My Sailaway Decisions - Good & Bad

[system 4-50]

I aim to list here the decisions I made during the process of acquiring my sailaway 12 years ago and fitting it out, and add a comment as to whether I now think those decisions were good or bad.

 

Decision 001.  I would buy a sailaway.  GOOD.

In Autumn 2009 I realised that, after many years, my family no longer looked to me for direction & guidance, and on the rare occasions that they did, the guidance I gave was wrong.  I was redundant.  I was also retired.  I had put my energies over the years into projects about the house which saved money when we did not have a lot and added useful function, but now my wife was tired of having ongoing part-complete projects underfoot and preferred to have professionals in.  Although they did a crap job and never gave you what you asked for, at least they were quick. Once they started. Sometimes.  So I neeeded a project, and a project that was out of the house.  I'm not a people person, I'm a machine person, I find that machines communicate far more precisely than humans, so the local dramatic society and such like was out.  It occured to me that I could buy a Sailaway and fit it out and that would fit the bill.

I looked about for a supplier.  I was in a hurry.  If I could buy it within 3 months ie before Dec31 2009, I could get it at 15% VAT rather than 20%, a useful saving.  I found a single person builder with land by a river with a crane and paid a few visits.  All seemed good until I stepped back a moment and had a think.  He wasn't actually supplying the hull, he was acting as an intermediary with the hull manufacturer.  The land was there, for which I would be paying a weekly rent, and was subject to a dispute with the local council re usage.  The crane was no longer certificated and so could not be used.  His shed-full of tools would definitely not be made available.  The slipway was owned by a neighbour which he was on very bad terms with, and none of the waterside was available for mooring. But he was a nice chap.  There were other factors as well that I don't wish to publish.

Decision 002.  Look elsewhere for a supplier. GOOD.

I decided that I needed somebody who actually fabricated the hull, and who had made at least 300 before, and who was not a one-man band so that if he dropped dead I would not be left in it.  Liverpool Boats in their various guises were an obvious candidate but the opinion on this forum and elsewhere seemed to be that, whilst there were good ones, the name did not guarantee or even suggest reliability as to quality. 

Decision 003. Get a sailaway from Colecraft. VERY GOOD.

I visited Colecraft and saw the 4 boats under construction in their large, proper industrial workplace, and arrived at the conclusion that they were churning hulls out at about one a week.  The people I saw were very genuine, knowledgeable, and easy to talk to. They appeared to be willing to create a hull respecting my wishes provided that I didn't ask for anything that they thought would create a bad boat, bad in the sense that it would function badly, not bad in the sense that it didn't conform to some yard style.  They were prepared to attempt to get me one by Dec31 and they succeeded, just.

Decision 004. Get a narrowboat hull.  GOOD.

At the time I thought I duty-bound to go for a low-cost option so I never considered a fat boat.  In fact my circumstances were much better than I thought and I could have stretched to a fat boat hull, or even a bespoke fully-fitted new boat but that would not have filled the brief.  In the first few years of moving the boat I thought that wide locks were much more fun as they usually involved sharing with other boats.  Later on I completely reversed that view, preferring to operate narrow locks by myself, occasionally getting up at 05:00 to have them to myself.  On balance this was a good decision though there were downsides as I shall explain later.

 

The next batch of decisions related to the design choices for the hull, in no particular order.

Decision 005.  A wide tumblehome.  GOOD.

By tumblehome I mean the walkway down the side of the boat. In my totally ignorant (at that time) way, I asked for a very narrow walkway, and Colecraft strongly advised against it. I took their advice and I am so glad that I did.  Even with ice on the boat it was possible with extreme care to negotiate it.  

Decision 006. No bowthruster. GOOD.

Colecraft looked at me and said, "you don't need a bowthruster now, but you have stated that you aim to keep the boat for many years, so please consider having one put in now for your old age as adding one later is not ideal".  I was adamant that I did not want one, as I was of the opinion that it would be more work to maintain than the benefit it would give.  I know that there are circumstances where they are good, such as one mooring neighbour who used to reverse half(quarter?) of a mile to a water point once per week, but I aimed to avoid such special cases.  And I hate the noise they make!  Colecraft were happy to go along with that once they were sure that I understood what I was choosing.

Decision 007.  A gas boat.  GOOD.

I decided that my boat was going to be a gas boat.  I like plumbing gas and I had experience of using gas living in a caravan for 8 months as a 10 year old.  This meant the hull should be designed to have storage for gas bottles.

Decision 008. Storage for 4 x 13Kg Calor Propane gas bottles.  VERY GOOD.

I asked Colecraft to design and fit a storage locker on the cruiser stern for 4 bottles in a line across the stern to form a bench seat that I could sit on whilst steering. They liked the challenge and made a fair success of it though with hindsight I would ask for some changes.  I stated that I would be the principal user/steerer of the boat and result was comfortable for me with my hand on the tiller standing or sitting on the locker.  The tiller arc did not strike a lock wall and I could pull the tiller fully over while seated without  being knocked backwards off the boat.  Brilliant!  This dictated the height of the locker and left only the minimum amount room to get the gas bottle highpressure lines horizontal (or upwards)  to avoid crud collecting in them.  With hindsight I would ask for more height even if this meant a small step to get up to sit on the locker.  When I came to install the gas lines I found it necessary to have a stand pipe welded into the locker for the takeoff lines which was difficult because of the lack of this "headroom".

 

 

 

[system 4-50]

Decision 009.  Not a banana boat.  GOOD.

I decided that I wanted my narrowbaot to be straight.  Many boats I saw on the canals were bent upwards towards the bow and upwards at the stern like an upturned banana.  I thought then and still do that these looked extremely ugly.  I asked Colecraft to keep everything straight and they had to think about it but agreed that they would do their best.  They succeeded admirably.  The stern still rose a little bit which was good as this drained the cruiser stern area towards the drain holes and minimised standing water.  

Decision 010.  A Cruiser Stern. GOOD.

I went for a sizable square cruiser stern.  Rounded bottoms look good on women but narrowboats look better with slightly rounded square (imho), and you get useful extra deck space.  As we've said, there was a wide gas locker across the stern.  Rectangular box sections on each side made good bum perches on either side, being supported on round tubes and a welded connection to the locker.  The latter were a problem as rain drained along the tops into the lockers and I had great difficulty in stopping it.  I wanted the gas lines in locker to stay dry.  A single deckboard covered the engine hole and had a locking mechanism fitted. Unfotunately at various stages in its life this vibrated and made a very irritating noise when cruising.  If starting again I would put a lot of effort in getting the builder to design the noise out.  But the board was very durable and high quality. A removable crossmember supported the board allowing superb access to the engine.  There were 3 drain holes for the cruiser deck and these were a wider diameter than some boats have and worked well, but revisiting the area I would ask for even bigger, say 2 inch drains.  This should work better in high leaf fall.

One of the side rails housed the Morse lever in the conventional manner.  It was difficult to operate this whilst holding on to the tiller and looking ahead. If I get another boat I will put the controls on the tiller. Somehow.  The rope attachment points were bollard style, and in very rare situations where the boat was very much lower than the bankside, the ropes tended to slip off.  I think I would consider T style another time.

Decision 011. Rails. VERY GOOD.

I admit that the angle iron roof looks much more elegant than traditional rails but rails are so very much more useful.  They are a pig to paint though!  The Colecraft rails are good and solid and a pleasure to use.

Decision 012.  A central stove flue hole.

I had seen lots of boat designs with a stove at the front of the boat and I thought them silly.  I wanted the stove in the middle of the boat so the heat reached everywhere.  It was difficult to decide where the hole should be but I got it right.  Colecraft put it in where I asked and supplied a very solid roof collar to match, but I will comment further when I get to talking about the stove.

Edited February 2, 2023 by system 4-50

[system 4-50]

Decision 013.  A Sizeable Well deck.  GOOD.

I chose to go for a largeish well deck, big enough to get four folding chairs in, easily, with sociability in mind.  A feature which I didn't give much thought to was the floor. It was not flat but gently curved so that any water drained nicely into the scuppers at the rear corners.  The curves were not so big as to bother any furniture.  I elected to have no brackets of any sort in this area as this would have committed me to particular usage eg where benches were, and I wanted complete flexibility.  

At the bow was a conventional locker specially designed in most boats to make getting gas bottles in and out difficult.  Since I had provision for the bottles at the stern, I aimed to use this for general storage and I specified that it was to have no drain holes to the exterior as these would be unnecessary as gas drainage was not required.  This surprised Colecraft but they did it.  One problem with the locker that I discovered much later was that the fold-down lid, though very elegant, was in no way watertight.  It took great effort later to devise a way of keeping water out when usng leaky locks of which there are one or two on the canal system. Colecraft also asked if I wanted to have a cratch cover, I'm not sure why. I replied, no, there are ugly things.  They smiled and said "You will!".  I was adamant at the time but they were right.  The bow itself was a standard Colecraft bow, and I like its functional shape and the solidity of its design.  I do not like the style of bow that looks as if somebody has pinched it with a pair of pliers.  One other thing I specified was that the transom?? the edge bit of the bow locker was to be horizontal not bowed, which was a bit non-standard for Colecraft but they did it.

 

Decision 014. Accept The Standard Colecraft Hull.  GOOD

This is just an excuse to comment on the generous and excellent fully welded rubbing strakes, the epoxy blacking, the 2 coats of epoxy paint on the upper works etc.  Colecraft did not black the baseplate and did not think it was worth doing.  If I'd wanted it I'm sure they would done it at a price.  Every apsect of the hull looked strongly-built.

 

Decision 010B.  Tiller.  GOOD

An afterthought. I specified that I wanted the tiller bar to be exactly horizontal, not poking upwards like some you see, and I was delighted with the result.

 

Decision 015. Hull Holes.  BAD.

As a newby to canal boats, my early decisions were tempered by a belief that cutting holes in the steel of the boat was difficult and only to be done by professionals.  Now of course I know that its easy-peasy.  So I thought I had to get Colecraft to put holes in for draining the sinks, shower etc in, and deciding where they were to go was difficult because I didn't have the experience to know where the interior fitting would end up.  Colecraft put them in where I asked and most of them ended up unused because they were in the wrong place.

 

Decision 016. Windows.  BAD. VERY, VERY, BAD.

This is a biggy.  I wanted lots of windows because I wanted to see out as I cruised.  Because I thought metal cutting difficult I got Colecraft to cut the holes for them.  I chose 9 windows, all 24" deep which is deeper than many, being 2 x 4ft sliders, 4 x 4ft hoppers, and 2 x 3ft hoppers and 1 x 18" with no opening for the bathroom.  But the big decision was whose windows to go with.  The cost was immense so changing later would be very expensive again.  And Colecraft needed to know in order to know what shape holes to cut.  I plumped for Channelglaze screw-in because the boat next to me in the Colecraft yard was using them.  Going for screw-in was a huge mistake. This called for hundreds of holes to be drilled and tapped in freezing February weather which was so exhausting.  I only broke two taps!  Another time I would buy Wesley Marine (?) clip-in windows and have all of them in in one weekend.  

And the number of windows was a big mistake.  Extra windows can easily be cut later.  Next time I'll have no windows cut initially.

The window holes were made by hand, not by a CNC type operation.  This meant that they were not exact, and it was necessary to line up the windows when fitting them to find where to drill the holes.  Finding a horizontal in this situation when fitting heavy windows single-handed from a stepladder was very hard. But they didn't look wrong when I had finished.  In the long run the position of the windows was satisfactory.  But more on that later.

Edited February 2, 2023 by system 4-50

[blackrose]

Does anyone else understand the purpose of this long monologue/rant? I don't really get it. I fitted our a sailaway too but I won't bore everyone with the details. 🤣

[Jen-in-Wellies]

10 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Does anyone else understand the purpose of this long monologue/rant? I don't really get it. I fitted our a sailaway too but I won't bore everyone with the details. 🤣

It isn't compulsory to read it.

I enjoyed it. I also fitted out a sailaway and it reminded me of mistakes and good decisions I'd made. Could help some one considering, or in the process of ordering such a vessel, thought the process is more complex from the compliance side than it was when I did mine.

[Adam]

Good read

[system 4-50]

If it helps one person embarking on a sailaway project to avoid one bad decision then it will have been worth my while doing this "rant".  I agree its not light reading, I'm no writer.  If reading it was compulsory I would not write it but its not.  And its not as bad as the personal invective in the Political section.  I'm a little disappointed that it is Blackrose of all people choosing to cast solid round objects. 

[Awayonmyboat]

Thankyou for a honest, useful and informative post. Please keep writing despite any naysayers.

[Puffling]

I enjoyed reading your account of the sailaway decision-making process. Please feel free to add more to it. Electrical, plumbing, flooring, for example...

 

I also liked that your motivation for going the sailaway route was not entirely budget, but to give yourself a challenge at construction and finishing.

[system 4-50]

Decision 017.  Deciding Objectives.  GOOD.

By this point I should have stated what I my objectives in doing the fitout were, apart from the fundamental one of doing a project.  I wanted the boat to be capable of doing liveaboard.  I didn't expect that I would ever liveaboard, but I liked the idea that I had an alternative bolt-hole if my world fell apart.  And I wanted the boat to support holidays by family and friends.  Having this clear-to-me picture of what I wanted was fundamental to how I planned the fitout so it was a good decision for getting consistency in the results.  As it happened the actual doing of the project was immensely successful, I spent many days rising quickly in the morning, being engrossed in construction all day, with short breaks for food etc, stopping at 10:00pm or when exhausted.  This seems a simple decision but I believe having a clear picture of what you to achieve at the start is important.  

 

Decision 018. Boat Length & Height.   GOOD & BAD.

I told Colecraft that I wanted to be able to "go anywhere that didn't involve going to sea"  and I think but am not sure that I said I needed 6ft headroom inside the finished boat (I was 5ft 7.5" at the time, somewhat less now!).  I also wanted as much boat as possible.  After some research I settled on 60ft and Colecraft produced a boat to match.  I never measured the boat and would love to know exactly how long it was! 

In the 11 years I had the boat I never went further than Preston Brook and the top end of the Macclesfield.  I never did the Manchester Science Museum or the Standedge Tunnel or the Anderton Boat Lift etc etc.  If I was starting again I would probably go for 70ft or so and accept the limitations that would bring, a whole extra 10ft!  Drool.  The extra space would particularly valuable since I was losing so much to the cruiser deck and the well deck .  On headroom I would ask for an extra few inches as all my children have grown to about 6ft. That said, 60ft was a nice length for a single-hander which mostly I was, and I fitted into bank-side spaces quite often where a 70ft-er would not, and I could turn in silted-up wynding holes most of the time.  Yes I know its "winding' but I dislike the sound of "win-ding".  I also had little trouble with low bridges, apart from attempting to go through the tunnel to H? (near Ghosty tunnel) with the chimney in place!

[mrsmelly]

I fitted one from a bare shell I purchased from Johny Pinder. This all made me smile and remembered some of the stuff I did/didnt do. The biggest mistake I made was buying a 57 foot shell after much thought ( not enough ) it ended up too small realy so I sold the boat ( with ease ) within about 18 months. We did take it one spin from Lower Heyford up to and across the Land L and down the G/U and eventualy onto the Severn where I sold it to a bloke who ran a pub on the bank of the river. A lot of work but, been there, done that, box ticked. Would I do it again? Nooooooooooooooooooooo 😄

Its good to talk 😄

[system 4-50]

Decision 019. Not To Smooth. BAD, but not very.

When the hull was mostly finished, Colecraft asked me if I wanted the roof edge ground flat.  This is where the vertical cabin side meets the roof.  Normal welding never gives a "perfect" flush edge so normal practice is to grind it flat on top.  This takes away metal so nominally reduces strength by a minute amount but guarantees the roof looks flat.  I had made it clear to Colecraft that I wasn't interested in them doing any work for purely cosmetic reasons, they were already doing me quite a lot of extras for the price I was paying, so I looked at the roof and there was no sign of wavyness and it looked "right" as it was, so I said no. This was a mistake albeit a small one. I later found that rain, which can contain dirt, flowed nicely off the roof (having rails not angles) but dropped very fine particles just before it went over the edge.  There must have been an invisible slight rise at the edge.  This sometimes left a 1? cm dirty streak along the length of each side of the roof!  Naturally, I washed and polished the roof every day (!) so that the occasional dirty rain was not much of a problem.  I should make it clear that the mistake was mine not Colecraft's.

 

Decision 020.  Engine Choice. VERY GOOD.

I was offered a Beta 43 or an Isuzu (I think) as standard options though I think they would have fitted anything subject to negotiation.  I opted for the Beta because I like the reputation it had on this forum and it was fairly British.  It was a excellent decision and I would do it again, though I would seriously consider adding the Travel Power option.  (This discussion does not consider the inevitable migration to electric power that is coming shortly.)  I had a small number of dealings with BetaMarine and they were excellent and went beyond what I could reasonably expect to help me when I thought I needed it.  Like a number of other parties I met in my canal life, they would go out of their way to help, provided that:

1. You had done the sensible investigative work first.

2. You were clear about what you wanted.

3. You didn't keep changing your mind.

4. You were ready to pay the likely costs.

It came with a large Hospital silencer which was easily housed under the cruiser deck and made for quiet running.  After hiring an air-cooled boat once I was determined to have a quiet engine and this was, despite not having the Beta sound insulation package.

As I believe is standard on Colecraft hulls it had substantial skin tanks on both  sides connected at floor level on the bow side of the engine via a metal channel and to the engine by hoses at floor level.  This worked well but I never tested it hard, the fastest I ever went was doing doughnuts on Tixall Wide.  I never got on to a proper river.  Doing it again I would ask for the hose to connect to a T and then the skin tank, with the other arm going to a drain cock and a hose connector so that a drain hose could be connected for changing the coolant/antifreeze.  Draining it into the bilge is nasty - I aimed at and mostly succeeded in having a dry bilge.

Access to the engine was excellent.  I believe I could actually get right round the engine though I'm not sure I ever did the circuit in a single pass.

The Beta had a built-in oil drain pump.  It was ok but when I discovered the Pela, i always used that as I found it easier.

While we are in the hole:

The weed hatch was very good, sealed well, but was heavy which is good for its operation but got heavier (why does gravity do this?) as I got older.  It never leaked and I used it very rarely.  I even got round the BCN Challenge without opening it!  Revisiting, I would design and fit some sort of lifting mechanism to take the weight and slide it to one side to allow easy access to the hole.

The stern gland was a standard greaser type.  It stayed dry for most of my time but more on that later.

On the same side as the silencer was 4 x 110Ah lead-acid batteries.  Being a square stern there was a lot of uxter(?) plate space.

There was also a propellor but I don't know much about that.

[IanD]

13 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Decision 019. Not To Smooth. BAD, but not very.

When the hull was mostly finished, Colecraft asked me if I wanted the roof edge ground flat.  This is where the vertical cabin side meets the roof.  Normal welding never gives a "perfect" flush edge so normal practice is to grind it flat on top.  This takes away metal so nominally reduces strength by a minute amount but guarantees the roof looks flat.  I had made it clear to Colecraft that I wasn't interested in them doing any work for purely cosmetic reasons, they were already doing me quite a lot of extras for the price I was paying, so I looked at the roof and there was no sign of wavyness and it looked "right" as it was, so I said no. This was a mistake albeit a small one. I later found that rain, which can contain dirt, flowed nicely off the roof (having rails not angles) but dropped very fine particles just before it went over the edge.  There must have been an invisible slight rise at the edge.  This sometimes left a 1? cm dirty streak along the length of each side of the roof!  Naturally, I washed and polished the roof every day (!) so that the occasional dirty rain was not much of a problem.  I should make it clear that the mistake was mine not Colecraft's.

 

Decision 020.  Engine Choice. VERY GOOD.

I was offered a Beta 43 or an Isuzu (I think) as standard options though I think they would have fitted anything subject to negotiation.  I opted for the Beta because I like the reputation it had on this forum and it was fairly British.  It was a excellent decision and I would do it again, though I would seriously consider adding the Travel Power option.  (This discussion does not consider the inevitable migration to electric power that is coming shortly.)  I had a small number of dealings with BetaMarine and they were excellent and went beyond what I could reasonably expect to help me when I thought I needed it.  Like a number of other parties I met in my canal life, they would go out of their way to help, provided that:

1. You had done the sensible investigative work first.

2. You were clear about what you wanted.

3. You didn't keep changing your mind.

4. You were ready to pay the likely costs.

It came with a large Hospital silencer which was easily housed under the cruiser deck and made for quiet running.  After hiring an air-cooled boat once I was determined to have a quiet engine and this was, despite not having the Beta sound insulation package.

As I believe is standard on Colecraft hulls it had substantial skin tanks on both  sides connected at floor level on the bow side of the engine via a metal channel and to the engine by hoses at floor level.  This worked well but I never tested it hard, the fastest I ever went was doing doughnuts on Tixall Wide.  I never got on to a proper river.  Doing it again I would ask for the hose to connect to a T and then the skin tank, with the other arm going to a drain cock and a hose connector so that a drain hose could be connected for changing the coolant/antifreeze.  Draining it into the bilge is nasty - I aimed at and mostly succeeded in having a dry bilge.

Access to the engine was excellent.  I believe I could actually get right round the engine though I'm not sure I ever did the circuit in a single pass.

The Beta had a built-in oil drain pump.  It was ok but when I discovered the Pela, i always used that as I found it easier.

While we are in the hole:

The weed hatch was very good, sealed well, but was heavy which is good for its operation but got heavier (why does gravity do this?) as I got older.  It never leaked and I used it very rarely.  I even got round the BCN Challenge without opening it!  Revisiting, I would design and fit some sort of lifting mechanism to take the weight and slide it to one side to allow easy access to the hole.

The stern gland was a standard greaser type.  It stayed dry for most of my time but more on that later.

On the same side as the silencer was 4 x 110Ah lead-acid batteries.  Being a square stern there was a lot of uxter(?) plate space.

There was also a propellor but I don't know much about that.

 

The roof edge problem is one reason many boats nowadays go for handrails as part of the roof. Because this then traps rainwater on the roof you need to consider how it gets off, you don't want it all flowing to the stern (especially in a downpour) and draining onto it (and possibly into the bilges). One solution is to have a cross-beam near the stern end of the roof with a gap in the rail and drain channels down the cabin side so most of the water goes this way, like here...

[magpie patrick]

The most interesting one for me is the square stern - I've often fancied one but a lot of people don't like them. I can see in tight situations, such as 60 foot boat into 57 foot lock they reduce room for manoeuvre, but I like outside space. 

 

That said square sterns that are anything other than cruiser sterns look daft!

[system 4-50]

Decision 021. Sliding Hatch.  ?

This was hardly a decision, accepting a fairly standard Colecraft hatch.  It worked, it was ok, but I disliked it.  Its major shortcoming was that it did not have security designed into it.  I'll cover boat security in more depth later.

 

Decision 022. Starting Fitting Out In The Colecraft Yard.  GOOD.

So I had a hull with lots of holes where the windows would be with the snow gently blowing in, sitting in Colecraft's yard.  They were happy that I should start fittingout in their yard subject to some conditions viz

1. Work had to happen. They were only allowing the use of the space to achieve readiness to go on the water. They would not be happy to have the boat just sitting there.

2. The residence was expected to be short-term, it was not intended to host a full fit-out.

3. There was a nominal rent, not enough to matter to them, but enough to discourage absent tenants.

They use their space (and they have a lot) efficiently and they did not have any available for me to store materials eg boards.  Deliveries were allowed but were not popular and they were not in business to act as a receiving agent.

They did allow me to look at boats that they had in various stages of completion and I got some useful ideas from these.  The Colecraft guys working on the site were friendly and prepared to offer advice but had work to do of their own.

I may not be remembering the exact chronology of the next tasks but I will list them as I remember them.

I asked for enough 8 x 4 plywood boards for flooring as use by Colecraft and they were happy to supply them.  They were 25mm thick and were of superb quality.  I asked for 2 x 4 timbers from a woodpile they had in a corner and they said sure, take whatever you want for free.  This I think was a misunderstanding between us.  I think that it was their reject pile and they thought I knew this.  I screwed them all down before I realised and I could not bear to take them all up again.  They worked ok.  I asked for loads of the timber strips they used for battening out approx 20 x 50 mm I think and they were happy to supply at a fair price. 

Whilst in the yard I battened the walls and ceiling, insulated the boat (see next decisions), fitted the windows and ?

 

Decision 023.  Doing The Battening Myself.  NOT GOOD.

I could have chosen a sailaway option with more of the work already done but that seemed to defeat the purpose of the project.  I elected to do the battening but it was a lot of work and the area that I did first was of a lower quality than the remainder.  I would have it done for me another time.

 

Decision 024.  Sprayfoam Insulation.  EXCELLENT

I chose to go for professional sprayfoam and it is excellent with some caveats.  

1. Once installed, it needs to be protected from the sun.  This adds an extra, unwelcome, pressure on the fitout timetable, (the other pressure being the need to get the exterior painted quickly.)

2. I was so overawed by the result, being able to walk on it about 15 minutes after they finished spraying, that I did not examine the work carefully. When I did, later after they were long gone, I found that there were numerous holidays where they had failed to get the spray in, mainly inside angles.  It took me 16 large cans of sprayfoam to fill the gaps and the canned stuff was nowhere near as good as the professional stuff.  Where they had got the foam in it was all done to a good depth, unlike some other reports I've seen.  I'm sure that they would have quickly and easily filled the holes if I had challenged the work.

3. I'm not sure that the fumes from the foam dissipate quickly, and they are most unhealthy, but I speak here from total ignorance.

The company that did it also did another Colecraft boat at the same time.  I would hesitate but might use the same company again.

 

Decision 025. Sprayfoam The baseplate.  Excellent.

I had them sprayfoam the baseplate.  This avoided a condensation trap under the floor and I believe helped to keep the boat warm.  I did not ever have a major flood to contend with.  Other opinions are available.

 

Decision 026.  Flooring Pattern. GOOD.

I laid the floor bearers and screwed them down into the stretchers(?) with the screws that have a snap-off drilling tip and that worked.

The floor width was just over 6ft so I laid the boards as one 8 x 4 beside one 8 x 2 for the most part, with one cutdown across the boat to take up the residue of the length.  Except for the centre of the boat where the stove was going to be where I went for three 8 x 2 so that I could lift either side without moving the stove.    The boards were secured by countersunk screws every ? " along each edge.  Some of these boards would be lifted many times in the future.

I should have laid more and stronger bearers under the bathroom.

 

Decison 027.  Moving Out.  GOOD.

After 3 months or so I had a watertight boat, windows fitted, primitive locks on the doors, a floor so I could walk down the boat without tripping over the stretchers and a fierce desire to be out of the yard and onto the water.  It might have been more sensible to stay in the yard for a few more months but it was a bit like being stir-crazy.  I arranged the move through Colecraft and Tuckey's moved my boat and another Colecraft boat on to the canal a few miles away at  Kate's(?) . Watching the very professional Tuckey's lowering it in was fantastic!

[David Mack]

20 hours ago, system 4-50 said:

After 3 months or so I had a watertight boat, windows fitted,

Sage advice from Graham Booth in The Narrowboat Builder's Book.

[system 4-50]

Decision 028. Leaving Kate's.  STUPID.

I left Kate's immediately, keen to be on my own and not limited by the requirements of others.  How stupid can you get?  I didn't even fill up the diesel tank first!  I didn't know how much Colecraft had put in, how far it was to the next Fuel place, how to bleed a run-dry engine or anything.  But after much fretting I succeeded in getting to the next place and filled up.

 

Decision 029.  CCing. BAD.

This one is fundamental but boring so I'll try to be brief.  My research suggested that:

1. Marinas were expensive.

2. Marinas did not like works being done. (you can of course sail out & work & return but its hassle.)

3. Moorings were expensive.  I had not yet got used to the principle that boating just is expensive. 

I therefore decided to CC.

The situation:

A mobile boat.

Infrequent car availability.

Single ring camping ring ex Halfords (I got through 3 of these.  Unreliable, leaky, dangerous, ought to be banned.)

PortaPotti 365

Camp bed & sleeping bag

Water in 5L bottles

No fridge, washing machine, sink, shower, 

Folding chair

Inadequate tools

The plan:

Train & bus to boat vicinity taking clothes

Buy food

Board boat & move minimum distance

Do works 

Move boat to another place to start a new 14 days

Take laundry unless local laundrette

Train & bus home

With each visit about 5 days in total.

Occasionally travel by small saloon car when wife allowed, 2hrs 15mins, & convey materials

Occasionally stop near a canalside eg B&Q and load materials

I did this for 18 months IIRC.

I discovered that it was hard:

   To get close car access to the canal

   To find eg B&Q near the canal

   To find public transport 

   To do the whole operation.

 

Revisiting, I would bung it on an online mooring with good parking much earlier than I did.

 

[Puffling]

6 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

[...]

   To find eg B&Q near the canal

   To find public transport 

   To do the whole operation.

 

Revisiting, I would bung it on an online mooring with good parking much earlier than I did.

 

Would you be able to add to this list?

It might help future mobile fitters-out.

[system 4-50]

Decision 030.  Layout.  GOOD.

This one is more fun.  I opted for a "reverse" layout.  I wanted easy contact between the steerer and the kitchen elves and I wanted to be able to do what you do in bed whilst admiring the glorious sunset through the bow doors, as you would.  I wanted the bathroom in the middle so that both the bedroom dwellers and the dinette bed occupants could access the facilities without travelling through each other's territory.  This left me with space for (from the stern):

Kitchen (ok, galley).

Dinette

Saloon

Bathroom

Bedroom

In more detail:

Kitchen:

  Deep units against wall

     This allowed space for standard appliances including:

        Full 60cm 4 hob gas double oven & grill

       150L Fridge with Freezer compartment (detachable)

       Gas tumble dryer

      Storage drawers

  Straight gangway through the middle

       Breathe in to pass!

  Shallow units against wall

       Shallow laboratory sink (unfortunately no overflow)

      Storage drawers

Dinette

     Dinette

Saloon:

     Bench

     Stove

Bathroom

     Shower

    Toilet

    Handbasin

    Storage drawers

Bedroom

    Bed

    Water tanks

    Poo tank

 

I'll cover each room in more detail separately.

Edited February 4, 2023 by system 4-50

[Willonaboat]

On 02/02/2023 at 22:30, system 4-50 said:

Decision 015. Hull Holes.  BAD.

As a newby to canal boats, my early decisions were tempered by a belief that cutting holes in the steel of the boat was difficult and only to be done by professionals.  Now of course I know that its easy-peasy.  So I thought I had to get Colecraft to put holes in for draining the sinks, shower etc in, and deciding where they were to go was difficult because I didn't have the experience to know where the interior fitting would end up.  Colecraft put them in where I asked and most of them ended up unused because they were in the wrong place.

 

How did you unuse the holes in your hull?

[system 4-50]

11 minutes ago, Willonaboat said:

How did you unuse the holes in your hull?

Some eg water fillers had bungs/caps.  If anyone put water into it it would just pour into the boat. BAD.  For the PO one on the tumblehome(?), I bought a 4mm steel disc about 10mm too wide and filed (!) it down, then hammered it in.  Others I repurposed(!) with a long pipe to elsewhere.

[Willonaboat]

11 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Some eg water fillers had bungs/caps.  If anyone put water into it it would just pour into the boat. BAD.  For the PO one on the tumblehome(?), I bought a 4mm steel disc about 10mm too wide and filed (!) it down, then hammered it in.  Others I repurposed(!) with a long pipe to elsewhere.

 

That feeling you get when you wish you'd not asked the question... 🤨 😁

 

[system 4-50]

Decision 031.  Order of Works.  Probably BAD.  Maybe VERY BAD.

I found that it was very difficult to acquire and deliver typically 8 x 4 boards to the boat, hard to get them in, and hell to work on inside the boat because of their size.  I didn't have time to wait for a sunny day, transfer them outside, cut them up, and put them back in.

I decided to install all the functional bits of the boat first and then do the panelling after.  

This was much more fun to do, with the slight drawback that after 11 years I still did not have the panelling done.

I did have to cover the sprayfoam, so I decided to acquire many 8 x 4 whitefaced hardboard panels and use that as a temporary measure.  I bought them from Jewsons at Leighton Buzzard IIRC or near there.  I thought that moving them around the block and through the metal railings on to the towpath would be easy.  It wasn't as I wasn't well.  I bribed a local body to help me which he did with an ill grace, and I later discovered that he had damaged more than a few of them.  This was unusual, most people that helped me over the years were very good.  I stapled the panels to the battens both at the sides and the ceiling.  This saved effort at the expense of looking ugly.  Further misfortune accompanied the panels.  I stored them under the multitudinous windows and condensation fell on them and stained them.  They were in the way for a long time before I used up what I needed and realised that somehow I had bought 2 x what was necessary. Ouch!  Then I had the nightmare task of getting rid of the excess!

 

Decision 032.  The Pumpout Tank.  BAD, with good bits.

Whilst I was in the yard, I saw Colecraft putting a PO tank in a new boat.  It was a superbly crafted piece of metal.  I lusted after one.  I knew that I was going to go for Pumpout, and this was exactly what I needed.  Except for dimensions.  I asked Colecraft to make me one, but additionally asked that it be 6mm steel not their usual 4(?)mm.  I like to over-engineer everything.  They were prepared to give it a try even though it was a bit of a stretch with their standard jigs etc. They made it and came back to say that it was 1cm approx oversize, was that alright?  Given what I now know, +1 cm was pretty good going for an improvised design of folding 6mm steel.  I checked my dimensions and I had allowed just over 1 cm tolerance.  Revisiting I would allow a much bigger tolerance for such a build. I accepted it and it fitted, just, across the boat and acted as a step to the bow door.

This was BAD.  Not just Bad, but BAD.  Bad because I had changed the scheme of things on impulse.  This is what happens what you respond to lust.

Parking the tank across the boat was good from a list point of view as the balance of the boat laterally did not change as I poo'ed (testing this was fun).  What was bad was that I had blocked access to the large space under the well deck!  By displacing the tank fractionally to one side I left a 12"(?) square space that diminutive I could crawl into, turn around in the space and crawl out of, but nobody else could.  It would have made a wonderful glory hole (is that the right term) for my small grandchildren but I could never allow them to use a space they could get trapped in.  It was a huge waste of space.  It brings tears to my eyes as I write this.

It was too heavy and too "trapped" to get out, and I had no obvious alternate site for it.  

It had a 70 gallon capacity and served me well for its intended purpose.

[system 4-50]

Decision 033.  Ballast.  GOOD.

I asked Colecraft how much ballast would I need and they were reluctant to give an opinion as it would depend on how much weight I added in the fitout and where, but suggested 2-3 tons.  I decide to go for the expensive option of engineering bricks.  These are much heavier than house bricks which is good but more importantly they do not absorb water.  I ordered 2 pallets and Colecraft kindly lifted them up on a fork lift truck so that I could reach them from on the boat and this saved me much effort.  It is easy to forget that when a narrowboat is out of the water and on props it is quite a height to get from ground level to deck level.  The bricks fitted in the bilge spaces between the stretchers(?) on top of the 1 - 2 inch sprayfoam and just below the bottom of the flooring quite well.  I never stopped to calculate how much less effective this was compared to putting them on the baseplate itself.  I wedged them in place with pipe insulation from B&Q.

On leaving Kate's the boat was frisky and caught the wind easily and the whisk generated lots of froth with the fitout load missing.  Much later, with lots of stuff installed, the boat still went much better with all tanks full than empty, so I took some the bricks out and installed steel weights, some supplied by forum members.  The square 56lb weights (about 14??)  with handlebars were great, they fitted in Waitrose selfsealing bags pretty exactly and 4 in a square of them fitted my bilge spaces formed by the stretchers and bearers, the latter running longtitudinally along the boat.  I also installed a number of 1" steel plates of the sort used to counterbalance forklift trucks & tractors but they were not such a good fit.  (I could use a couple of these now for a project I have if anybody has some for sale.)  I did not paint them.

[system 4-50]

Decision(s) 034.  Heating 1.  GOOD.

The following is to the best of my recollection.  

I chose a Puffin multifuel stove.  This was very good - with caveats.  Rated at ~5Kw it was able to heat the whole boat quite well.  I had a few windows blocked up with Kingspan which helped.  The vast acreage of single-glazed glass was a substantial heat sink.  The side passage past the bathroom was narrow which made the bedroom significantly cooler than the saloon (good), and the kitchen was a little bit cooler. 

Buying it was easy, getting it on board wasn't too bad, but the installation was awkward.  I couldn't find anywhere that could tell me the precise dimensions I needed for the flue and the chimney, and supply them.  I got a straight cast iron flue from the stove supplier but it was a tight fit in the stove and in the roof collar, with about a tenth of an inch clearance or less, and I sealed it with string and sealant as you do.  I fitted a twin wall chimney.  

Operating the stove was a mixed experience.  The single bottom vent required mm precise setting for a particular level of burning.  Get it wrong and it would go out overnight. After years of practice I could set it so that it would burn for 24 hours on a full load of Excel without needing mending. (But later Excel was much more ashy!)  I never got around to fitting the Innisfree fix for this problem.

I was never very happy with the twin wall chimneys (various) but I can't remember the details.  Eventually I made my own from two sizes of quite thick stainless tubing bolted together so that the inner tube descended well into the flue, which worked well and would last forever.

This setup lasted me for a good few years but when the stove was properly alight there was a slight odour.  Not a burning smell, more like the smell you get when you heat up a hot appliance for the first time, but it did not go away.  I concluded it was the paint finish on the flue which I ground off with much effort creating an enormous mess.  This improved it but not completely.  I was now also concerned that the flue was stuck in the roof collar with the possibility of cracking the stove so, having lost all faith in the flue, I resolved to replace it.  I chipped away the sealant and string and the flue refused to separate from the stove or the roof collar.  After many hours of work, some involving a hacksaw blade, I unbolted the roof collar and levered it up, so that the weight of the stove would cause either the collar/flue or the flue/stove join to separate.  It didn't.  The stove happily dangled from the roof on the flue.  Many more hours of scratching at the flue/stove join caused it to separate and the stove dropped a few mm down onto some wood.  I then lifted the heavy collar&flue up out of the roof and spent more hours splitting them in relative comfort.  I replaced the flue with IIRC a stainless pipe.

Under some weather conditions smoke from the chimney could enter the boat downwind as part of a circle, into a downwind window, through the boat, and out of an upwind window.  Keeping the upwind windows closed helped to stop it.  Other people's chimneys could be bad, I have never stopped campaigning to have  all other people's stoves banned, particularly those burning nasty wood.  Some wood is quite nice.

Bottom Line:  The Puffin kept me warm for many years at reasonable expense.  A number of aspects could have been better.  The central location (both longtitudinally and laterally) was excellent.

Another Time: I would match my stove, flue, and collar more carefully.  I would check on the performance on the stove before I bought it with a much more searching eye.  I would buy from people who REALLY knew what they were talking about!

The Future:  I dispensed with the stove!

Addenda:

I had the stove fitted in a 6mm steel tray (made by Colecraft) with about 3" sides and a high 3ft? vertical back, to contain ash and embers, on 2 x 6mm sheets of fireboard(?) from Travis Perkins onto the floor.  The tray helped to dissipate radiant heat from the base of the stove.  When later dismantling there was no scorching present.  The Puffin was screwed to the tray and the tray to the floor, but the Puffin as supplied only had securing brackets for the two back feet! It was possible, flue permitting to tip it backwards!  The vertical back was meant to accomodate plumbing for the back boiler that I bought but never fitted.  When I realised it was rated at 1Kw I lost interest.  The steel tray was brilliant for containing mess.