harrybsmith

Not quite sure where all this negativity has come from, seems slightly unconstructive. I'm not posting here for any personal gain really, only to provide a reference for anyone contemplating doing similar as to exactly what goes into it, as no such thing exists. Anyway, to help allay some worries you may have (worse than my mother and I thought she was national worrying champion) i've prepared some labelled photos to see what's going on Oh, and as for liberty ships, I've never seen a U Boat on a canal so I think i'll be fairly safe...

Seems a reasonable request, i'll get some pics for you when i'm next at the boat. Welding both sides of everything, the reason that there looks to be no bevelling of the edges of the plates for prep is because when the plate is overlapped with the existing hull before trimming to size (to achieve a consistent root gap, also an important part of a good weld) the exact size the plate will end up isn't known, so it can't be prepped on the floor. My way of doing it is to get the plate tacked as minimally as possible into place and then cut a V in the join using a grinding disc, approximately to 1/2 the thickness of the plate. Weld that up, then do exactly the same on the other side of the plate, but grind the notch until you hit weld and grind through the original tacks. That way full penetration is (nearly) assured. It's quite a slow way of doing it and I know you wouldn't ever base an industrial process around it, but it is thorough and as both sides are welded fully then i'd be mightily unlucky to get an invisible weld defect in both welds in the same location causing a leak

I'm stick welding, not using gasless MIG below the waterline. I've used gasless above the waterline. I'll grant you, there are a couple of areas (and I mean probably 1ft of bead) that aren't great and I know I need to redo. All edges are bevelled and reasonably prepped before welding How familiar are you with narrowboat construction? Quite a few people who know their stuff (aka have built boats) and don't pull their punches have seen it in person and in general their feedback was positive I may dye pen test the welds, I am familiar with weld inspection. Always happy to listen on how to improve and do appreciate your concern

Back at it! Productive weekend with plenty more in the pipeline now, life reconfigured for the better. Finished off the welding of the plate that I put in last time, and welded up inside the bow (inc fitting the scantlings) as the next major step will be to make and fit the tug deck The new boatyard* is quite different to the old one, this is a far more involved project than most people have seen done here so they all think i'm a fruitcake *You may recognise where it is, please don't mention it at the moment but if you're local then feel free to message me to pop round for a chat

Oh do you now... fancy selling me one to stick in my project? Nice enough boat though, just needs a bloomin good going through

Updates! Contrary to popular belief I've not been slacking, ran out of cash or given up and emigrated, I just had a few other priorities. My other boat is now sold, if I'm honest to exactly the type of buyer I didn't really want. I put in the advert "your best negotiating tactic is to turn up and tell me the history of GRP boats on canals (and bring biscuits)" hoping to encourage some research beforehand. Sadly that wasn't the case at all, the buyer bought it blind, didn't take on board what I'd said on the handover day I set aside then ran out of diesel, and was told by a certain company it needed a new engine. What a saga... One thing I have been doing while waiting for transport/cranage is putting a cabin on a friend's boat that was next door to mine. Note was, and the lack of my boat next to it, the move has happened! First proper work weekend next weekend, very excited to be back at it

Very similar to a "tropical roof" which was an option on Land Rovers used in hot climates, effectively another roof skin held about 1" above the normal roof

I'm impatiently waiting for the boatyard to get their bloomin crane working and give me a date it can be moved to another yard! I went to see it yesterday, update is it's still there, as was the dog, who looked dejected I had no sausages for him. To keep you all amused here's my proposed interior rough fitout, for your critique Oh, another thing i'm impatiently waiting for is the sale of my current liveaboard boat, i've lost 3 weekends and 4 days off work to people who turn up and say ridiculous things like "the windows are too big for me" or "oh I thought living on a boat was free" when they ask about the costs. It's going on a brokerage at the end of next weekend if it hasn't sold, i'll let the professionals deal with it.

Chop it off and go again is the way to go, however if you must overplate then cutting holes in it as mentioned and welding through is a good idea, as is drilling and tapping a hole in the plate for a grease nipple then filling the void between the 2 plates with grease to drive out moisture and prevent corrosion

If anyone is starting from Fazeley let me know, I'm planning to be cruising in the opposite direction so with a bit of a wink and a nudge you might find the locks set for you

I've had stones thrown at my boat on 2 occasions going towards Camp Hill from Catherine de Barnes, 1st time was pretty poorly orchestrated, the 2nd was a full on ambush- a visible yobbo threw a bit of gravel and while I looked at him his hidden mates lobbed 2 bricks. Pretty well done tbf

That would indeed be you... I'm sure you'd echo the sentiments of it's a lot of expense and time though

A full rebuild of a wooden narrowboat (of which there's probably 20 or so that don't need a full rebuild) is currently around £200k alone in materials, and about 2 person years of work. I desperately want to rebuild one so i'm looking to buy a forest in the nearish future, already have access to a massive sawmill and a timber tractor*. It really isn't a cheap or easy option, you need to be well off enough to buy a house and mental enough to not, instead devoting years of your life to graft, inevitably shortening your life expectancy and being able to do little else with your spare time. Replating a steel narrowboat isn't particularly hard, and GRP boats are the easiest of all. *There's 1 person who may be reading this who can disregard this

Boatman stoves are relatively cheap new, UK manufactured and perform pretty well, might be worth a look

Don't see why not, it's not particularly aggressive stuff so unlikely to attack toilet plastic (which in my case is a PVC, but mine isn't a Thetford), it's pretty good on white fenders too

Nor can you buy decent bitumen as I understand it... As stated, unless you had some sort of anodic protection then concrete to steel is less than ideal. I've used (ooh, spoiler...) zinc phosphate primer and "Supercote" enamel, which is what a lot of agricultural equipment is painted with in my bilges. Went on a treat.

I use Autodesk Fusion 360 professionally and have a reasonably accurate model of my boat on it, if you want the files to modify for yours then please let me know- mine have mainly been used for quantity surveying and working out routes for pipework etc

It's a bit like the MOT rule- "If it's there, it's got to work." BSS can be a bit of a lottery, the inspector that did my latest one checked about 3 things, then demanded a coffee, complained about the weather then left, which is worse for everyone involved than someone who is excessively thorough

Hang on, I've got a 32ft boat I'm about to sell, with a shower (and many other things) that's had all work there possibly is to do to it done for under £20k. Has been a comfortable liveaboard for 6 years

Take a bow (and chop a hole in it) The day started out with a visit from HM Sausage Inspectorate to check that breakfast was of adequate quality. Dissatisfied by the lack of samples they decided to make it a thorough visit that lasted all day As per the other side, a big, undersized hole was cut and the plate craned into place using an engine crane With it welded in place at the back then the plate could be pulled round to follow the curve of the hull. Pull, chop, tack, you know the drill. Trim it to fit the stem bar, and does it line up to the baseplate? Does it heck. Stick a centreline down the boat, measure at 30cm intervals perpendicular, measure the height to the "good" side from them, transfer that to the "bad" side, do a dot to dot and chop it to match. Chop through the stem bar (catch the baseplate first...) then jack the baseplate up and weld in place Then trim off the baseplate to the hull profile, leaving a 1" wear edge. It still needs seam welding on this side, but that's the last bits of work I'll be doing in this particular yard before moving it by road to another one. I've recently changed job (which massively helps this project as I actually have evenings and more weekends now) so the boat needs to come with me Tug deck next

Yes I do use gel, and yes it is necessary Accuracy verified as I've been chopping lumps out my boat so can caliper the thickness of them when removed

I have a cheap one (bought 2nd hand), for the first 10 or so measurements after calibration it's dead accurate, after that some measurement drift creeps in and it needs recalibration. A hammer can also be used as a thickness sounder (used extensively in industry, I did a lot of it in my last job), learn what good, thick metal sounds like when hit and you'll soon hear the difference on a thin bit

As someone who has lived on a Highbridge (snooty cousin of a Dawncraft) for 6 years as a comfortable home I feel fairly qualified to answer Yep, they can leak, and yep that central "division" (called a bulkhead) is structural, but also you'll be fine. Boats and excessive worrying don't go together, for that reason my mum is banned from visiting... Unless the wood is properly rotten it can probably be salvaged with "wood hardener" and plenty of good paint or varnish on top. This isn't the "rolls royce" solution but it's not a ¼ Million Crick winner, it's an affordable, usable liveaboard. GRP tends to "wriggle*" under fittings and things like windows that create leaks, it's to do with rates of expansion and slight moisture absorption. The best solution is to remove them and apply a flexible bedding sealant behind, the easy way is to use something like Capt Tolleys squirted around them to seal up leaks Wooden box over the centre sounds a bit rubbish if I'm honest, they're expensive but consider a proper canopy, sheds are for gardens, not for boats. And most of all relax and enjoy it, that's what boating is all about

Well @MtB, you just had to jinx it didn't you... I had a couple of days free, which just at the moment is something of a rarity. Did I do my own boat as would be sensible? No, of course not. I got suckered into building a cabin (or half of one so far) for the boat next door. Bums.

I didn't want to distract from the actual topic of the thread as it was a bloomin controversial boat in need of massive amounts of work, but it was ex Thos. Clayton tanker Pearl (wooden) Was a few years ago, I imagine it sank too many times and they got fed up and chainsawed it to bits. Once the current steel (nearly historic) boat is done then I will do a wooden one to make up for not saving it ; )