CONTINUATION OF THE BLOG

Please click on the link below to go to part 2:

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?app=blog&module=display&section=blog&blogid=198&showentry=1175

Summary of work to 23 November

This week the gas system and cooker have been connected up and tested.

I have painted the following:
Galley and saloon cabin sides final coat in cream.
Cabin hull sides final coat in sage green.
Bathroom cabin port side final coat in "pointing" (Farrow and Ball off white)- the stbd side will be tiled.
Bedroom another undercoat then top coat also in "pointing.



The saloon skirting board and pipe covers have been installed. These are solid oak.


Photos:
Apparently I have reached my upload limit.
I have been through the blog and deleted some old posts and photos but the upload limit warning is still showing when I try to upload.
I will look into this when time allows.

Summary of work to16th November

This week I  spent three days getting 2 more coats of varnish on the graining and decoration in the engine room and back cabin.
I also spent a day painting the saloon and galley cabin sides.
All of this doesn't show on photos so there aren't many this week.

Walsh's Engineering - Generous warranty work.

During the trip to shotblasting a couple of water leaks on the engine were noticed.

These were from a weld on the "water rail" which had had a section welded in (weld leaking) and the removable plates (water doors?) at each end of the cylinder block which allow access to the coolant area for clean outs (leaking joints).

This was reported to Walsh's who had overhauled the engine in 2009.

Since the engine has only recently been commissioned Walsh's very creditably honoured their warranty and sent a genuine Gardner trained engineer to effect repairs on site.

A highly polished brand new water rail was fitted (as shown in the photo above) and the water doors were removed and refitted with new gaskets and sealant.

The seal faces were thourougly cleaned first but these joints are well known for leaks. Typically these still have a very slight leak which will be cured in due course.

Summary of work to 9th November.

Ian Kemp has completed his decoration of the back cabin and engine room.
I have managed to complete the first coat of yacht varnish on all of this. Two more coats will be applied for protection and to enhance the shine.

The Domestic hot water and central heating system has been de-bugged and is operating well.

Other than that I 'av mainly been painting...

......

Kabola C/H and domestic hot water

The Kabola boiler for the central heating and domestic hot water has now been commissioned and after a few glitches the system is working well.
Refer to previous posts for details but to recap the main features:

-The kabola boiler is diesel fired and fed by gravity from a header tank under the back cabin bench seat.
-Water is circulated around the heating circuit and calorifier by a Bolin pump.
-By closing a valve in the wardrobe the hot water from the Kabola can be all diverted to the calorifier to heat the domestic hot water only.

Commissioning problems:

1 The Kabola boiler has been in storage for a couple of years and needed the regulator cleaning out and lubricating with fuel to get it working. Fortunately help was at hand.
The ever helpful John Sanderson who has a Kabola himself and is familiar with its workings took a break from boat painting (and eating pies) to carry out this job in minutes.
On lighting the stove it ran well and with the bolin pump operating the central heating circuit soon warmed through.
But:

2  The calorifier did not seem to be getting any heat and when the valve was closed on the central heating circuit the water temperature climbed quickly.
The calorifier is horizontally mounted and the bolin circulation pump is not powerfull (it doesn't need to be) so an airlock was suspected.
The compression connections to the coil were cracked open and some air and water was bled off as the header tank was able to provide enough flow to move the airlock.
When the Kabola was relit the system worked perfectly and ran without stop for 48 hours.

On the lowest operating setting of less than 1 (of 6) the temperature gauge settled at 62 degrees C and the boat became pleasantly warm. Domestic hot water was too hot to put a hand under.

3 A standard Delphi type engine fuel filter in the supply from the tank had a leak which was eventually identified as a faulty washer on a blanking plug and replaced, thanks once again  to John , so quickly the Kabola kept running.

Engine room step/storage

At the port/stern end of the engine room Dave has built this step with storage underneath.
It was made from offcuts of the oak flooring with thick brass hinges.
It will probably be used for tool storage being conveniently close to the engine.
Access to the bilge for removal of water etc is also possible in the bottom behind where the flooring ends.
Liquids running back along the base plate will stop here as the fuel tank crosses the hull directly behind.

Summary of work to 2nd November

As will be seen from the posts below the fit out is nearing completion.

For the time being, Dave has now gone over to work on another project conveniently alongside mine, and I will continue with the internal decoration and electrical connection etc.
He will drop back onto Primus when required.

The fit out to date has taken just under 900 hours of Dave's time.
I estimate I have probably done something similar.
This is in line with Dave's original estimate based on his previous projects.

Costs are also in line with our original expectations.

Matching beer glasses!

Not many boats have name matched beer glasses but Primus does.

Thanks are due to Jim Evans (nb Gazelle) currently working in Brussels who is a valued customer (!) of a bar selling Primus Belgian beer and especially to Rachel the barmaid for a set of glasses and beermats.

Bathroom

nb. The gap below the bath edge is because the bath has been temporarily lifted onto small blocks to allow the edge of the woodwork below to be properly sealed with paint before the bath is once agin dropped into place on sealent. This will protect against the wetting of the woodwork.



The bathroom now has its first coat of decorative paint.
This colour is "James" eggshell, another heritage colour from the Little and Green range.

Galley- shelves, tiling, doors and drawers added

Shelves have been added at the bulkhead end of each worktop. When a fiddle rail is fitted this gives a welsh dresser type of look and, being against the bulkhead, creates storage or display space efficiently with minmal intrusion into the galley.

The splashback has been created using these brightly coloured ceramic tiles.

The colours were chosen to provide an accent to the more restrained colours in the saloon and galley

This was a pretty easy job as the tiles were uniformally square and  fitted on a flat plywood surface.

The doors have been hung and catches fitted. Knobs will be fitted next week.

The drawers are in place with handles fitted.

Summary of work to 26th October

Back cabin graining and decoration by Ian Kemp is well under way.

Dave has continued his joinery with the boxing in of pipes and water pump plus construction of the  saloon corner unit completed.
(As usual all this was then pretty near dismantled for finishing so some photos are a bit thin on the ground this week.)

I have been mainly doing the finishing work on the above and varnishing Ian's graining.

Next week we should complete the galley joinery with shelves against the front bulkhead revised to give a slight dresser style.
I will be tiling the galley and doing as much of the outstanding painting as possible.

Stern doors - decoration in progress

The stern doors and starboard side panel each have roses and castles decoration.
This shows Ian's work at an early stage.

Table cupboard, knife drawer and ticket drawer

Ian is in the process of decorating the back cabin in traditional fashion. The photos below show the table cupboard, knife drawer and ticket drawer.
Note that although this looks pretty good already that it is not yet complete.

Back cabin varnishing over the scumble

After allowing a few days for the scumble  to harden that applied to date, both in the cabin and on doors and drawers (which have been removed) has been varnished.
When the graining has been completed three coats of yacht varnish  are applied

Saloon corner cabinet

Here is thge saloon corner unit under construction by Dave.
The top is iroko to match the galley units and the shelves and skirting boards etc are of oak flooring boards.
Since the photo was taken the unit has been completed (with the door fitted)  then dismantled for finishing with oil on the hardwoods and painting. As usual most of the removable  parts are now in my garage.

Summary of work to 19th September

This week we've had a trip to the woodyard to buy some more oak planks hich Dave has made into steps, skirting boards and pipe boxing etc. We are now pretty close to completing the woodwork of the fit out.
Ian Kemp has started the decoration of the back cabin and has completed about half the graining.
I have mainly been peparing and painting the completed bedroom and bathroom.

Back cabin - Graining by Ian Kemp

The back cabin will be grained and decorated by Ian Kemp, the boat builder and restorer also based at Dadford's Wharf. Although I have done some graining myself I decided to treat myself to a back cabin grain/decorate by Ian. To see why please refer to my earlier post of 22 September 2011 to see a cabin by Ian.
The cabin and engine room are partly grained after about a day's work.
I have previously undercoated the areas to be grained and will varnish the completed graining when it is ready.
I have also painted the table cupboard, knife drawer and ticket drawers in a suitable colour - Mason's deep royal green ready for Ian to decorate.

To date the graining carried out includes:

Painting (primer) bedroom and bathroom

The bedroom and bathroom are now almost completely fitted including drawers and doors removed for painting at home over the weekend.
The bedroom and bathroom are currently in primer.

Steps - skirting boards and other oak items

To match the oak floor steps have been made for the engine room post side (the vertical ones) and saloon side hatch. Although in thed saloon there is a hatch each side, the single (sloping) steps will be moved to the side which we are moored on.
In a visit to the woodyard we were lucky to find offcuts of exactly the right dimensions for these steps.

Dave has also completd laying the oak floor in the engine room port side which used up the more grainy and knotty bits less suitable for the domestic accomodation. Also a step up to the floor level in the back cabin, which also doubles as a storage box was constructed. This has been dismantled for treating with polyx oil so a photo will be added later.

The skirting boards and pipe boxing is also made of oak to match the floor boards and will be photgraphed when completed.