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There is an interesting debate going on FB. Basically someone wants to build sleeping accommodation into the engine room of a trad. I always thought an engine room had to be separated from the living accommodation by a steel bulkhead/door but maybe I am wrong? The idea seems silly to me and  dangerous.

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2 minutes ago, Traveller said:

There is an interesting debate going on FB. Basically someone wants to build sleeping accommodation into the engine room of a trad. I always thought an engine room had to be separated from the living accommodation by a steel bulkhead/door but maybe I am wrong? The idea seems silly to me and  dangerous.

Not necessarily. Many trad boats with boxed in engines in the stern have the bedroom directly next door, but no door or bulkhead.

In what case would you consider it dangerous? Not many would lie in bed whilst cruising. A working boat in the old days had the boatman's cabin in the stern then the engine in front.

 

If its a mid engine it would be unusual. Providing there is adequate means of escape I can see no problem.

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A friend had a boat with a sort of engine room with a boxed in engine and a fold down bed that sat on top of the engine box.  It worked well but this predated the RCD euroboat rules and regulations.

We sleep in a back cabin, there is a wooden bifold door between this and the engine room but it never gets closed. Sleeping next to a warm engine is rather nice in winter, in fact its just dropped to 2 degrees here so might do a little engine run this evening.

 

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

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Sleeping in (as oppose to next door to) a room where the batteries are and where they maybe charging and possibly giving off some nasty fumes does appear a risk to me. Not to mention being over what might be a wet and somewhat oily bilge and any other appliances that might be out there, such as heating. Must admit I have never been on a narrowboat where the engine compartment was not the other side of a steel bulkhead but appreciate there will be those which predate modern build standards.

Edited by Traveller
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If it was a real trad, historic with a gleaming Bollinder or ilk, and if I had the knowledge to keep it in tip-top running condition (which is a no), then yes, I would want a bunk right by just to admire it instead of watching the idiotbox. Anything less and it's just an oily means of propulsion and could think of better places to kip. On the other hand I had a marina neighbour once who had put an inboard engine right in the middle of his 27' self-made steel yacht.  No cover, nowt, easy access. He'd eat on his chart table.

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54 minutes ago, dmr said:

A friend had a boat with a sort of engine room with a boxed in engine and a fold down bed that sat on top of the engine box.  It worked well but this predated the RCD euroboat rules and regulations.

We sleep in a back cabin, there is a wooden bifold door between this and the engine room but it never gets closed. Sleeping next to a warm engine is rather nice in winter, in fact its just dropped to 2 degrees here so might do a little engine run this evening.

 

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

Like us, only closed with non family guests onboard

 

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5 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

If it was a real trad, historic with a gleaming Bollinder or ilk, and if I had the knowledge to keep it in tip-top running condition (which is a no), then yes, I would want a bunk right by just to admire it instead of watching the idiotbox. Anything less and it's just an oily means of propulsion and could think of better places to kip. On the other hand I had a marina neighbour once who had put an inboard engine right in the middle of his 27' self-made steel yacht.  No cover, nowt, easy access. He'd eat on his chart table.

Mine doesn't gleam and some (including me) would say its bit of a mess. but I don't have to clamber over it to get out of the rear door.

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2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Mine doesn't gleam and some (including me) would say its bit of a mess. but I don't have to clamber over it to get out of the rear door.

Sometimes, when you see boats with hatches open showing off something beautiful and functional, it's fantastic. I wasn't meaning to denigrate anything that isn't perfect. Put into context, I keep a couple of old Seagull outboards on a stand in the fireplace and a Petter A1 stationary in the kitchen. They would get cold in the shed!

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7 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

Sometimes, when you see boats with hatches open showing off something beautiful and functional, it's fantastic. I wasn't meaning to denigrate anything that isn't perfect. Put into context, I keep a couple of old Seagull outboards on a stand in the fireplace and a Petter A1 stationary in the kitchen. They would get cold in the shed!

Have you taken the black paint off those brass Seagull fuel tanks and polished them up?

 

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

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5 minutes ago, dmr said:

Have you taken the black paint off those brass Seagull fuel tanks and polished them up?

 

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

No, but they do look great back to brass. The two are functioning with a donor in bits. Have used them on a tender or as aux on little trailer sailer but now use a more modern 3.3hp for same. Love the Seagulls though and keep as backups. Forgot about a couple of Ailsa Craig (Tomos) 4hps that I've got. At the time they were like the Skoda of outboards but they're dead simple and kept going. Paid £10.50 for the short shaft one only a few years ago. It ran with a bit of cleaning.

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13 hours ago, BWM said:

Nothing like the great smell of diesel when you're having a kip, its bad enough in a back cabin sometimes!

Clearly you dont look after your boat. Why is there a smell inside ?

Edited by Tonka
Smell came out as small
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When we had child number 3 on our boat I suggested he might have to sleep on a shelf in the engine room. Mrs Bee thoroughly unreasonable and said we might have to get a house so we bought the only house we could afford, two bedrooms, terraced, less than 10` wide and not much bigger than the boat. Nice to get away from BWB though.

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2 hours ago, Tonka said:

Clearly you dont look after your boat. Why is there a smell inside ?

Much clearer that you are unfamiliar with the traditional engine room, the bilge is shared with the back cabin. 

 With an older engine (70 years), the occasional leak or pipework faliure happens, spillage during a filter change, etc., diesel can escape and as anyone familiar with handling it knows, the odour lasts long after the clean up. 

 As an aside, i have spent over £40,000 on restoration and maintenance in the last 6 years, hardly an indicator of neglect. 

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14 minutes ago, BWM said:

Much clearer that you are unfamiliar with the traditional engine room, the bilge is shared with the back cabin. 

 With an older engine (70 years), the occasional leak or pipework faliure happens, spillage during a filter change, etc., diesel can escape and as anyone familiar with handling it knows, the odour lasts long after the clean up. 

 As an aside, i have spent over £40,000 on restoration and maintenance in the last 6 years, hardly an indicator of neglect. 

I own a traditional narrowboat

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2 hours ago, BWM said:

Much clearer that you are unfamiliar with the traditional engine room, the bilge is shared with the back cabin. 

Not on a Big Woowich (as originally built) it isn't. Full steel bulkhead rivetted in from baseplate to engine room roof, with just an opening several inches above the bottom for the prop shaft to pass through.

As long as you don't let the water/oil/diesel level in either bilge rise up to that opening there can be no transfer between them.

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6 hours ago, David Mack said:

Not on a Big Woowich (as originally built) it isn't. Full steel bulkhead rivetted in from baseplate to engine room roof, with just an opening several inches above the bottom for the prop shaft to pass through.

As long as you don't let the water/oil/diesel level in either bilge rise up to that opening there can be no transfer between them.

I'm talking about the smell of diesel having the ability to find its way in, not the actual fuel.

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9 hours ago, Tonka said:

I own a traditional narrowboat

A genuine traditional style boat with a slow revving long stroke engine of some age in a proper engine room?

 

I actually have a bunk built over a Petter PH2W which is situated at the rear of a 24’ long cabin on a 35’ boat. I sleep with my feet a few inches above the rocker boxes, the covers of which are accessed by removing the slats and base at the foot of the bed. The other end of the bed sits above the end of the bath. In the gap between the engine and the bathroom are removable shelves for clothes. It’s ingenious but it has one distinct drawback, at least as far as my wife is concerned. All the bed clothes and anything stored on the shelves smell of a mixture of diesel and oil.

 

That maybe could be avoided with a modern boxed in engine but I doubt you’d manage to prevent the smell of the engine pervading a bed built within a true engine room, as opposed to an engine hidden in a bedroom.

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