NB 'Talpidae'

[Moley]

One of the pictures looks like you may have bricked up the back door

 

If you go back to page 1, third pic down, you'll see we're moored in a corner.

 

Looks like you have used Rockwool batts below the gunnels, but what, exactly is the silver covered stuff above? What's the rationale to two different materials, and what thicknesses have you ended up with?

 

The silver stuff is 25mm polyurethane foam, comes in an 8ft x 4ft rigid board, has a thick aluminium foil each side. Specifically, this is Recticel Eurothane, about eleven quid plus vat per board.

 

The horizontal members you see are 2 inch angle iron, open side down, so a 50mm Rockwool batt, split in half lengthways, fits perfectly under one angle and stands on the one below.

Above gunwhales I have a 25mm void to fill, so the Recticel is ideal for the superstructure. I need to add something like a 5 inch width of Recticel all around, below the 30mm angle iron, covering the lower bit of superstructure and overlapping the Rockwool by an inch or so. The nett result, when lined, will be a step back at gunwhale height of only one inch (ideal for my electrics conduit).

[alan_fincher]

If you go back to page 1, third pic down, you'll see we're moored in a corner.

 

Yes, I sort of realised that, but in the picture you could be forgiven for thinking you had a wall across the back door

 

The silver stuff is 25mm polyurethane foam, comes in an 8ft x 4ft rigid board, has a thick aluminium foil each side. Specifically, this is Recticel Eurothane, about eleven quid plus vat per board.

 

The horizontal members you see are 2 inch angle iron, open side down, so a 50mm Rockwool batt, split in half lengthways, fits perfectly under one angle and stands on the one below.

Above gunwhales I have a 25mm void to fill, so the Recticel is ideal for the superstructure. I need to add something like a 5 inch width of Recticel all around, below the 30mm angle iron, covering the lower bit of superstructure and overlapping the Rockwool by an inch or so. The nett result, when lined, will be a step back at gunwhale height of only one inch (ideal for my electrics conduit).

 

OK thanks. In my case the voids I'm dealing with are more like 50mm above and below the gunwhale.

 

I definitely think 50mm batts are what I need, so I'll have to do some more phoning locally, and if unsuccessful, get them delivered from further afield, I guess. (Very irritatingly Wickes DIY had this product a few weeks ago, but they tell me that it's now a discontinued line..... )

 

I'm assuming that anything that comes on a roll, even if available thin enough, is not suitable, as it is usually very loosely packed, and has no body. The stuff that goes in lofts couldn't be persuaded to stay put whilst being cladded over I think, (certainly not on anything above the gunwhales, where gravity is definitely working against you...)

Edited January 4, 2006 by alan_fincher

[Moley]

Evenings are getting lighter and temperature is rising a bit (though they seem to be forecasting heavy frosts and blizzards this week, not sure I believe ‘em) so it might not look like it from the pictures, but despite other ‘stuff-to-do’ and inconveniences like work, progress is being made.

 

Back end is starting to look like a lined sailaway, this pic was taken Saturday morning, by yesterday afternoon I’d lined some more and was starting to fix the decorative face, working from the back, starboard.

 

 

Have finally got the last bit of original flooring up at the pointy end and had another fun day scraping, brushing and shovelling rust

 

 

Vactan getting to work:

 

I really need to get a power line down and fit a decent sound system, my priorities are all wrong, those titchy speakers are pathetic, can’t turn ‘em up loud enough to drown out my singing (haven’t seen any of the neighbours, reckon they must have taken flight and gone away for the weekend).

 

Vactan did its stuff overnight, and by yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I’d got a first coat of bitumen down, will add another coat tonight, re-lay ballast and finish the flooring tomorrow night, then I can add the last bit of insulation and finish sheeting the sides.

 

Progress is also being made ‘behind the scenes’. The New Moley Workshop has been in full production (nearly as many power tools as Norm but in a slightly smaller space) ... must paint that wall one day.

 

The house is now the timber yard, with Ash faced ply in various stages of varnishing all around the lounge, scrounged oak and maple stacked up in the hall (father-in-law’s an ex carpenter and joiner, we raided his garage and came away with a car load of buckshee hardwoods - thanks Taid), maple flooring (left over from a dance floor he laid 25 years ago) has now been fully machined into window frame sections, which are being varnished and assembled on the dining table, a non-slip mat on the lid of the chest freezer down the cellar provides an ideal surface for round-cornering oak planks for edging strips (table router set up for rebating, ‘toy’ router for rounding - take a plank, round over all 4 edges, cut a 5mm strip off each side on the bandsaw, repeat ‘til bored stupid or break a blade). Have also overflowed into Mom’s garage as we’ve nowhere to put new LPG cooker and 3-way fridge, found at the right prices on eBay.

 

If the blizzards hold off, the next couple of weeks should see it all starting to come together.

[Bones]

Amazing! Well done! I am really enjoying following this thread.

[charles123]

Very well done, few of us have the luxury of such a big workshop. Seeing the bare floor reminds me that in a future boat I will install under floor blown air heating which will do away with unsightly radiators, create more space and you dont have the worry about the system freezing up in winter. You can pick up Eberspacher systems for £300-£400 on ebay ex truck cab heaters

 

Charles

[John Orentas]

Looking good Ade, noticed you didn't show any pickies of engine bay though.

[Moley]

noticed you didn't show any pickies of engine bay though.

Look, it's much better than it was, but there's still some way to go.

 

I've got a small fan heater I can use on the inside to keep the chill off slightly, but it's been too effing cold to do too much messing in injin'oles!

 

It'll keep!

[stuart]

Really impressed with the progress, I'm sure it will all come together like a huge jigsaw and then you'll have an empty workshop as well!

 

Wish I was more skilled with the woodworking stuff!

[alan_fincher]

Evenings are getting lighter and temperature is rising a bit (though they seem to be forecasting heavy frosts and blizzards this week, not sure I believe ‘em) so it might not look like it from the pictures, but despite other ‘stuff-to-do’ and inconveniences like work, progress is being made.

 

Back end is starting to look like a lined sailaway, this pic was taken Saturday morning, by yesterday afternoon I’d lined some more and was starting to fix the decorative face, working from the back, starboard.

 

 

It's really starting to come together, Ade.

 

Having done a (very!) great deal less work than this myself lately, and often (but not always) with the benefit of a "real fire", I admire your stamina continuing to turn out in all weathers, it seems....

 

What have you gone for in the end for lining ? I can see what you are using as a backing, (but not sure I ever know the proper trade name for it), but what's going on top ?

 

Also, it's only just struck me how differently proportioned boats can be. Looking at the pictures now, the hull sides are very much deeper than many, with correspondingly less height on the topsides. An obvious advantage of this is that you have the full width for a much greater depth, so there seems to be a lot more scope for fairly tall "furniture", to tuck under the gunwhales, and hence encroach less on the inside.

 

I'm really looking forward to see you start to fit it out.

 

Alan

[Moley]

Well, the blizzards didn't reach us, but the temperature took a nose-dive, so not as much achieved this week / weekend as I would have liked, but a quick update, and a few answers for Alan:

 

All the flooring is now down, and the last bits of insulation in place. Still some side sheeting to attach.

 

What have you gone for in the end for lining ? I can see what you are using as a backing, (but not sure I ever know the proper trade name for it), but what's going on top ?

 

Bearing in mind that I am trying to refit within a fairly tight budget, I am trying to do as good a job as I can, but watching the pennies where possible. I have sheeted out with OSB (Oriented Strand Board). It might not be too pretty, but it’s exterior grade, and cheaper than ply, and it’s not going to be seen anyway. This is being screwed to the horizontal angle iron with stainless self-tappers and occasional countersunk M5 bolts, and I’m separating it from the steelwork with 3 thicknesses of flooring insulation (waterproof, and quite a good thermal barrier). This represents approx 6-8mm before slight compression.

 

Below gunwhales I am facing this with flooring laminate (B&Q very special offer, £2.99/m2). It’s tough, and easy to keep clean. I might have preferred a ‘plank’ rather than ‘block’ effect, but that seems to start from around £12/m2. From experience laying this stuff in our dining room with insufficient room for expansion, I am fixing with one brass panel pin top and bottom (will be hidden), leaving approx. quarter inch gap between planks, and securing with oak strips across the gap, again with brass panel pins.

 

Above gunwhales will be clear (satin) varnished ash faced ply, with maple beading.

 

Also, it's only just struck me how differently proportioned boats can be. Looking at the pictures now, the hull sides are very much deeper than many, with correspondingly less height on the topsides.

 

Yes, she’s quite deep. I’m working to 46 inches below gunwhales and 28 inches above, but the step at gunwhale level is minimal, I'll only need a one inch beading.

 

So, she’s starting to look more like a boat, and at the moment looks pretty big. I imagine that will soon change the more I bring onboard.

 

Bye for now, Ade.

[alan_fincher]

All looking very well thought through, and thanks for the detail on the bits I asked about.....

 

I admit I'm stating the "bleedin' obvious", but if temperatures aboard are limiting progress, that stove would be a wonderful asset if you can get to the stage where you can refit it.

 

Only problem, I guess is that whilst a solid fuel stove is great for long work sessions aboard, it's probably not worth lighting up if you are trying to grab a few hours in an evening after work.

 

I just flicked back again to your "before" photos - it's amazing what you have managed to achieve in the time....

 

Alan

[Moley]

A brief update, but no pics this week:

 

I managed to do a bit more in the evenings last week and over the weekend, but as usual, not as much as I would have hoped. Have finished sheeting out the inside (apart from little strips above the windows), and have extended the lower hull laminates to starboard as far as I can go until I know precisely where cooker and galley cupboards are going (where I will tile above worktop).

 

4 of my 8 window surrounds were fixed on Saturday (also had a chat with a passing ‘Enigma’ who slowed, asked “are you Moley?” and reversed for a natter, which was nice). I was going to do the other 4 on Sunday morning, but it snowed, so didn’t fancy working from the outside.

 

Have cleaned up, swept and hoovered, and the floor is now covered with T&G, which is being painted both sides prior to starting to fix the ceiling.

 

That’s about it for now, excuse me if I now digress.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

Apologies to forum members if you’ve read this elsewhere, but I’ve got various friends, relatives and workmates dropping into this site now and then, who all then ask me about the boat name: And it's all OCM’s fault!

 

My name's Adrian. When I met wife-to-be she was reading Sue Townsend's assorted Adrian Mole diaries, and so immediately nicknamed me Moley. It stuck!

 

It also backfired when we married as she then became Mrs. Mole or Lynnmole. 18 years on we have a houseful of porcelain, other ceramic, resin and cuddly toy moles. Also 2 kids.

 

Our son gets a 'double-whammy': As there were two Bens in his first school class he got called Ben ‘D’ to differentiate from Ben ‘K’. Being thin and flexible, this seemed quite appropriate, and he's been Bendy to all his schoolmates ever since. At home he's Bendymole.

As we never use the contraction of Victoria to Vicky, our daughter has totally escaped becoming Vickymole.

 

'Talpidae' is the Latin scientific name for the mole family.

[John Orentas]

Hi Moley.

 

Good to see the job is progressing so well. When I was fitting out my boats I developed a technique were I estimated what could be reasonably accomplished during the day or weekend, if I managed to get through 50% of the tasks I reckoned I was on schedule.

[Moley]

Not a great deal to report this week. A few more oddments of side sheeting have been fixed, 3 more window surrounds are firmly fixed in place (only one left to do, the front one to Port, but the pontoon’s not long enough to reach it, and my drill/driver needed recharging, and the wind-chill was nasty, and I was too damned lazy to move the boat), I’ve started running cables, and the ceiling is going up (a 9inch plank in easily removable sections is going down the centreline).

 

 

Why do the stupid jobs take such a long time? Like cutting urethane insulation into 40mm strips and trying to compress 25mm thickness into a 15mm gap all round the windows. That stuff’s surprisingly rigid, 12-and-a-bit stone of me walking along it squashes it most of the way, but it still needs brute force to hammer it into place.

 

Anyway, another batch of T&G is painted and ready to go up over the next few evenings, and I’m looking forward to getting some walls up and starting to build the bathroom next weekend.

 

Oh, and we’re finally fully legal.

[Bones]

looking good!!!!

[Pirate]

looking good!!!!

 

 

Well I thought it looked good before he started???

[DHutch]

Keep it up moley!!

[Moley]

When I was fitting out my boats I developed a technique were I estimated what could be reasonably accomplished during the day or weekend, if I managed to get through 50% of the tasks I reckoned I was on schedule.

Well, John’s comment holds good again. It seems to deserve a name, what should we call it? Squeers’ Law of Productivity (SLOP for short)

 

Estimate how much you can achieve in a weekend and halve it, or how long any task should take and double it.

 

But, one step forward and 2 steps back, I finally seem to be getting somewhere.

 

 

Apart from the front and back fillers, the ceiling is up and has had one topcoat. The centre plank will go up last.

I’ve done quite a lot of my preliminary wiring and have tail pairs hanging out of every orifice but doesn’t it take a long while (then again, I always do electrics slowly and very carefully and properly).

 

I have trimmed most of my upper sheeting so my gunwhale line will be straight and parallel to the floor. I can now fix a bottom batten to starboard (my gas pipe will be attached below that), but am trunking my wiring above that batten to port. The ash-faced-ply will extend half an inch or so below that level, with a maple decorative bottom beading.

 

And I’ve finally got a wall up (quite a tricky job when there’s only one straight edge).

 

 

The position of that wall governs the rest of the fitout though, so I can finally start to measure / plan and visualise final positions.

 

Now if my Whale Gulper that I bought cheap on eBay would just turn up I could really start to make some progress! (Seller’s had a few problems, it should arrive soon).

Edited March 27, 2006 by Moley

[Bones]

woo hoo! Coming along very nicely indeed! If only mine would look as good as that if I stripped everything out!

[Moley]

A very brief update:

 

Gulper never arrived last week, so not managed to get anywhere with my plumbing

It finally came this morning, so I hope I can crack on with fixing the bath, then I can get the other walls up.

 

Did bits and pieces in the evenings last week, and we nearly have a bed base. Nothing too fancy, grooves milled out over a table saw, no complicated joints, everything glued, screwed and biscuited, just needs another coat of paint, plywood partitions sliding into place and a couple of big drawers making.

 

 

 

A slightly disappointing weekend (I was working away quite happily on Saturday morning when a mate phoned and invited us round for something to eat and a beer or 5, so I had to stop late afternoon ), and the kids came down to ‘help’

 

 

 

Sunday was variously scuppered, but B&Q had got 15% off kitchens, so that’s starting to take shape, but at the moment there’s sawdust everywhere and it’s looking a proper mess.

 

[Bones]

what are you using for a bathroom sink?!

[Moley]

what are you using for a bathroom sink?!

That is a basin dropped in the far cabinet, would be a bit more obvious with some worktop and a couple of taps, then there will be a wall between that and the other two cupboards / drawer bases, worktop, kitchen sink and fridge.

[Bones]

That is a basin dropped in the far cabinet, would be a bit more obvious with some worktop and a couple of taps, then there will be a wall between that and the other two cupboards / drawer bases, worktop, kitchen sink and fridge.

 

 

is it a standard one?

[Moley]

I guess so, it's oval, 21" x 18" and very reasonable from Limekiln.

[John Orentas]

Hi Ade.

 

Just one point about the position of the hand basin, a very common error, bring it out away from the wall as much as you dare, too close and you cannot get your head over it without bashing it on the facing wall, and you will constantly be sloshing water all over the floor.