Jump to content

Boat Sitting too high?


Featured Posts

5 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I agree that some ovens run at ~3kw and a 13a plug, but as I didn't know the 'range' I did a google search and it said 3kw-5kw.

 

Edit to add - Wotever seems to have similar figures (3Kw-4Kw)

I was assuming hob as well as oven (why would you have an electric oven and a gas hob on a boat?). So ‘electric stove’ works as a basis. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, 70liveaboard said:

@Deeplock.

 

Is the diesel tank across the stern and how much fuel is in there ?

Where is the water tank located ?

 

My thoughts Deeplock are, the builder needs to sort out the problem. They should have gone over eveything with you when you ordered the shell. Even though they may not have been doing the fit-out, they would need to know roughly what you had in mind, so that they could have ballasted the boat to suit. Seeing as they were lining it out and getting back to the ballast may not be the easiest thing to do.

 

As many have said here, it is going to take 'some weight' to get her down into the water. ?

 

That is a large boat, hope you get some handling tips. Unless you've had one before.

Have you got any more pics ?

 

Anyway.. Good luck and congrats on your new boat.. :)   I know! but it isn't the end of the world..

Hi thanks for your advice, 

diesel tank is across the stern, it’s a 400 L capacity and is approx 30% full. Water tank in the bow, I think it’s approx half full.

 

the boat company has acknowledged it needs steel and are sending someone out - I’m hoping they find a solution. 

 

i will put up some pics later, just trying to catch up with all the great input and comments from everyone ! Really appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Yeahbut that means another 4 tonnes of ballast in the front, too...

 

Oh and this is not a narrowboat. :icecream: 

That is why I said Canal boat!

The figures I gave earlier were to get the whole hull down 2" not just the stern. 

The bodge way would be to stick a couple (not 4) ton of ballast at the stern but this would raise the bow two inches and ruin the trim.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Murflynn said:

You will need a lot more ballast if you put it under the kitchen floor.  The extreme rear of the boat will be the best location for minimising the amount of ballast needed to get the stern down (the horizontal plate should be just under the water).

You haven't mentioned the trim of the bow of the boat - ideally there should be a slight gradient from the front to the back of the boat (gunwale, roof, cabin floor), with your water and fuel tanks full.  

Hello,

 

Thanks for your comments, greatly welcomed and appreciated.

 

Im sorry I don’t know the trim of the boat, but I have put it on my list of things to check this evening.

 

I will come back you on that one 

I will speak to a surveyor who is independent and can help determine what’s really going to be required to resolve the problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Cancel them. Putting 4 tonnes of steel ballast under the plinths will be a monumental bodge.

 

This is the first in (I suspect) a long series of cock-ups. The next one to hit is the electric oven (and presumably electric hob) you've mentioned. I suspect there are loads more. 

 

The time to re-plan your fit-out and do it properly is NOW, and not muddle through it devising bodges as you go. 

 

 

 

Hi, thanks I think this you’re right - I can’t see how they could even hide 3/4 tonnes of steel behind the plinths. Speaking to the kitchen company now, hoping they can delay for a week until I get this sorted. 

 

Boat will I’ll be on shore power most of the time, but I will look into this later and come back to everyone once I’ve (we’ve) resolved this ballast issue.

 

thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, DeepLock said:

Hi, thanks I think this you’re right - I can’t see how they could even hide 3/4 tonnes of steel behind the plinths. Speaking to the kitchen company now, hoping they can delay for a week until I get this sorted. 

 

Boat will I’ll be on shore power most of the time, but I will look into this later and come back to everyone once I’ve (we’ve) resolved this ballast issue.

 

thanks

Are you aware of the RCD requirements?

Edited by ditchcrawler
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

 

The bodge way would be to stick a couple (not 4) ton of ballast at the stern but this would raise the bow two inches and ruin the trim.

without knowing the trim at present, you can't possibly know if it will 'ruin' the trim (it may actually improve it).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you dont want a gas oven/hob, consider a diesel fired one, pricey, but the only other viable option to gas.  I've no experience of diesel ovens  but electric will not work without a generator of at least 3kw i would say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Murflynn said:

with the greatest respect, it's a bit late to start specifying what type of kitchen galley equipment will be supplied.

Not really. It’s not fitted yet and what is planned won’t work so surely it’s better to address it at this stage. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 12ft widebeam needed a bit of ballast at the stern when it was first built. The uxter was in the water but not low enough for my liking. I put half a tonne of bricks from old storage heaters on the uxter plates and it lowered the stem by about an inch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your widebeam is anything like mine you will struggle to get any more ballast under the floor because your boat is so buoyant that all the space under the floor is already full of ballast. Mine has 2 layers of broken concrete slab totalling about 8 tonnes + another half tonne that I put in the engine room. You could change some of your concrete slab to something heavier like steel of course. Once you fill the water tank it's going to bring the bow down a couple of inches or more too - depending on the volume and assuming it's at the bow. Some have said that you will need to trim the boat. Bow to stern maybe, but in my experience you won't need to trim port to starboard unless you're putting a granite worktop on one side. With a boat if this beam an 18 stone bloke can step aboard and the boat hardly moves.

Edited by blackrose
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Loddon said:

Most canal boats run better with the hull as close to hotizontal as you can get it. ;)

We sit bow up by about one degree, just had a week in the dry dock and each morning I got up (from the back cabin) tried to walk past the engine and almost fell over. After a week I had it sussed, now back in the water but every time I go to bed I fall over, but maybe this is because Stone has too many good pubs. One degree looks to be the magic figure, a list of one degree is also just about tolerable.

 

Is the OPs rather huge widebeam going to move or is it going to live in a marina?????

 

.................Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

If your widebeam is anything like mine you will struggle to get any more ballast under the floor because your boat is so buoyant that all the space under the floor is already full of ballast.

 

This is a very good point and probably the reason for the builder's weasel words and why wants to put the extra ballast under the kitchen base units. He knows there is already no room under the floor and he probably hasn't painted it under there!

 

Given the steelwork probably weighs only about 20 tonnes or so, with no concealed ballast the shell would float WAY higher in the water than your photo shows, so I think we may surmise there is already a good few tonnes of ballast under the floor. A point that had not occurred to me until BR posted about his. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

"I was expecting the leisure batteries and engine running would power the oven? 

I have a steeling inverter with 3 leisure batteries"

 

Yes, well from what I skim-read, you and others had already made the OP aware that's not going to work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, blackrose said:

If your widebeam is anything like mine you will struggle to get any more ballast under the floor because your boat is so buoyant that all the space under the floor is already full of ballast. Mine has 2 layers of broken concrete slab totalling about 8 tonnes + another half tonne that I put in the engine room. You could change some of your concrete slab to something heavier like steel of course. Once you fill the water tank it's going to bring the bow down a couple of inches or more too - depending on the volume and assuming it's at the bow. Some have said that you will need to trim the boat. Bow to stern maybe, but in my experience you won't need to trim port to starboard unless you're putting a granite worktop on one side. With a boat if this beam an 18 stone bloke can step aboard and the boat hardly moves.

Yes, that makes sense and I suspect builder doesn’t want to lift up floors and replace the brick ballast with steel hence why he told me to carry on fitting the kitchen! This is exactly what I’m going to tell him, replace the bricks with steel and see how we go from there. Thanks 

12 hours ago, rawsondsr said:

If you dont want a gas oven/hob, consider a diesel fired one, pricey, but the only other viable option to gas.  I've no experience of diesel ovens  but electric will not work without a generator of at least 3kw i would say.

We are going electric as we’ll be in the marina approx 75% of the time, when we’re cruising we’ll just use gas. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, dmr said:

We sit bow up by about one degree, just had a week in the dry dock and each morning I got up (from the back cabin) tried to walk past the engine and almost fell over. After a week I had it sussed, now back in the water but every time I go to bed I fall over, but maybe this is because Stone has too many good pubs. One degree looks to be the magic figure, a list of one degree is also just about tolerable.

 

Is the OPs rather huge widebeam going to move or is it going to live in a marina?????

 

.................Dave

Hi DMR, it will be moving once we get this problem sorted! We will be located in. Marina with shore power, however, going by the comments here I think we may have underestimated the power output required. 

9 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

With electric cooking it better sit in a marina.

Done!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, DeepLock said:

Hi DMR, it will be moving once we get this problem sorted! We will be located in. Marina with shore power, however, going by the comments here I think we may have underestimated the power output required. 

 

 

If you're only going to be sitting in a marina on shore power then you'll be fine, but if you want to move around and insist on a gas-free boat you better think of other ways to cook rather than using your batteries - or a massively upgraded DC system including recharging. Or just eat salads!

26 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Yes - but I was answering DMR's question as thought maybe he hadn't noticed the 'answer' earlier in the thread.

Ok, I'll let you off then. ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good Morning to you all, OP here ????

 

We’ll, I didn’t expect so many replies and so much useful information to come out - bonus was that I learnt a little more about where and when I can use my oven. Apologies to the people that sent me details on the oven, to be honest I really haven’t time to investigate this part as I’m just very concerned about the balance of the boat.

 

As a result of all your feedback,

 

I have now stopped the galley fit out - thankfully nothing was hard fixed to walls etc. 

 

I have been in touch with a surveyor for an  Independent assessment.

 

I have contacted the builder and advised them to get here promptly, this week and not next week.Ive also told them I’m not having steel shoved behind the plinths, it will have to go under the floors.

 

All your comments were greatly appreciated. I will come back to you with an update once surveyor comes in.

 

thanks

Edited by DeepLock
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, DeepLock said:

All your comments were greatly appreciated.

It would appear that you are 'new' to boating - don't be afraid to ask any question (however stupid it may appear to you), you will get some good answers and some friendly barracking but overall this forum is the 'font of all knowledge'.

 

The three biggest issues to really get to understand are :

 

1) Electricity usage and replacement.

2) Sewage disposal (toilet systems)

3) Potable water - sourcing and 'managing consumption'.

 

Boats cannot be made into floating flats with unlimited utilities, but neither do they need to be 'camping in a cave'.

With knowledge and the forums help you can find a happy medium.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.