More engine bed detail

This is the front of the engine bed looking stbd.

The kabola C/H boiler will be installed on the stbd side front of the engine room close to the bulkhead but leaving a gap behind to access pipe connections.

Engine bed looking forward.

So far the engine beds are tacked in place. They will be fully welded later to form a "tank" under the engine.

Vistors, plums and back cabins.

A follower of this blog and UK canal boat enthusiast came to visit yesterday.
Peter, a retired Dutch tanker bargemaster came from all the way from France (en route to IWA rally) to see the boat and the yard which is like a working museum .
Fortunately there were plenty of interesting boats (old and new), engines and goings on to make his visit enjoyable if brief.

Also visiting the yard to see progress on his boat in John Sanderson's paint dock were Neil E (nb Lodestar) and his accomplice Mick Edge (nb Bass).
They were in good form but my back is waterproof.
Anyway what's wrong with red overalls and a pink camera.............

I've got a couple of plum trees in my garden which are groaning under the wieght of  fruit.
I'm sick of eating them with every meal, so are my neighbours and the dog won't eat them.
I've copiously dished out plums around the yard so everyone will be regular for a while.

To avoid the Birmingham rush hour I've recently stayed later at the yard had a sandwich and drink and relaxed for a bit in a folding chair.
It's nice to sit in the sun and soak up the atmosphere of the yard when it goes quieter.
Only Ian Kemp was still working, fitting out a traditional back cabin..
Once more he gave me some interesting observations on the job.
I'll put some pictures of his work on in a future post. It's worth seeing......

Engine beds and skin cooling tank.

Since last week Dave has put in the skin cooling tank and the engine beds.

Turn your head on it's left side to view the skin tank stern end with the drain point at the bottom.

(I have rotated this in my album but it keeps coming out like this when I upload it)

Don't turn your head right as the picture will be upside down

A valve and hose tail will be installed here to allow easy coolant changing.

The tank has been pressure tested.

Below is the front of the skin tank which will protrude a few inches into the engine room.

The coolant inlet and outlet can be seen in the top and bottom corners.

The tank is baffled internally so the coolant will pass 4 times along the length of the tank thus enhancing heat transfer.

This is (are) the engine beds which are mainly fabricated from 12mm baseplate.

The front of the engine room will start at the first cross piece.

Notiice that the keelson is carried through to the second cross member.

The 2 cross pieces toward the stern will form the fuel tank which is cut for the prop shaft to pass through.

Better photos than last week's.

A better view along the deck to replace last week's poor photo.

Here's the stainless steel water tank I didn't photograph last week.

It will eventually go under the tug deck tight up against the back of the gas locker. Till then  it works as a repository for clutter.

Orange buckets are de-rigeur at Dadfords Shed this season.

More painting.

Here's under the tug deck in primer applied a week ago.

And here it is now with a coat of gloss added.

The hull sides will be left in primer as they will be covered in spayed PU foam insulation.

The bilges and beneath the floor will not be seen after the floor has gone down so really any colour would do and it would not matter if several colours were used but I couldn't bring myself to compromise and decided to do it all one colour.

I wasn't too fussy about the colour so long as the paint was good quality. This is Johnstones Professional  Gloss from my local paint centre obtained for about 20% of the list price as it had been mis mixed to slightly the wrong shade. It was cream but I put some green and blue in it and this is the result.

Very tasteful to lay ballast on.

Yesterday I also primered the hull sides from the cabin front position back to the engine room.
The top 3" have been left as Dave will be welding the cabin sides on and the paint would burn off there and the baseplate has been left for now as it will be getting a lot or wear and walking on.

I've got a lttle pink one...........

In reponse to the failed camera flash and blurred photos on the previous entry I have bought a new camera as the old one was beyond economic repair. I'm not really into photgraphy so all I wanted was decent pictures at minumum cost.
There must be 1000 different compact digital cameras on the market and the prices of particular models hardly vary between retailers. However I did notice in my 10 minutes of market research that a Nikon Coolpix was significantly cheaper at Tesco............

provided I had a pink one.

A proper Barbie pink one as used by teenage girls everywhere --  if the reviews are to be believed.

Well, being a frugal Yorkshireman that's what I've got.
It takes pictures just the same as the macho gumetal and black ones and I've got more money to spend at the pub, or more likely nowadays, Midland Chandlers.

Confirmation of cabin layout and measurements.

Before he starts building the cabin Dave wanted to run through and confirm the measurements.
Although the layout and measurements have not been changed for some time this is worth doing before steel is cut and erected just to flush out any glitches which may have been overlooked.
It is also much easier when you can work full size on the actual boat rather than a plan.

Although the internal bulkhead positions are the main consideration there are may other items impacting on this process.eg
Steel sheet lengths for roof and sides which affects where joins are.
Position and style of doors and hatches, portholes, ventilators, roof  features, boxes, collars  etc.
Position of stiffeners and other steel components.
Lengths of line out sheeting and features.
Etc etc


A minor mistake spotted at this stage could save some serious head scratching or compromises later.

We measured and marked up the boat with Dave including all the variables above at a speed  I could barely follow. All I could do at this stage was hold the tape, agree measurements and try to keep up.
This was repeated from either end of the cabin and all the marks made on the gunnels matched exactly ie to the millimetre.


Yesterday was also a significant day for Steve Goddard and Keith Ward as their boats Siskin (a Cowburn remake) and Hasty (a steam powered tunnel tug) were craned into the water at Brinklow.
Congratulations chaps.

Under the front deck. Painting.

Yesterday was the first time I did any work on the boat as opposed to poncing about taking photos and discussing the design.
My mission was to clean out the dust and debris under the front deck and get a coat of primer on.
As usual when working in a confined space with a roller I also got myself well painted.

I did this whilst Dave was still welding guards on outside so it was a bit hot, smelly and noisy in there.

                                                                     BEFORE

AFTER

This is now the view forward showing the gas locker. The grey primer looks very nice doesn't it.

I hope it sticks as well to the steel as it did to my head.

The base plate will be glossed and the hull sides will be covered in spray foam.

Stern guards added.

The top guards around the stern have now been added.

Thiis internal view of the stern hull side, deck and uxter plate (I think that's what it's called) shows at centre right the sturdy knee made from 20mm baseplate offcut.

Not flash...........

The object of yesterday's visit was mainly to get some paint on under the newly constructed front decks and gas locker and review the internal layout prior to construction of the cabin.
The flash on my camera failed so I have only a few photos taken in difficult (dark) conditions without the flash, the result of this being that they are a bit blurred and don't do justice to the subject.

Here's the completed fore deck, with gas locker below, deck beam and tug deck with 25 x 30  inch hatch.
The shape of the hull and deck length now shows more clearly.

This shows the hatch in the tug deck with the cut outs for the prisms closely alongside. This position should allow good light below whilst being less likely be walked on.
The deck is grooved to similate planked construction.

A closer view of the deck and cant ends.

Foredeck and deck beam detail.
Cants and guards are still to be added to the foredeck.

Stern progress

The two lower guards have been put on and the top one is about to be put on.

As the rear deck rises the gap between the middle and top one will widen by about 2 inches.

Narrative for yesterday's posts

I'm having a bit of trouble with my naughty computer and internet connection recently so please excuse the lack of narrative for the previous few posts. I've tried to edit it in but it just goes off into cyberspace.

For those who are wondering where a month went without the shape of the boat changing much Dave has put on 150m of guards welded both side which is about 1000 feet of welding on guards alone.
Add to this the insides of hull seams, gunnels etc plus all the dressing off and you can soon see where all the time went.

I forgot to take  a photo of the very nice stainless steel water tank supplied by Roy Willoughby actually delivered the day before he was due to start making it. (how often does that happen!!?)

On this visit I finally met Mike and Jan Friend preparing to take their boat away for blasting. They are the proud and lucky owners of the Northwich replica shown on some of the previous posts.


Last but not least:
A warm welcome to our readers from Brinklow.
I hope you enjoy this blog as much as we do looking at your creations.

Front deck layout.

This is a sketch of how the front deck will look showing the position of the gas locker hatch, 25x30 inch access hatch and 2 prism lights either side. The prisms should be out of the way in this location whilst still giving good light under the deck.