesterday I made a template of the side and roof.  There is an extension for the roof profile but I made it detachable to make it easy to move round.

Armed with this, this morning I made some partitions to divide the boat up into its rooms rear lounge and kitchen, mid bathroom, and front bedroom.

Rear

 

Front

  

Bathroom  (Sorry no wide angle lens)

The template worked well.  Now the boat is partitioned up it gives it some perspective.  These partitions are only temporarily installed.

I'm considering weather its worth putting insulation under the floor.  I am seeking opinion, but it seems to be evenly divided at the moment on http://www.canalworld.net/  Any blog readers care to comment?

Ballast Update.

My boat has 20 ribs each side of the base.  I have filled the middle 10 each side with slabs.  The 5 each side at the front and back will be left accessible for final adjustment.  

There is now  1860kg of ballast.  Thankfully the lorry delivered it with a Hyab so I had only to lift it down.

Its Been All About Ballast Today

According to the designer of the boat it needs to displace 24,500kg to set the boat right in the water.  I have a spreadsheet running and I have been adding to it as I have added materials.  Up to now this has been retrospective, but as I am preparing to put the floor down I need to work out future materials weight.

Armed with the weight of ply I am going to use I have calculated that this will weigh in at 1100kg, the rest I have had to estimate.......

Kitchen and bathroom with stone work tops and appliances 1000kg, engine, gearbox, stern gear, steering gear and rudder including batteries, generator, waste tank full 1500kg, water tank full 2000kg, bedroom furniture 500kg, misc. fixtures, fittings equipment and services 1000kg, fuel 250kg.

At the last count the boat was weighing in at 14,800kg, the known weight of the ply + the estimated weight of everything else adds up to 7300kg comes to 22,100kg so I need to add at least 2400kg of ballast.

Now you may recall if you have read for a while I was going to use granite off cuts from my brothers company.  I have decided instead to use compressed stone paving slabs.  They come in various lengths x 600mm wide.  So it works out that 1 x 750mm and 1 x 600mm is just right.  The 750mm weighing in at 52kg and the 600mm at 41kg  so each bay adds 93kg.

744kg worth going under the bathroom floor

I am going to add this to the middle of the boat and leave the rest of the floor removable so I can add ballast to trim the boat as required.

Water Tank Capacity, Roof Batons & Hot.

I bought a water meter so I could measure the capacity of the water tank.  Result is 2233L to the brim, this will reduce a bit when I put in the overflow so will probably end up about 2000L once that is in.  Now you have to trust me on this.  I estimated 2000L in my mind.  

I will use it next to measure the capacity of the fuel tanks.  My guess for them is 450L  They are built into the rear of the boat and are a very strange shape so its kinda hard to get a feel for it and seeing inside is not easy either.

I fixed the roof batons in this morning.  It was hot work.  Its amasing just how much warmer the shell is now the insulation is on and I had the doors open.