station tug

i use a lister ld engine running a 100 amp car alternator for charging, fettled that today

im fairly tall so when i originaly built the settee i built it for me which i thought was great...only untill people used to pop round for coffee did i realise they couldnt put there feet on the floor, iv now lowered it by 5 inches and its sound now,as boat seating goes its comfy...

i made it, it sits over four draws and two small side cupboards...dont think ill make another it took three weeks lol

warwick fly boats have an attractive joey boat hull for sale,im tempted to do a 70ft tug out of it...iv always had a soft spot for reginald

hi, i was wondering whats happened to the old tug. i know mike bought it and commisioned alot of work...does he still own it? is there any up to date pics of the fit out etc etc....

sorry alan your right....... i built the hull, lined it, did the gas wiring and engine istalation i even turned the taper, cut the the slot for the key way on the shaft for the prop,honestly its propped perfectly for the boat for ditch crawling and heavy river work...i struggle to communicate well via the net so i get wound up (easily) when things are said and i cant get my point accross...i offered for you to come try it knowing your into your historic stuff and wouldnt be a prospective purcheser. if i wasnt sure i could back my statements up i wouldnt of said what i have..the boats 50k because i want the boat to go to someone thats going to use/live on it and enjoy it..like we have..i want enough to move onto my next project and have some fun building something else......... weve got off to a bad footing on a number of threads and its dumb, we both love boats...we should be having a laugh on here and buying beer when we meet up.....

there are many things to take into account when chooseing and fitting props..hull size,weight, draft,beam length swim length, shape..type of water depth of water. position of the prop when you weld the stern tube boss into the hull a few mm can make a big difference to how the boat handles and goes.most of the prop manufacturers under prop when calculating.to be safe,alot of the traditional engines are massively over propped simply because they dont need the engine to rev out..the biggest problem with forums is those that can use correct grammer and write with authority are often beleved when there knowledge at best theoretical, hear say or just rubbish because they have to say something....what people forget is these boats are skips that crawl in ditchs

i think it will be difficult to correct you because you are right

being honest, im bored ..i should be happy, we have a lovely boat that does exactly what we want, we have a reasonable income we eat what we want we go were we want..i need something to do again, i feel there is something very humbling that i can build something that will bring many years of plesure and will still be around long after im dead and gone...

i wouldnt of thought you would be remotely interested in buying grace...but you have been fairly strong on the thread as regards it being to powerful,to fast etc etc......come have a steer for an hour or two, the shroppie has shallow narrow water aswell as some deepish wide water, because it has such long swims front and back it doesnt make alot of wash, iv motored alot of boats and this one is one of the best availible as regards handling..it will sort all of the speculation out, your honestly welcome

well if it aint me old mate allen spreading doubt and negativity about my boat again...re...remember when we fell out when i said iv built the kitchen out of solid timber and it turned out youd fitted an mfi chipboard kitchen in your boat..you didnt like green because youd painted yours blue etc etc ....... the boat runs a 25 inch compensated blade, on tick over its very slow and iv not had one person complain,my pet hate is muppits hammering past..the engine isnt doing alot of work with the revs being so low at cruising speed so is on par with a noddy boat with a inaproprate van engine fitted...just because you have a powerful machine doesnt mean you have to thrash it, it makes for a much more relaxed cruise having a responsive boat.it stops very very well, i made a statement that its one of the best handling boats availible and ill stand by that statement..we have a comfy back cabin you are welcome to use if you want to come up country and try the boat for yourself, im also happy to rig a gallon container up so you can see how much fuel the boat uses per hour,iv done it and we were shocked how little it uses..the boat has a light confident feel through the tiller and speed wheel..its a joy to cruise...iv been playing with boats for over 20 years and have engineered and built for a good number of hire fleets and builders.......whats the point in me saying things on the forum then somebody takes the time to come and see the boat and it isnt what i say it is??? the truth would come out anyway, hence me saying the paint lets it down......anyway an open friendly and genuine offer to you allen...please come and have a go on the boat.....its a jem

pic of the swim and counter as requested the battery bank consists of 16 x 6v traction cells..want to keep the solar panels and the wind generator is usless but is making power today lol

what a wounder..someones had some very bad luck....feel sorry for them...

iv had a number of pm's so ill try to answer all the questions here.. i started building the boat in 2005...she was launched feb 2012.... hull..... 10...6....5....5.....decks are 5mm floor bearers and ribs are 75 x 100 x 10mm all hull joints are gusitted which is almost un heard of these days 60 ish foot long. 6 10 beam 30 draft 28 free board with full fuel n water tanks 68 air draft 400 ltr fuel tank in floor of engine room (didnt expect derv to get so expensive) 660 lts water tanks food grade plastic insulation kingspan 2" in the floor 4"hull sides 2 1/2" cabin n roof wiring is all thicker than it needs to be and iv fitted propper lucas fuel reg isolators not the cheapy crap that gives trouble no wood chip or mdf in the fit out its all timber engine is a 1960's lister hrw4m one of a pair that came out of a trawler blades left hand throw, iv used a bedford mk prop shaft to conect the strern gear, all big heavy chunky stuff... yeh ya right, me not reading through before i post lol the boats very secure. the side hatchs each have a piece of box section steel that can be bolted accross them when leaving the boat, the hatchs are made up out of 6mm steel and are on industrial rollers so they slide easily and the front doors are locked via a 5 lever mortice lock..no padlocks...

hi folks, grace was always meant to be 57ft but when the steel came i managed to squeeze it to kust about 60ft...she has a hrw3m with blackstone box2.1 with a big blade..she ticks over @420 rpm and cruises at 950rpm ..shes probably one of the best handling boats on the system.steers in and out of gear and will also steer in reverse..will stop from a fast cruise in half its length the rudder a decent size with enough lead so its a really easy boat to steer........the bad bit....the paint job is poor..apart from that its a lovely living boat that really works well..hot water via the reflex stove in winter then via a gas instant hot waterin summer..being dead honest the only things that are dodgy are. paint job thermostatic shower control (iv fitted two inline taps in shower cupboard) very slight water seep on the thermo side of clarofier back cabin doors are insulated but not lined wind genny mount wants cutting off n throwing over board cuz there usless id take another boat and some cash if anyones interested "grace" is a one off and i wont build another the same ...im building a matching pair of tugs next from laurences plans with lister jp3's... if you want more detailed info ill type it all uo and post it on here..im waiting for a friend to write a decent advert for me because i glue bits of metal together far better than i write

you dont need a lottery win for this boat...50k will buy her.or px.swap.i.really want a historic boat now, not fussed if its a sinker or needs work..what have you got????

this is grace finished and now probably up for sale or swap px etc wouldnt mind a working boat, im bored and want another toy to play with lol

thernal arc everyday.....we use one of these are there very good...ring shropshire welding in telford theres doing great deals on them atm

im running a paloma on the tug along with a standard four ring cooker..we have two decent showers a day and tend to cook alot..we are getting roughly six weeks out of a 13kg cylinder if thats any help...

well. weve been back on the cut about four months now.happiiy sat on our mooring on the shroppie..iv noticed that boats dont seem to come past on tick over anymore?? we are reasonably close to a bridge and folk seem to slow down to come through the bridge and throttle up to come past the moored boats..one boat in perticualer came past and when i asked why he was passing so quickly he replied half throttle was perfectly fine.apparently knocking my mug of coffee off the table is acceptable.luckily my boat was pointing the same direction he was travelling..it turns out when he had moored up for the evening on his own out of the way and i came past him at half throttle he didnt seem at all happy..i didnt realise it was only me with a hrw4 swinging a 26" blade :rolleyes:

I measured the out put on my panels yesterday I had a shadow from one of the guide ropes from the wind turbine...was a very thin line accross the panel...it was costing 25% of the output...

I'm running 5 .80watt solar panels and a cheapy mppt eBay controller.my battery bank is 1800 amps. With the controller connected the voltage is 13.9v.and the amps are going up to 4amps.it seems to pulse the amps in....with the controller disconected I'm getting a steady 10.8 amps at 14.75 volts....is this safe to do so and why is my controller stealing so many amps....

Mine frooze up in the cold snap..damaged the taps and poloma....I'm tempted to refill my water tanks tomorrow..its a pain finishing work and having to go to the house for a shower then back to the boat...

thanks for sorting my spelling mistake out..maybe you could edit all of my posts??..feel good now??

oh for gods sake carl..all these hippy hutchs should be pulled out and scrapped the scruffy owners burnt or at least birched for having the cheek to expect to enjoy the canals..its just not right..every boat should look the same, be one of three colours and have NO tat on the roof..as for the muddy looking water well i would hope at some point in the future it will be dyed a pleasing shade of blue..not everyone can afford a 80k tug with traddy engine and these scruffy £1500 boats bring pleasure to many people...SOMBODY'S BOAT HAS SUNK!!!