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Me tooo!

Yes it does sound like an airlock. I installed my own gravity fed system using a Morso squirrel back boiler and 28mm copper pipe down to a single rad in the bow bedroom with a 3inch overall gradient up under the gunnel. Works fine but does develop airlocks occasionally if I don't bleed air out of the highest point. Old ford transit expansion tank at the far end needs to have an inch of coolant also. I used plastic pipe on the return to within 1.5 meters of the stove with a drain down valve and this bent slightly until I used more cup fixers. Air was collecting in the bends in the pipe - that solved the problem of kettling. Going to try putting in a larger rad in the autumn to dump more heat!

Hi In consideration of your earache, our tank was made by Vetus for our pump out system, http://www.vetus.com/ hope this helps Andrew

Thanks for all the helpful replies, at last I think I have the hang of it using the preview post and self editing the code string! Peter I will try to find some more pictures and post them hear of the finished boat and how we have fitted it out gradually over the last year. I have just fitted a back boiler to the squirrel stove to spread the heat from the fire up the 50ft length to heat our bedroom in the bow. Lots of 28mm copper pipe and an old radiator that (litterally) fell out of a van at work! Now moving on to solar pannels as we want to do some extended crusing at some time. As to where the boat was made the company Viking say of themselves: "Viking Canal Boats construction yard is based in the town of Wolin, where the ancient fort of Vineta was situated. This village was for a long time home to explorers, warriors, merchants and pirates called the Vikings." Some people who should know (surveyors, BSS etc ) have been supprised at the quality of welds and steelwork once they know where the boat came from but there is a good industry of steelwork in Poland. As did we! Best wishes Andrew

[/url][/img] Thanks for your help I will keep trying! Hoooray!!

[/img] A while back I wanted to post some pictures of the newbuild widebeam we had built in poland and have now been happily living aboard for over a year! I was having a lot of difficulty with the technicalities of posting pictures so I hope this first attempt can be seen ok?

I fitted our copper propane gas line to run along the entire boat from the gas locker at the front to the kitchen at the rear and passes within 2 ft of the Squirrel stove. We just passed our boat safety certificate and this arrangement was not commented on by the examiner. It is somewhat shielded from the radiant heat by being under the gunnel.

Thanks again for all the useful information! Just an update on the orignal issue we recieved an email from the boat builders that the number welded into the bow and stern is in fact the number the hull builder issues with each boat they manufacture and should be taken as a HIN number (as far as they are concerned). Following this I had a discussion with the BSS examiner today who was in agreement because this number is unique to the boat and welded to the bow and stern it could be taken as the unique identification number for this boat and was therefore happy to hand over the BSS certificate and update the system with this numberm, - just in time since we have to licence by 30th of December. Im not aware of anything we have done that is not up to RCD but we are not selling the boat in the next 4 years so I guess that the result is happyness all round! Many thanks for a most informative discussion. Andrew

Just to say thank everyone for your helpful advice. The boat was indeed issued with a Annex 3 Declaration of conformity which details the hull build specification. I have to say we are very happy with the work of the Polish steel industry and people who have looked over the boat say the hull at least has been built to a very robust standard with a reasonable quality finish. Our build contribution has not been huge mostly internal partitions, some plumbing, stove, shower etc. We are told be the BSS inspector that we need a CIN / HIN number in order to be issued with a certificate, without the certificate we cannot relicence the boat in January 18th. I cannot say whether this is being unreasonable since I have no previous experience. All of the safety issues have been addressed to his satisfaction he just wants this number. I wonder if we explained we are not finishing the boat to RCD and we do not intend to sell the boat within 5 years (and we dont because its our home) he can issue it on this basis - we will try this approach. Thanks again Richard and Ally, and Spuds for your help and the links to the RYA. Best wishes Andrew

Hi Dean As one fat boat owner with kids aboard to another I take my hat off to you! We have been fitting out in a marina for a year and its had its highs and lows but couldnt see myself back in a house again! We hope to be leaving the shelter of the marina on the Thames at the End of march for our first real cruising adventures - heading west! Very much enjoyed reading your blog! Andrew

We bought our Sailaway boat from a polish company who built its hull in Poland and transported it to the UK. It came with a certificate of completion and we have spent a "happy" year fitting it out and now need a BSS. The inspector failed it on a few things which we have remedied so he is happy but now is asking for a HIN / CIN Hull identification number which he sais should be stamped somewhere on the hull or appear in the paperwork. He sais it should start with a GB (if built in UK - which it isnt) and the last three digits relate to the year it was built. We cannot find any number on the hull except a number welded inside the engine bay above the weed hatch beginning VC00093 and also inside the gas locker on the bow. I had assumed this was the hull makers mark and the the last numbers refer to the number of boats they had completed? We cannot find any other number with GB or anything else on it anywhere on the hull. Does anyone know if this number may be somewhere we cannot find like bellow the water line for example? We are trying to contact the makers but their being Polish and this being Xmass.... Any help very much appreciated. Andrew

Howling wind through the trees and wind blown waves down hear on the Thames near Staines, hearing the creak as the mooring ropes stretch to their limit and back against the wind and feeling the boat heave about slowly in the water. I sat in my chair by the fire and thought how magical it is to be so immersed in the wind and weather yet warm and cosy! slept like a log all night! Andrew

I was going to upload some pictures and a short video in this post but its late and the technicalities are driving me mad! I will try again tomorrow. Andrew

Hi all Just a quick update and thanks for all the good wishes from the forum! Merry Christmas and Yule to everyone from our new boat that is now sat in Penton Hook Marina on the thames. The launch went well despite the driver of the lorry dissappearing for two hours and leaving the crane and crew standing on the key waiting! Then to watch our pride and joy dangle in the air 30 ft above the river was heartstopping (pics to follow!) Now we are on our own in the river to find the boat builders have reversed our thrust controls somehow so the boat goes back when pushed the lever forward and forward when it goes back. Everyone has dissapeard for xmas well you cant blame them but we wanted to get out there, and will soon, despite reversed controls! Fueled up and ready to go, one working toilet, two lights, camping gas stove, fitting a hand made kitchen, squirrel stove keeps us warm and cosy! We are out on the furthest pontoon close to the river (where we can do least damage im guessing) and waking up to watch two kingfishers catch fish off your mooring ropes, swans landing in the morning light, cormorants fishing, ripples on the water - well i dont need to go on about that experience to you old hands but for me - wow this is the life isnt it?! Everyone we have met so far has given us so much good advice and we are starting to settle into the life although only half way through our fit out. I will try and post some pictures very soon. If i have learned one thing its that a boater needs to develop a skin as thick as a rhinosorous, so the odd quirky comments from this wonderful forum are so outweighted by all your good wishes as to be insignificant. And besides we cant all be expected to be civil at that time in the morning can we? Thanks again all Andrew (and thanks Mike for your kind offer i would like to take you up on that hope we meet up soon

Its been a long road with more obstacles than I care to remember but now we are finally having our WB boat craned into the Thames this morning at 9am! Its 5am sleepless, excited and a bit scared! Still got loads of fitting out to do! Wish us luck everyone and thanks! This forum has been such a great help to us! Andrew

Thanks all for all your very detailed and thought provoking answers. Oveall i am encouraged and will take the advice and specify 68 feet since the K & A is something we really want to go up and down quite regularly having friends and family etc at either end and places in between! Its great to know there is such a friendly, thriving and knowledgeable community of boaters out there willing to help new people as they 'launch' themselves into a whole new lifestyle! Andrew

Thanks so much for the speedy replys I had understood a wide beam couldnt go up north for example because of the narrow sections. I wonder if a boat of these dimensions be ok getting to Bristol on the Kennet and Avon since we plan to be going this way alot? I was specifically worried that the 70ft in some locks might be a problem? Also I had heard somewhere there were plans to widen a section of canal to allow widebeams to cross from north to south? thanks again Andrew

Hello All I have been reading with fascination all the useful advice to be found hear so thought I would put my toe in the water with a question or two? My partner and I are thinking of selling our house with its (unaffordable mortgage) to buy a 70 ft wide beam boat as a (lined sailaway) to live aboard with our two children. I am very practical and handy with building so not daunted by the finishing work and I can get help with this. We have been talking to various wide beam builders and wondered if anyone has experience of Viking Narrowboats as a builder, we have visited their newbuild boat moored in Staines a couple of times and been very impressed with the overall build quality. Another question I have in mind is how far can you travel on the canal network with a boat this long? I know the width restrictions but it’s the length I can’t seem to find any info on? Any advice would be most appreciated thanks Andrew