chris collins

I've been trying to get some time to put the last couple of planks in since Christmas and it has finally happened. Time for a bit of celebration. Just leaves, the shearing, iron frames, stern wooden frames, engine beds, fore end deck beams, compass pieces lower breasthook, deck, breasthook, cants, coaming, winch, bollards, hatch, side decks, coamings, hatch boards, stern deck bearers, stern deck, coaming, sterngear, rudder, steering gear, diesel tanks, engine, water cooling pipes/mudbox, cabin, miscellaneous navigation lights, rubbing bands, stem iron and anything else that I have forgotten. Not holding my breathe.

A long ,long time since the last post so you'll be expecting something nearing completion..............unfortunately the spring and early summer disappeared clearing the backlog of jobs that had built up, docking my own boat. I guess the clue to that one is in the name. SPA50129 by chriscollins1, on Flickr Maintenance on “Mimas” and the other Troy wharf craft, maintenance of the Troy arm itself etc, etc. SPA50135 by chriscollins1, on Flickr SPA50137 by chriscollins1, on Flickr One high point was a visit from Tam & Di, great to get a bit of background on their time of ownership, I hope they have a bit more time next visit. The first narrowboat that I rebuilt took 18 months and each successive one has taken longer, I'll claim that the quality is much better but truth be told I'm older and slower as well. It's also the case “that the more you learn - the more there is to learn ” all of which takes time. Anyway it seems as though it's taken 18 months to working around the counter area, (It hasn't but it certainly feels like it ) . Good job G.U.C.C aren't waiting for the launch. It has certainly been “interesting” just how much bigger and heavier the component parts of “Progress” have been, bit's that would be about the limit of my strength on a normal narrowboat are the source of double and triple curses, hat's off to Bushell bros for the first build. SPA50190 by chriscollins1, on Flickr SPA50191 by chriscollins1, on Flickr Earlier in the thread Lawrence kindly forwarded a set of blueprints for a steel version of “Progress” and I am pretty sure that the intention was to build the proposed fleet of wide boats in steel, I am also pretty sure that the lines/shape for the wooden “Progress” where taken directly from the “steel” drawings. It is around the stern area that the quirks and foibles of this approach really becomes apparent. It's a lovely shape but you can't help but think that Bushell's would have felt a little compromised by some of the construction details needed to achieve said shape. SPA50217 by chriscollins1, on Flickr SPA50214 by chriscollins1, on Flickr It's fair to say that given a few more “Progresses” to build Bushell would have developed the plank shapes around the stern for easier fitting, at the moment some are such that they can't be positioned until they have been bent, but, they can't be bent until they are twisted, and , you guessed, they can't be twisted until they have been positioned. Hence the clamp fest and a lot of fiddly farting about, (that farting bit could just be an age thing). SPA50216 by chriscollins1, on Flickr So, the planks are still not fastened to the frames, I will need at some stage to use a few temporary fasteners as the planking gets higher. For now I'll admit to being quite pleased at the way that the planks are holding their shape, people quite often ask “how much bend will a steamed plank retain if unfastened?” and this photo gives a clue, not scientific but a bit of fun. SPA50078 by chriscollins1, on Flickr

Hi Laurence, this definitely is not on the river chess nor has it been anytime in the last 30 years, unfortunately I can't offer any help as to where it may be. I'm sure that someone of greater knowledge will be able too identify the area.

1931, an “average” saloon car retails around £300, a Bentley ( chassis only) around £2000, makes a pair of boats at £1050 sound like a bargain. 2014, £63,924.98, well, it would cover the materials.............. Tim, in the past I have tried spiling to the outside lines, of the two I find spiling to the inside to give a better fit on the mating surfaces, but for sure I can't build a pair of boats for £63,924.98, so, as they say...you pays your money.....

A little bit bit off track but hopefully of interest, A long time ago Tony Walker (Walker Bros) gave me a copy of this tender originally submitted to Associated Canal Carriers. I'm sure that he would have passed copies on to other people over the years and I'm equally sure that he would have put it in the public domain had the internet been available. It's possible that one of the nice knowledgeable people on the forum might tidy it up a bit and make it more legible.

Spiling part 2. At this point we need to “take” the bevels, start by making station marks, I normally mark every twelve inches, number the stations. At each station take the angle that the back of the proposed plank will meet the top of the plank below with. It's worth taking the time to get this right as it helps massively in getting the plank to sit correctly once bent. Now find a strip of wood as wide as your plank is thick and transfer this angle across the face, number the mark to match the station and so on through the length of the proposed plank, as you work along the straight section the bevel should remain constant. Back to our board, normally you can be certain that the board you need will be at the bottom of the pile. So, having found a board that we can avoid any faults on we can start to transfer our marks. Either with the appropriate spiling block....... Or by ruler ….. A nail at each point acts as a register to form a batten around ready for marking. Once the inside line is marked we'll need to mark our station marks for the bevels. On the majority of narrowboat planks the outer side of the plank will be the widest so we'll need to add enough material to allow us to cut the bevel. We can mark our 12 inch stations along the proposed lower edge line and refer to our bevel board to get the amount to be added at each station once again using a batten to join the dots for marking. If all goes well we'll have laid the foundations for a good tight fitting joint(s). So, hopefully that's clarified the process, happy spiling.

Spiling part 1 In a (much) earlier post I did try to describe the process of “spiling” to get an accurate template for a plank, I'm hoping that you won't mind if I revisit the subject in order to try and clarify it a bit. It's a bit image heavy so I'll have to post it in two parts, hopefully it will be helpful to someone. The mythical, magical spiling board is not quite as exotic as it sounds, just a board that you can clamp to the boat and make notations on. It helps if it is thin enough to be reasonably flexible, wide enough to support itself along it's length fairly well and free from large knots or other faults that may influence the fairness of any bend that you may put in it. Normally the shape of the fore end will require more than one board to be joined to get around the sny in the plank, on “Progress” this has been required for the stern as well. This board is on it's third rebuilding job, it's about 20 foot long, six inches wide and around half inch thick. Occasionally the original frames can be used to support the spiling board but it is worth having a long hard look at what the original builder had intended and whether those frames are still an accurate representation of that intent, very often age and a hard life have taken their toll. On this side of the fore end of “Progress” the decision was made simple when the port quarter collapsed in a pile of mushroom compost interspersed with bits of plank and frame, luckily the starboard side has stayed relatively intact to act as a pattern. So, first job is to put up some temporary frames to support the spiling board. The line of the frames, shape and depth of the hoodings and the top edge of the plank can be checked by hanging battens as needed, the top edge of the plank is worth checking carefully as it's quite possible that this may have been influenced by the the timber available at the time of the original build, you've then got the choice of following the original intent or the original result, you will of course be damned if you do and damned if you don't but at least you'll be making a decision based on knowledge. When you are happy that all is fair and accurate you can hang the board, as can be seen here the shape of the proposed plank precludes the use of a straight spiling board for the full length, at the far end the “straight” board will be rising again to the boundary of the top edge of the plank . At this point I'm still about 8ft away from the stempost and will need to join more pieces on in order to achieve the shape. It is vitally important that the spiling board sits snug to it's supports, particularly around the fore and aft curves as any discrepancy is magnified by the increased effective radius multiplied by Pi. The worst case scenario is where the lower edge of the plank is snug but the top edge is angled slightly outwards, the resulting plank will carry a disproportional amount of material along it's top edge. The extra material will not only affect the stretching and compression stresses when we start to bend the plank but also it's shape lengthways as any attempt to clamp in the resulting bulge will want to push the ends of the plank in a downward direction. If the plank is the right shape it will usually “allow” us to make the bend and although it won't exactly “fall” into shape it's noticeable that it will pull round and hold it's shape with a bare minimum of clamps. The blocks are where I have started to join on more pieces to follow the shape along and round to the stempost. So board(s) in place, time to start marking, choose your weapon...... Simple, efficient and proven over many years, if there is sufficient space around the spiling board then purpose made spiling blocks work really well. Mark your line along the full width of the top of the block to aid alignment when transposing your marks. One of the advantages of using spiling blocks is that you can mark both sides of the spiling board relatively easily, this can be very useful later when you are sorting through the timber pile as it often saves having to turn over the flitch to see if your proposed plank will fit. Normally a “set” of blocks is required to cover for the varying distance 'tween board and plank edge. Just remember to mark which block was used where! As all you are doing is making repeatable marks on the spiling board there are other methods, a simple consistent measurement such as this backed up with a line along the edge of the rule to aid alignment works fine, people working on smaller boats often use compasses. All marks are taken from the inside edge of the plank as this is the most important side for us to get right, often the outer side is the larger due to the plank bevel but it is still more accurate to mark the inside first and use it as a datum to then mark the outer. When you are sure that you have got all the marks you need (plus a few for luck) carefully take the spiling board down, I like to use a template at the hood end for a bit of added reassurance. Lots of care handling the board over to the timber pile helps preserve the accuracy.

Speedwheel, that's brilliant, I've spent the last 25 years looking at pictures of “Progress” and I've never come across this one before. It looks very early on as it still has the hatch covers and life rings, the kind of things that could get misplaced or damaged. It also doesn't appear to show any loaded tide mark (could just be the photo?) Tam / Di I'm hoping that one day when your over this direction you'll drop in and have a look over, maybe give us a call beforehand as the yard gate is normally locked. I've just been reading the post about “Mossdale” and it's really nice to see that moves are afoot to prolong it's preservation, lots and lots of goodwill and goodluck to all involved. Reading through the post there are a couple of “general wooden boat preservation” points that could be worth a thought. With regard to the criticism levelled at the museum it's worth bearing in mind that working boats underwent a long period of development to suit the purpose for which they where built and the change of use to “static exhibit” is very much at odds with that evolution. The deterioration of an ex working vessel is accelerated in many subtle ways just by standing still, some,such as the constant waterline and sunny / shaded sides are obvious, others take time to manifest themselves. It's worth considering the role of free air movement as an example, whilst a boat is being used there would be an almost constant flow of air over, round and through the vessel, from the movement of the boat itself, the people moving within, open doors / hatches, a lighted stove, the list could go on, all contribute to moving the layer of saturated air close to any damp surface (inside or out) of the vessel and replacing it with drier air in a constant and beneficial cycle. (A useful analogy here is how much quicker your washing dries when there is a breeze to move the saturated air layer close to the surface, far more effective than temperature alone). Our static exhibit may well be shut up for weeks on end, clothed up to keep the rain out and in the process excluding any beneficial breeze available. The average air humidity level in this country is around 60% , at 90% air humidity wood becomes sufficiently wet to promote and support the brown rot organisms, clearly the inevitable condensation (100%humidity) cycle within a closed cabin or hold area is far greater on our “static exhibit”and hugely increases the risk of the growth of spoilage organisms. With such things in mind it's pretty clear that if boatbuilders had been developing a “static exhibit” over the last few hundred years we would now be looking at a completely different shape and construction. As things stand there is a very real possibility that a newly rebuilt “Progress” or suchlike could have a considerably shorter lifespan as a “static exhibit” or “occasionally used recreational vehicle” than in it's original life. At the present time the “craft” of “looking after” our small and dwindling stock of vessels is a long way below the “critical mass” of experiences, solutions and communications needed to build a solid and sound protocol for long term preservation, the small number of vessels involved, the (comparatively) short term involvement of the people exposed to the experiences and the geographically fragmented nature of those experiences hinder the validation and potential enlightenment concealed therein. So, as you'll probably of guessed, I have a certain amount of sympathy for anybody that tries to prolong the life of a wooden ex working boat.

Pluto, that's fantastic, I'm full of questions about the when / where /who of the builds, the origins of the regional differences, so first off I'll send you a message about your article, many thanks.

Pluto, thanks for sharing that, the photo illustrates the shape very well, the planking seems to be about halfway between traditional canal style widths and “normal” maritime practice. I've never really had an opportunity to study the wooden L&L boats so any other photos/ info you can share, and in particular construction details would be well appreciated. Pen n ink, I've never built a curved staircase ( or any other staircase) so lets stand together and raise a glass to the gods of trees, wood, tools and skills, long may it last. Derek, As you allude to, the development of skills is linked to demand, and unfortunately wooden boatbuilding is in pretty low demand right now. In the wider scheme of things, although we have built machines that require minimum of human input to efficiently produce high quality “articles” for our consumption, and it cannot be denied that the material lives of all of us have been enriched by such manufacturing, one of the hidden costs is the loss of handcraft skills. It is difficult to see many youngsters being able to finance the 10,000 or so hours that turns a talent into a skill that, frankly, will pay a good deal less than the same time invested in a white collar job. So unfortunately it looks increasingly likely that, just as we now have children that don't realise that chips are made from potatoes, we could have a generation of children that have never witnessed anything being made. Hey ho, it's not really that long ago that being a knight in shining armour would have been a great skill to have, not a lot of use on the M25 now, time moves on regardless.

This is a gorgeous shot of “Progress” in build, I wish I had a better copy of it as it does not really do justice to the shape of the swim/counter bottoms (to be fair none of the photographs that I have taken show the shape particularly well either, possibly to do with the way it reflects the light? I have to admit that it is also bit of an ego boosting shot in a “Wow it looks really huge”sort of way, hopefully that boatbuilder is more than 3' 6'' tall. Unlike a “normal” motor narrow boat where the counter bottoms sit atop of the swim planks and stern post at near 90 degrees (albeit with a nicely constructed concave underside) on “Progress” there is a rather more organic radius between the two components. Naturally a lot of the original has rotted badly which makes the details of the method of construction a bit more of a detective job, however one of the advantages of working around the swim area is that as it tends to be relatively unworn it will sometimes reveal details that would be lost in the more vulnerable areas. Just a couple of shots to show that I'm not very good at illustrating the shape of the stern, perhaps not all pictures are worth a thousand words? Although the bends on “Progress” are no more severe than on your “average” narrowboat in order to achieve the shape there is an enormous amount of twist in the lower three strakes. It is interesting that in the majority of sea going vessels similar shapes would have been fashioned with much narrower planks. Whilst a more detailed examination of the two approaches is beyond the scope of these posts it's a rich source of food for thought. “Progress” is very very close to the limit of what can be done with 2” oak and it's intriguing to to take peek at some of the methods employed to get those curves. When I first looked at these frames I thought that the curve across the board had probably been shaped after the plank had been steamed into position, possibly using temporary frames first to form the bend/twist and then fairing the convex inner face before fitting the permanent frames. Using the natural tendency for timber shrink more in its inner face when cut tangentially could help develop the curve but the amount of “cupping” needed would exceed what is available naturally. Unfortunately steaming the plank will not help either as the bond between the cell walls across the grain is not strong enough to allow us to stretch the convex radius. When we bend timber,along the length of the grain, cold or steamed, we will stretch the fibres on the outside of the radius and compress those on the inside, unsurprisingly the outside seems to stretch a bit easier than the inner compresses. When I first started I was quite surprised when I carefully templated the inside lines for a plank, equally carefully cut and finished said plank, steamed it and found it had grown to be 3/16” too long. Similarly when we twist a plank it will stretch or compress along the fibres of the grain, what we cannot do is introduce a bend across the grain which is, unfortunately, what we would need to do to avoid having to fair that inner face. So, I was expecting at least a part of the convex shape to have been cut after bending........... However as this shot of the hood end of the plank shows, the shape has been cut all the way to it's mating face to the sternpost so it was probably shaped before steaming/bending. Allowing for a bit of age deterioration this would have been around 1 1/2” thick when new. Going back to the “in build” picture at bushell's it's interesting to see how high ( or low) the original stood during build, as can be seen here the shape of the plank and it's initial angle to meet the stem or stern post dictates more than the normal amount of clearance under the vessel. So far all of planks, stem or stern, have involved a certain amount of plank to dock interface, usually accompanied by some fairly frantic scrabbling to get the plank up and around before the plank cools off. Oh to be a Fly on the wall at bushell's ?

Hi I used to be able to use flickr as a host, cut and paste the bb code on to a cwdf post with no problems at all, as with a lot of things computerwise flickr updated, cwdf updated, I didn't, now I don't get the choice of a bb code, just a link address which cwdf rejects with You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community..

Hi Ray, you have probably chosen the worst person to ask about dates, I'm pretty useless with names, dates and all manner of other useful information. Although I have rough idea of the order of things in my mind it's certainly not to be trusted enough to put in black and white, to quote Mark Twain “when I was young I could remember things whether they happened or not” I can remember Mrs Best saying that she wasn't all that keen on “Mimas” because the gearbox kept breaking down ! Obviously if it's important to you I can have deeper look “in the archives”and have word with John or put you in touch with him, although I think he was just a toddler at the time. On a more general note there was a good article in W.W about 25 years ago about the Ovaltine fleet, If you haven't seen it let me know and I'll try and scan it and let you have a copy.

Super, I'll give it a try and hopefully here's that last couple of pictures. More of the same really, reminds me of what lovely summer we had. That's probably my image allowance done for this time, I'll try to get some more captions done soon to get a bit more up to date.

many thanks