A start on the boat woodwork

As the 'build' is running late, I thought it made sense to try and get some of the fiddly joinery work done in advance.

There are a number of reasons for this. First, it's a lot easier to do this kind of work in a workshop, rather than in the confines of a narrowboat; second, at the moment, I can afford to spend a bit of time on this - later, I might feel inclined to rush it a bit; third, it will be a big boost to be able to take finished components straight into the boat for final fitting.

I'm building all of the kitchen units and furniture from scratch, so following a visit to a local sawmill, 25 cu. feet of kiln dried ash arrived.

The timber is mainly 1" thick. The real task is to extract the maximum usable timber from the log wood, whilst keeping waste to a minimum. Fortunately, I don't need many long lengths, so the selection is easier.

Having cut the 2.5m planks into shorter lengths using the cross-cut saw, it could then be sectioned down into widths like 125mm, 80mm and 50mm on the table saw.

As the day went on, the pile of sawn planks got bigger:

So did the pile of offcuts

And the mountain of sawdust got bigger too!

There are a few more planks to be processed, then it will be the long job of planing and thicknessing the timber to working dimensions.

The Gardner 3LW arrives!

19th July was one of those dates which marked real progress. Stev from Walsh's Engineering arrived with my precious Gardner 3LW on the back of a truck.

There were a few tense moments as Gary & Lee unloaded the engine from the truck and took it into the workshops! But it wasn't long before it was safely stored under cover.

I couldn't resist removing all the wrapping material to reveal what lay beneath!

The engine is looking magnificent, with all the pipes polished and chromed. So looking forward to seeing it in the engine room now!

Restoring the Sandyford Cottage

One arrival, the cooker didn't really look too bad, given that it was quite a number of years old. It was only when I began to look closely, that I realised it needed a bit of an overhaul!

The first job was to convert the burners to run on diesel, instead of kerosene. This involved them being taken out and removed to a specialist to be tested and have diesel pre-heaters fitted.

While this was going on, I had the opportunity to deal with the cosmetic appearance. The cooker top enamel was quite worn and most of the rest had a lot of burnt-on fat and grease.The inside of the oven door was caked in burnt-on carbonised grease.

I took the cooker top to DreamMaker Kitchens & Bathrooms in Suffolk. They specialise in restoring cooking ranges, bathtubs and so on. They degreased it and applied etching primer, followed by the new black top coats. The result was a vast improvement, without the risk and cost of full re-enamelling.

I brought the cooker doors and lids back from the boatyard to my workshop and set about cleaning them up. The inside of the top (hot) oven was in the worst state, with years of baked-on grease. It took four applications of oven cleaner, plus a scraper and wire wool, to finally reveal the original black enamel! While I was at it, I removed the temperature gauge, dismantled it, cleaned and polished all the parts and re-installed it.

The rockwool insulation inside the lids and top oven door was looking a bit soggy and worn out, so I've ordered a roll of foil-backed rockwool to replace it, plus a tube of high temperature silicone to secure everyting back in place.

All of the brass nuts and handles were very tarnished, so they were all given a good polish, ready for re-assembly.

Boat build updates end July 2018

Well, July was quite a month! XR&D shut down for a week for a well-deserved summer holiday, but it did impact progress on the boat.

Once they got over the jet-lag and sangria overload, they were soon back to work. A site visit was spent discussing the detail of the complicated, bow-mounted fuel tank. My design brief was to achieve a capacity of 650L. The tank will have a Fuel Guard polishing system fitted to it, to reduce water, debris and diesel bug.

I returned to XR&D again on 31st July... they had made good progress. Rubbing strakes on; weedhatch finished and emblazoned with my boat number; stern bulkhead set up; forward hatch (over fuel tank) complete; T-stud and mooring dollies in place. Rivets all fitted and 'plank effect' applied to steelwork.

The 'kit dump' is growing! I now have a cooker, a number of blue Victron boxes, an engine, a gearbox and a generator waiting to be installed. I brought the cooker lids and oven doors home for a thorough clean and degrease. The cooker top has been refinished and returned to the boatyard.

The engine bearers are in, ready to accept the 4" x 4" oak bearers. The skin tank is in and ready to connect up to the engine cooling system.

A major topic of the day, was the installation of the diesel generator. This will be mounted in the Potter's Locker (forecabin) on heavy-duty slides, so it can be pulled out for refuelling, servicing, etc. All good except for the very awkward oil filler and drain plug. Ordered some neoprene channel for it to sit on and removed the wheels, which are redundant.

An hour after I left, (typical!), the Crowther prop and prop shaft arrived. I had been hoping to see these 'in the flesh', but Gary was kind enough to send a photo of this rather beautiful hunk of bronze.

Back home, I've been setting up my woodworking machinery in my new rented workshop. The plan is to pre-build a lot of the more complicated wooodwork, such as the kitchen units, cupboards and so on. Hiopefully, this will save time on the overall build process! More on this in another post.