NB Siskin

[WotEver]

Hi Steve,

 

OT for this particular post, but from your blog I just wanted to say how much I admire the curved engine hatch slides that Simon made. A true work of art

 

Tony

[Steve Goddard]

I managed to get about an hour at the yard on Monday between doing "other stuff" and achieved very little. However the unkind among you could say I could achieve nothing in a whole day as well . So consider Monday a complete write off from my point of view. Simon got some more done on finishing off the engine room bulkhead but had to spend time sorting out the dock as he was the only person around.

Tuesday dawned and Simon's finishing off the last little bits in the back cabin. Andy's back on the job as well so he starts to sort out the battening for the back cabin and I make a few more tags as we have run out. As soon as Simon's finished we're in the back cabin like a rat up a drainpipe cleaning up and getting paint on the cabin sides. This is quickly followed by getting the roof battens and as much of the side battens that we have material for. (A lot of batten has been used on Egypt and Admiral and I'm still waiting for more to arrive)

The bulls eye, rectangular prisms and other bits and pieces have arrived from Davey and Co so Simon cuts the appropriate holes in the roof, I pop down to Rose and get a chimney collar for the full set .

To finish off Simon makes the pigeon box up-stand and gets that in place. All in all a very productive day



A bit of a wasted day today. The ply and additional battening failed to arrive (again) despite being promised so Andy and I were reduced to furtling around doing bits and bobs.

The only real thing of note that I did was to linish up the collar for the back cabin. It's really strange as the tube is machined both inside and out which seems to be a bit of a waste of effort. The bit that I wasn't to keen on was the edge of the flange which was square (how did they get the pattern out of the mould?) and looked to clunky. A few mins work with the big grinder and a linishing disk had a nice bevel all around which improved the looks no end. Then it was a case of dodging the showers to get some paint on it.

Another little job was to make up a small drip tray for underneath the fuel filter. This will stop any diesel going into the bilge when I have to change the filter element. I still can't weld properly .

Andy made the polo's for the back cabin mushroom vent and the bullseye and Simon welded up the back cabin hand rails and the seam between the back cabin and engine hole roof as well as starting on the scuppers.

Just a shame really that the timber failed to materialise as we could have got the main cabin sub-floor down. Oh well perhaps tomorrow.

]Well a bright sunny day dawns and still no ply . Andy starts on fixing Greenock's mast and I clean up the little cabin step that Simon has made out of diamond plate. I know that it's proper but I do have some concerns about catching it when your walking along the gunwale. I've told Simon I'll be most unhappy if I ladder my tights on it . When it's on however it's not really in the way so all is well.

I also finish off the chimney collar and get the holes drilled etc. Bum one of the holes hits the batten on a roof beam so I end up having to take the batten off and cut a relief hole in it. Still it works so again no problem. It looks well when it's in place . Another bit done.

Right on cue the plywood arrives just at tea time so a little bit of a diversion to get it off the lorry and sheeted up in case it rains. After tea Andy and I strip six sheets. I've got a 20″ strip down the center of the boat which will be lift-able and two fixed bits either side. The nice thing is that by taking the 20″ strip off a 4′ sheet the remainder is just the right width so the wastage is zero. All down to my advanced mathematics really . The side sheets need to be notched around the knees which is a relatively simple job so the sheets up to the tug deck go in pretty quickly. The only major difficulty is moving the range, gawd it really is heavy . With all the sheets loose laid (no point in fixing them yet as they still have to come up for painting and to get the ballast in) we start on measuring and cutting the two sheets for under the tug deck. A quick "stick" gets a curve in place and the sheets cut out. Problem however when we fit the first one it's too short and misses the end floor bearer. How can this be? Then enlightenment dawns and I remember we stretched the distance to the last bearer to gain a bit more space under the tug deck. OK not the end of the world we just glue and screw a piece of floor bearer onto the face of the other one and we're done. We have a subfloor WOO HOO. Dont worry about the gaps they will dissapear when the floor is fixed down but it makes such a difference inside. For a start now it's a bloody sight easier to get in and out as the steps work . Another plus point is that for the first time I can get an idea of how it's going to work under the tug deck and it is surprisingly spacious

Simon in the meantime has been beavering away in the blazing sun (yes for once the weather forecast is wrong in a good way) linishing the back cabin hand rails and cleaning up the roof. I think however that the sun must have got to him coz when when I look at the mark up for the port scupper it's a little boat in a tunnel . Looking at it I think it must be Bosworth tunnel . The amazing thing is that when Simon has cut it out with the plasma the boat is still on the waste.

One of the details on the roof is the join between the "wooden" back cabin roof and the steel engine room roof. There is a step in the roof and we put a row of bolts across. The end result is very pleasing.

By the end of the day we've cleaned up all the roof and got a coat of primer on the handrails. We're so confident now that we're on the last stretch that we sit in the sun and start a list of the things left to do. It's not that long

P.S. I went over it when I got home and added all the bits we had forgotten and it's now a lot longer but……….

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

Not been at the yard for a couple of days but I'm much better now

Simon's been beavering away and despite me not being around to show him how to do things and has finished the back cabin slides and put some additional bracing in both the back cabin roof and the main cabin roof where there was some rippling. He's starting on the back cabin doors today and I'm on cleaning duty again.

First thing is to lift the two floor boards up from underneath the tug deck as they need cuprinoling (is that a word?). I've found a guy on eBay that sells timber preservative in 25l drums at about £60 including delivery which is very much cheaper than Cuprinol in 5l tins from B&Q. At that price you can afford to be generous with it. I wanted to get the boards up as well so that we could cut the holes for the two prisms which will give some natural light under the tug deck so it's less like the black hole of Calcutta. They are nice bits of kit from Davey and Co where I also got my bulls eye and some other small bits and bobs like a silent latch for the back cabin doors. The difference is amazing and that's before I fit the prisms as well.

After this it's into the engine room. Now that all the bulkheads are in place and all the welding and linishing is finished it's time for (a last I hope) clean up. I seem to be doing nothing but cleaning and painting at the moment and the amount of time it takes is horrendous. It takes me almost all of the day to clean up welds, wire brush down crap, brush up the bulk of the shit and then vac up the rest, primer and gloss coat paint and at the end of it it still looks RED. Still everything is now spick and span so that David and I can start the final engine fit out tomorrow.

Siskin is really starting to look like a finished boat now and every time I wander around I admit it hard not just to step back and think that 12 months ago nothing on this boat existed and now look at how wonderful it looks

Simon's finished the back doors and set up to grind the handrail line in on the stbd. side which again makes such a huge difference for a little detail.

At the end of the day as a finisheing touch he fits a tingle under the back cabin scupper. In reality this would have been made from sheet copper and nailed into the wooded cabin to protect the end grain from water coming through the scupper. In the spirit of Siskin it's 16g steel welded on but again it's a little detail which makes a significant difference to the final look.

Simon's off tomorrow so I've got the boat to myself so it's party time.


Simon's away today so David and I have the boat to ourselves so we can get down to some serious plumbing Plan for the day is to final fit all the bits of pipework we sorted out the last time Simon was off and the to keep going on with the fuel system.

First job is to get the tanks back down, not only are they heavy but as the bulkheads are now in place there is very little room to move. Still the're down and I've promised David I'll get him out before the weekend. Starting on the port tank we get all of the fittings sealed and in place. Big problem is that they no longer line up with the holes we cut in the engine beds . this is bizzare, they are out by 3/8″. We struggle to understand what on earth could have gone wrong and fail completely to see what is causing the problem. We do the only sensible thing to do in circumstances like this and knock off for a cup of tea to lubricate the synapses. Suitably refreshed I get back into the engine hole, pick up the fittings from the stbd. side so I can play around with them and immediately see that we've put the street elbow on the port side the wrong way round. See the intelligence boosting properties of tea. No wonder we had an Empire and then lost it when we all started going to Starbucks .

I nip home and pick up the black water tank so that we can get it in place and check that we have clearance where we need it. I'm glad I did really as the clearances look as if they will work but are very tight.

We work on steadily shoving the building forwards and backwards to avoid the showers and by the end of the day we have all the black iron in place with the exception of the balance pipe which I need to get cut and threaded, all of the cooling copper from the skin tank to the engine and the calorifier and a good start on the fuel pipe work. Smashing

Every day now feels that we are getting much closer to getting Siskin in the water. The list of things to do is shortening and my wallet is lightening . Some of the stuff is only a few quid but when you add it up at the end of the week you suddenly realise that it's a significant amount of cash. I'm going to add up the total one of these days when I'm feeling brave

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Dorman]

Hi Steve

 

Just like to say what a great topic and thanks for all the hard work you put into keeping everybody posted Please keep it up. Boat details are amazing and l am saving it for our future project which l have a RN DM2 in the garage for.

 

Simon

[Steve Goddard]

 

 

Hi Steve

Just like to say what a great topic and thanks for all the hard work you put into keeping everybody posted Please keep it up. Boat details are amazing and l am saving it for our future project which l have a RN DM2 in the garage for.

Simon

Simon

Thanks for the kind words. I admit that I do enjoy keeping a record of how things have gone. I reckon I'll look back at some time in the future and wonder why I did it

It must be nice to have a spare RN kicking around in the garage, mine seems to be full of junk at the moment.

Best of luck when you start your build

Steve

Well the pace is really hotting up now. If I'm going to get Siskin to the state I want before she is lifted into the water (at the end of the month hopefully) then it is going to need some serious commitment.

Friday sees David and I back in the engine hole. I'm working on the vent pipe/s at the front of the tanks and David is getting the 3/8″ fuel pipe in place. We take some time out to make a list of the rest of the fittings we need to finish the job off (fillers, hose more fittings, even more fittings etc etc.) It's all very long and looks expensive still I started so I'll have to finish. By the end of the day all of the fuel and cooling pipework is in place with the exception of the balance pipe which I've ordered from Charlie Watts. Just fillers, exhaust and speed controls to finish off . Don't know what happened to the pictures though. I'll have to take some more

Saturday sees me back in the yard cleaning more crap out of the bilges, cleaning and painting the front bulkhead in the engine hole and getting the sub floor cuprinolled. A full day working away and not a lot to see at the end of it. Still another bit forward.

Sunday working in the tip (aka workshop).First job is to clean and tidy that up (story of my life) so I can get in to work properly. It's not a long job abnd there is that immense satisfaction when you load the car full of rubbish and get rid of it down the tip. Really make you think that you are getting somewhere. Got acosted and rebuked by the recycling police at the tip. I had put a (small) cardboard box in with the general rubbish and he wanted me to separate it for the cardboard skip. Promised I would be more diligent next time . Still I really shouldn't complain the local council do a great job with recycling with over 70% of the rubbish taken to the tip recycled. Good Stuff. With a clear workshop I make a start getting the prisms siliconed into the frames. It's going to be a two stage process, first to get the prisms fixed in place and then to run the seal around. One thing for certain it's going to take a lot of silicon.

Monday, lovely day and back at the yard. Simons putting the ground in line and tingle on the port side and I'm getting sealing tape on all the portholes and mushroom vents to get them properly sealed. This is not a job I have been looking forward to but as so often happens it's actually not that difficult and even allowing for some faffing with Simon fixing a non existant problem on a boat that was in the dock last week the job's done by lumch.

After lunch first job is to give Simon a hand turning the dock as everybody else is out. I manage not to fall in so I count that bas a win.

A quick trip to Charlie Watts to pick up the balance pipe and a bit of work to get it to the right length sees that done and it's then just a quick splash of paint on the black iron fittings. Sorted.

Simons been working on the engine hole slide runners and has them all finished and ready to go on tomorrow. We really are getting down to the last little bits now………..

Simons picked up the fenders over the weekend. Theyve been made by Joe Hollingshead and are super. I need to get some creosote on them and then beat them to death to form the tipcats round the counter and the front button round the stem post.



Today was one of those stonking days when every thing just fell into place and we got lots and lots of stuff done.

Simon's still working on the engine room slides. He's trying a new method of fabricating them so obviously the first ones are going to to take a little longer to do but it is well worth the wait as the end results are great. At the end of the day I get a couple of coats of primer on it and it looks fantastic.

My first little job is to make some little brackets for the tank hold down straps. Not one of those jobs which really tax the old brain but nice to have done. I'll get the first ends of the straps sewn up tomorrow and then we can get all the measurements right.

After this I start to look at the engine room floor plates and measure up and cut out a pair of hardboard templates. In the end they turn out pretty simple with minimal cut outs to go round things and as an added bonus it fits BOTH sides without modification RESULT . Dave is going to cut them out and fit them tomorrow as I'm not at the yard.


Dave is also working on fabricating a backend (welly) rail that I'm putting on rather than a center ring. It's bent out of 1″ bar with fabricated ends and will eventually be bolted to the cabin roof. After I've got a coat of paint on it I can't resist popping it on the roof to have a look. Not only does it look good but when the ring is on it it will work very well to.

Next for me is to make some little fish plates for the corners on the engine room door frames. The main reason for putting these on is to actually make the woodwork around the semi-circular cut outs a lot easier to handle and still look good. For once I'm ahead of the game . I'll get them bolted on when I get back to the yard.

To finish off the day I get the headlight mounting plate bolted down on the foredeck. a pretty simple and quick job. The grinding wheel shows where the water filler will eventually go.

What a great day, lots and lots of little jobs sorted. No more hours in the day than any other but it always seems that you have done more when you are knocking off little jobs

I now see that the number of hits on the blog has exceeded 100,000. By my calculations taking off the spam hits etc. I reckon there are at least two readers out there . I hope your enjoying the blog as much as I'm enjoying building Siskin and writing about it. Thanks for your commitment Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[paulcatchpole]

I now see that the number of hits on the blog has exceeded 100,000. By my calculations taking off the spam hits etc. I reckon there are at least two readers out there . I hope your enjoying the blog as much as I'm enjoying building Siskin and writing about it. Thanks for your commitment

 

Oh yes, most enjoyable, fantastic work Steve!

 

PC

[bargemast]

 

(snip)

 

 

I now see that the number of hits on the blog has exceeded 100,000. By my calculations taking off the spam hits etc. I reckon there are at least two readers out there . I hope your enjoying the blog as much as I'm enjoying building Siskin and writing about it. Thanks for your commitment

 

 

Hi Steve,

 

I am for sure one of those readers, and am enjoying your story of the building and the way you write about it, most entertaining and very interesting.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter.

[Steve Goddard]

More activity all over the boat today with Simon, Dave and myself working on it. Simon’s making the engine room slides. As far as I can see this involve cutting the shape out of 1/8″ plate and then beating the shit out of it round a former to form the roll over. Sort of panel beating on an industrial scale. It has to be done cold to avoid heat distortion etc. There’s a lot of fettling work to get them so that they fit and slide really easy because the roof is not flat but curved so the slides need to match that curve. Still by the time they are finished they run a smoothly as silk.

The first thing that I do is to fit the fish plates I made yesterday. You can just see one in the door way on the picture of the slide. It’s surprising what a difference a little detail like this makes. It just looks right

Next I’m up on the roof fixing the brass ware. Both of the holes for the mushroom vent and the bulls eye are a little too small so its a quick tickle with a grinder to get them to fit. Then it’s down to drilling and tapping the holes. Just a steady old job that sees me through till mid afternoon. When to roof is cleaned, however, it really starts to look the biz. Note the really stylish slide which was resurrected from the skip Still it keeps the weather out.

Dave in the meantime has been steadily working his way through making the engine room doors. They need to be cut out and trimmed, the hinges shaped and drilled and then Dave and I rivet the hinges onto the doors. These are all ready to be fitted next week.

Why next week I hear you say, well the great Braunston exodus is now taking place, Simon’s on Lamprey, Steve on Aquila and Dave is with Paul on Capricorn so I’m the only one working tomorrow. Still it’s not as if there is nothing for me to do and now that we have a tentative lift in day sometime the week after next I need to get my finger out.



God bless BT as we eventually get a network connection and can actually post something,Today is Monday and I’ve had three days on Siskin since the last post (sounds like a cue for a bugle )

Friday saw me at the yard all on my own as every body else was off boating. I had decided that I was going to clean up and fit the floor plates in the engine hole. Well that was until I lifted them out of the workshop and decided that there was no way known I was going to be able to get them into the engine room on my own . Still I could get them cleaned and painted. If you remember the plate came from the scrap yard and to be honest it looked pretty grim but a “quick” rub over with a wire brush in the angle grinder sees it coming up like new. Half way through the first sheet my wire brush expires so I pop to B&Q (the nearest place) to get a new one. Not at £24!! A drive into town and a quick visit to Machine mart sees a bargain at £7. Still by mid afternoon the plates are all cleaned and primed and to be honest you would have to look very hard to see that they were not new.

Back at home I finish off the prisms and get the first coat of primer on the front slide. Not a bad day all told.

Saturday sees us taking the grand-kids to London to see the Railway Children at Waterloo Station. It’s a magic show great for kids and grownups alike. I can really recommend it.

Sunday is back to the boat but working at home. More paint on the slide, shot blast the glass on the bulls eye to prevent burnout and silicon it in, give all the fenders a coat of creosote and get a temporary engine control plate made up so all in all another great day.

Today at the yard and it’s a scorcher. Inside of Siskin is like an oven, it has to be mid 30′s. My first job is to drill and fit the engine mounting bolts. They are 16mm holes through the engine beds. To be honest they are not as hard to do as I feared and I have no need to use any Rocol as the amount of sweat dripping down is more than enough to lubricate the drills.

With this done I turn my attention to the prisms and find the a: I do not have the correct size screws and b: even if I did I don’t have the correct size tap. Off we go again and pick them up from Brocol. By the time I get back it’s raining, there’s just no justice. Eventually I get everything drilled and tapped and the prisms screwed down.

Simons been finishing off the engine room doors, riveting the overlap strips on and fitting the doors so It’s head home for me and get some more paint on the slide. I now have about two weeks to get Siskin ready to go….. gulp



Everybodys a bit tired today. For some it was because they were down the pub till 3:00 am . For me I was just tired.

Simons finishing off the engine room doors. Theres a lot of linishing and cleaning up to do but it is well worth the effort at the end of it as the doors look great and fit like a dream.

I’m sorting out getting tape on the prisms and bulls eye and today Ken is giving us a hand to make certain that Siskin is ready for the sprayfoam next Wednesday as we still have some battening to get in and “polo’s” for the prisms and engine room slides. As you can see the pace is really hotting up.

I’m moving on to the next bit which is sorting out the exhaust. I’ve got all the fittings and a nice new shiny flexible pipe has arrived which to be honest looks a: VERY EXPENSIVE and b: far too nice to cover up with tape . The first fit is a bit short in the vertical so the pipework has to be extended. David has dug out an old running nipple which is all seized up but in pretty good nick otherwise. Half an hour with the gas axe and a very large pair of Stilsons sees it in pieces and a quick going over with a rotary wire brush and it’s as good as new. With it all fitted together we can estimate where it wants to come through the roof and where we would like it to come through the roof. Fortunately they are not a million miles apart so with a little bit of tweaking we get it to where we want it to be. I bang a 70mm hole in the roof with a hole saw and we’re getting somewhere. Simon cuts the collar plate and we spend quite a while getting it so the pipe will look vertical (which is not at right angles to the roof and has to take into account how we think the boat will sit in the water. At the end of the day everything is all tacked up so that first thing tomorrow I can drill and bolt the collar down and Simon can finish welding it all up.

As a final fling I get a couple of coats of paint on the doors but neglect to take a picture .

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

I get the distinct impression at the moment that I’m fast running out of time to get everything done before Siskin is sprayfoamed next Wednesday and b: she is lifted into the water the week after I’m going to have to step up a gear.

Simon’s finishing off the engine room slides making and fitting the hasps and rivetting on the handles. Takes quite a while as it’s fiddly but now all the steel work around the engine room is finished and all I need to do is to get some paint on it.

Kens finished off the “polo’s” for the slide holes and the prisms and they are ready to fit as soon as the paint dries.

I’ve drilled and bolted the exhaust flange on and Simon has welded it up, so the exhaust is now finished.

I’ve started fitting the various fillers ( 2 x Diesel, 2 x Water, 1 x Pump Out and 1 x Rinse out). This takes a lot longer than I thought it would as I bent the pilot drill on my hole saw when the saw caught and I had to go get another one. Still most of the holes are finished.

Big day tomorrow we are going to make the rams head



Well today’s the day. It’s time to make the Rams head. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time ever since the steel was delivered. Not only will it finish the stern of the boat off but I’m interested to see how the hell we’re going to bend 1 3/4″ bar

First thing is to set up the jig. Simon’s had this for donkeys years and it really looks as if it’s done a lot of work. It’s a sign of things to come that it needs to be welded to the big steel table. I sense some real welly about to come into play. A couple of running repairs later and we’re ready to start. I’ve been and got a new propane cylinder for the gas axe and it’s going to be needed looking at the size of the nozzle Simon brings out. It makes so much noise that we need to wear ear defenders. Simon heats up a section of the bar until it’s cherry red then it’s frantic getting the bar into the correct position on the jig and bending it to the correct position before it cools down. It’s great fun in fact it’s so much fun we make two more, one for Simon’s boat and one for Dave’s boat. Not a bad mornings works at all.

Simon and I get Siskins onto the rudder block and positioned correctly and I then leave Simon to weld it all up. At the end of the day I clean it down and get a coat of two pack on it. It really is stunning and finishes the back of Siskin off nicely.

Ken in the meantime has been steadily working his way through the engine room and back cabin finishing off the battening. I’m starting to think I may be ready in time.

Just in case you think I’ve been doing nothing (shame on you) I’ve got all the deck fittings finished.

Last job for the day Simon welds on the anodes and I get them cleaned up and some two pack on the tabs. We have got the be getting close now



The frantic push goes on to make certain that we’re ready for sprayfoaming tomorrow.

Last Friday Ritch my son in law came to lend a hand and get some work done on the floor (and other parts ) of the main cabin, I cut out and drilled all the steel for the combined header tank (engine and heating) and att he end of the day picked up the adapter plate, coupling and tiller bar from Roy Willoughby so now we have all the stuff necessary to finish the prop shaft.

Monday morning dawns and it’s an early start. Simon’s off on the rivets on the engine room as they have to be done before spray foaming. Ken is still battening out. It’s another one of those jobs which take a lot longer than you would think.

Dave and I sort out the header tank and get that welded up. It’s part split so that there is only one filler but you can’t run both engine and heating dry if you have a fault. Got a couple of nice little sight glasses from eBay for the front so all that needs to be done now is to mount it.

After that it’s just clean up time inside. I need to get everything spick and span for sprayfoaming. Hopefully this will be the last major clean up but somehow I doubt it.

Simon finishes off the rivets on the ER sides, slides and pigeon box flange. Another 100+ to go on the total . It’s surprising however the difference that this little detail makes. Everything just looks right now.

At the end of the better part of 12 hours work I reckon that we’ll make it in time.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

After all the frantic effort over the last few days today was a real lazy day for me. Brian and Tony from Cosyhome were up to sprayfoam Siskin so all I really had to do was hang around like a bad smell (I really MUST wash my overalls ). They arrived at 9:00 ish and started masking up. They were really conscientious about it making certain that everything that did not want spraying was covered. Having scraped off some overspray from when they did the tanks I can appreciate this .

Brian got spraying in the main cabin while Tony finished off masking in the engine room and back cabin. It really is a hot job as the foam gives off heat as it cures and of course the boat is then insulated so it only makes matters worse so by the end of it Brian is a bit on the warm side.

After Brian has finished the engine room and back cabin we go over Siskin to see if there are any thin spots or bits missing using a steak knife with a bit of tape wrapped round it as a depth gauge. There are very few bits that need attention and it does not take long to get them sorted.

I leave Brian and Tony cutting back and furtle around getting some paint on the slides. By 2:00 they have cut everything back and cleared away all the rubbish. There's still a little bit of cutting back to do but the bulk of the hard work is done and to be honest the inside of Siskin is pretty clean. The pictures show it just as it was left . All in all a great job

I decide to slope off a bit early and get a couple of well earned pints of Inclined Plane at Bridge 61 (by Foxton Locks). Back to the grind tomorrow



Sunday and am trying to catch up with all the "other stuff" rather than boat building. Hopefully life will return to something a little bit more normal as soon as Siskin hits the water the week after next.

Thursday was a really strange day. I spent all day cleaning up the back cabin and engine room. The spray foam is evil stuff. It's as staticcy (made up word) as hell and sticks everywhere and it doesn't seem to matter how much you clean up there is always more at the end than when you started. Still I did get some more paint on the floor underneath the tanks in the back cabin so they can go down properly now. It seems that bit's of foam will be a feature of life for some time to come .

Friday dawned bright and early. Well it started that way and deteriorated into a deluge. As I arrived at the yard David was arriving on his bike looking very bedraggled . I then realised I had left a box of pipe fittings on the workshop bench so had to drag all the way home to get them . Still we were up and running by half nine.

While David was finishing off the cooling pipework and tightening it all up I started assembling the black iron pipework for the fuel fillers. Bit ahead of the game here but the picture shows the "U" bend on the tank end of the filler. This has a couple of advantages: a: you don't need to bend the flexible pipe to get it to the tank which means it's a whole lot easier to get the lining on and b: if somebody can get a syphon tube into the tank from there they are welcome to any fuel they can get out

One thing that became obvious when we put the port side filler in was that there was no way we could get a pair of stilsons in to tighten up the coupling which is a bit of a bummer. However 20 mins with the plasma and grinder and I've knocked up a cracking spanner which does the job admirably . I'm getting better at this steel working lark

The stbd. side proves to be a real pain in the bum to sort out. The pipes to the calorifier are in the way and the filler pipe needs to be threaded behind them and all the water pump pipework stops you getting at things easily . To compound matter we are using the super grip heavy duty clamps (two on each end). Basically they have very little adjustment (3mm). If you have the ones which will slide easily up and down the filler pipe (48 – 51mm) they don't tighten up properly. If you use the ones which do tighten up (44 – 47mm) it is difficult to slide them up and down the pipe so it's hard to get the pipe over the hose adaptor. We spend ages struggling but eventually get it all done and the engine is now ready for fuelling and getting the coolant in. Should be able to start it mext week. You can see however that there is still a load of sprayfoam to get out of the bilges.

To finish off the day David gets all the fittings on the black water tank and I get the flange adaptor onto the gearbox output flange. We're getting there

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

Well it's all fixed now. Siskin will be craned into the cut on Wednesday 20th. (this blog is behind my main blog @ www.nbsiskin.co.uk ) Now that's sorted it's time to panic .

Yesterday saw Simon catching up on the boat in the dock for most of the day so I had Siskin to myself. The job for the day was to finish off the stern gear. Now this should not have been a big job except….. the end of the shaft was a really tight fit in the plummer block bearing, to tight a fit to be comfortable. When you looked at the scuff marks it looked as if it had been bruised in the chuck so I had a couple of hours with some emery cloth cleaning it up until it fitted to my satisfaction. Not something I really wanted to do but there you go.

Some more work in cutting some shims and getting the plummer block shimmed so that the shaft was nice and free and then bolt it down except….. the bolts I have are too short now and the nyloc doesn't engage so it's off to get some longer bolts. More time that I could do without spending.

The one thing that wasn't a problem was cutting the packing and getting the stuffing gland sorted so something went' right

Some more work in sorting out the keys for the coupling and prop and everything is finished. I'm not going to put the prop on until that last minute. I wonder why that is

A little job which really shouldn't have taken me more than a couple of hours has ended up taking the best part of a whole day with all the frigging around.

Still there's just enough time to spend an hour tidying up and cleaning the main cabin. I must try and keep the working area more organised, it will save time I know.



An empiric proof of Sods law. Very first thing this morning is to put some diesel into Siskin. Julia is up the arm on Towcester so the timing is perfect. I put in 200l (about half the total capacity) filling through the propulsion tank filler. We go very very carefully checking that there are no leaks. When we open the balance pipe to let half go through into the domestic tank we find a leak on one of the fittings in the balance pipe. Now this is not a gush, or a torrent or even a drip. It is a seep, a weep a mere suggestion of dampness and it is right on the joint between the valve that is screwed into the tank and the first elbow. To make it even more frustrating it's on the stbd. side buried under all the cooling pipes and pump. As I say Sods law .

There's nothing to do but pull it all to pieces and fix it which takes us the rest of the morning. Because the fittings need to be in the correct orientation it's difficult to ensure that they are tight enough to stop leaks while still pointing in the rigth direction and I end up cutting a couple of threads off the elbow to make certain it does not bottom out in the valve. Still when it's done its oil tight so a job well done.

Simons beavering away in the back cabin fitting the floor bearers. The very LAST pieces of steel to be added to Siskin. It really is nearly there now.

Andy's working on a rear slide as well so we'll be able to get rid of the bits of scrap ply over the slides .

David and I finish the exhaust which needs some fettling to get it nice and straight and then decide that we'll start the engine. The fuel system bleeds out quickly and a couple of watering cans of water in the primary cooling system is enough to get it going. As always I like to turn the engine over with no fuel or compression until I've got some oil pressure and once again I need to prime the oil filter as it has drained. I hope that this is not going to be a feature if the engine stands for a long time without being run. . However with oil pressure restored I flip the decompressor off and the engine fires up in a couple of seconds. The engine runs nicely again but we have a water leak between the thermostat housing and water rail which I think I can fix with tightening up the nuts (when I can get a spanner to fit). More frustrating is that the pipe to the gearbox oil pressure guage has fractured. It's in and exposed place and with all the toing and froing it's got bent. I'll re route it when I fix it.

Another good day



I'm on clean up again today. First is to get the roof clean, linished where it has got scratched etc and spot some primer on it. I'll get a second coat on tomorrow and a final coat of gloss. I've decided that I'm not going to try and get any paint on the boat other than primer and red oxide gloss. This should be enough to keep the boat safe over winter (we're talking about winter already ) and then I can sort very thing out when I finally paint her.

Next is to clean up some more of the diamond plate Simon has cut out for the engine room floors. This is delayed as my angle grinder packs up. It's not a big thing the cable has broken close to the grinder with all the bending and pulling. Given that this is the first thing to go wrong since I bought this grinder (Bosche blue professional) and the amount of work it has done it only goes to proove the old adage that a good tool is worth the money (o'er missus) A quick chop off the end of the lead and NOTHING HAPPENS. I've managed not to cut out the bad bit of cable bugger. When I finally get it sorted the transformation is amazing I'm convinced that my grinder goes a lot faster now . There's a half day's work in just cleaning and painting the plates but it is worth it as they come up really well.

In the meantime Simon has jacked Siskin up another foot or so and is lying on his back welding the bottom seams up. These are the LAST structural welds on Siskin. Woo Hoo . I really don't envy Simon grubbing around until I realise that I've got to get under there to black the bottom then my sympathy diminishes.

Not a lot to take photo's of but will get some soon

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Timleech]

 

 

Yesterday saw Simon catching up on the boat in the dock for most of the day so I had Siskin to myself. The job for the day was to finish off the stern gear. Now this should not have been a big job except….. the end of the shaft was a really tight fit in the plummer block bearing, to tight a fit to be comfortable. When you looked at the scuff marks it looked as if it had been bruised in the chuck so I had a couple of hours with some emery cloth cleaning it up until it fitted to my satisfaction. Not something I really wanted to do but there you go.

 

 

 

If it's standard stainless bar, it's likely to be anything up to 2 thou above nominal size, enough to stop it entering a standard bearing properly.

 

Tim

[Steve Goddard]

If it's standard stainless bar, it's likely to be anything up to 2 thou above nominal size, enough to stop it entering a standard bearing properly.

 

Tim

 

Tim

 

It's EN8 but I think the same thing applies. Had I thought about it I would have taken the bearing down to Roys and had him tickle the shaft. 20 20 hindsight

 

Steve

[Steve Goddard]

I can't believe how frantic it has been for the last four days as I'm trying to get everything in order for the launch day. On Thursday Simon, Andy and myself were all working on Siskin.

Simon made a start on the mounting brackets for the domestic alternator but couldn't finish ot off as I didn't have a pulley for the alternator to allow us to align the mounting with the crankshaft pulley. Another oversight on my part. I've ordered on which should be here on Monday so hopefully we can get it finished then.

We made a start on the engine room floor plates. They look great but boy are they heavy. The long one is just about as much as you can lift. Still the design is such that that one should never have to be lifted once all the services are in place and the small one is quite manageable.

Andy played a blinder today. He finished off the rear slide, made a simple hatch cover for the dog box hole which looks a lot better than the bit of plastic I'm currently covering it with and finally we lay a temporary back cabin floor made from offcuts left over from doing the main cabin floor.

Not only does this make it a lot easier to get in and out of the boat but it's a lot safer too.

In between helping Simon and Andy I'm trying to make the best use of the decent weather before it turns and have cleaned up the roof which was not in the best of states with lots of grinding dust which has rusted. With a good coat of primer on and all the rubbish cleared off it looks really good.

Friday arrives and for me it's a complete day of painting. Gloss paint on the roof, slides, pigeon box etc. etc and another coat of primer on the back cabin sides to tidy them up. By the time I've fitted all the brass-ware back a whole day has just gone. Still it's getting Siskin tidy and protected.

Saturday. Beth my eldest daughter and I are spending a day at the yard. The original intention was to get another coat of black on but the weather is simply against us as it pours down all morning. We camp out in the inside of Siskin and clean out all the bilges under the main cabin and back cabin floors. Beth gets a first coat of Waxoyl in the main cabin bilge and I get a couple of coats of primer and a coat of gloss under the back cabin floor which improves things no end. Right at the end of the day Dave (who is working on Hasty) has some two pack primer left over so I scramble underneath Siskin and get a good coat on the welds so at least if the weather stops me from blacking the base plate I should not have and issue with rust. Strange thing is at the end of a day of hard work there is no discernible difference in Siskin. Ho Hum…..

Sunday Spent the day at home painting the rear slide and hatch that Andy had made and starting assembling the temporary engine panel. One job that I do have to do is to remove the shunt from the ammeter I have as there is a built in one in the regulator. As always this is one of those simple jobs which a: take a lot longer than you think and b: go horribly wrong as the nuts holding the shunt onto the terminal posts are soldered in place. Still I managed at the end but it involved completely disassembling the ammeter. I just hope I can get it back together and working again.

I reckon should be OK for Wednesday



Frantic activity abounds (well frantic on my part ) in the final push to get Siskin ready to launch. Simon David and myself are the crew today.

Simon and I finish off the floor plates making some last minute cut outs to ensure that it will be possible to lift the plates when the lining is in place. The good news is that the alternator pulley arrives early on in the day so Simon can finish off the mount and get it welded to the engine beds. As with many things that are good the final solution has a nice simplicity which works well and looks elegant. That's it now with the exception of a couple of little tags which need welding on Siskin is finished from the steel point of view. What a journey from sheet steel to finished hull .



While Simon is finishing off in the engine room David and I get the cardon shft fitted. Much to my releif it clears the tanks with about an inch to spare . I really was beginning to have doubts that it would but it seems that I can measure something correctly after all. The last thing on the agenda there is to fit the prop and drill the nut for a split pin. With David keeping an eye on the orientation of the drill I manage to get a 5mm hole through the nut and shaft that is reasonably square and straight. Well at least it comes out on the opposite flat to the one I started. I bag up the prop with lots and lots of tarp so hopefully any light fingered bastards out there will not nick it. That would be the final insult

David is making a start on the speed controls. The throttle is pretty simply as I've got a lever box from Tony Redshaw which does all the hard work so a couple of bits of ply on the roof battens are all thats needed to sort things out. We've got some black iron rod for the controls but it's really rough so it will do as a temporary solution and I'll replace it with bright rod later.

I make a start on putting the brass strips on the back cabin slides. Damn I don't know what the hell is going on with the angle but it is as hard as nails at the back and I break drills, knacker my 5mm tap and generally have a hard time getting holes drilled and tapped . It's almost as if the steel has hardened with welding but I can't see why just bits of it have. Still it's done now.



Last job it to temporary mount the stern tube greaser which is screwed to a convenient batten and a bit of nylon tube put in place. It's then that messy job of filling it with grease and pumping some down into the stern tube. Luckily I've got some nitrile gloves kicking around from Saturday.

Work doesn't stop when I get home with the rear slide and dog box hatch needing a top coat of paint and the painters (pun) needed a back splice and eye splice. Hopefully they will fit when I take them to the yard.

Last day tomorrow to get things done before Siskin is launched so no stress at all



Last day today to get anything done before Siskin is lifted in tomorrow. For once the weather co-operates and we get a nice dry day which means I can send Andy under the boat to black the base plate. Good for me, not certain Andy shares that view. . A single coat will keep the plate nice and tidy and I can get another on when Siskin is back out of the water.

Simon's busy clearing as much stuff out of the way as possible to give a clear deck for tomorrow so David and I connect up all the tanks as I plan to use them as temporary ballast for the trip to Debdale wharf where I will fit Siskin out. all the pipes fit easily below the back cabin floor and will be easy to get at should they ever need maintenance. You will note that the rinse out pipe (the black pipe on the tank nearest the engine room) is not sanitary hose. Somebody forgot to order the 19mm hose (Ah that would be me ) As I have no intention of putting any real crap into the tank for another 12 months the water hose will do . David has drilled all the holes for the skin fittings and we have got them mounted. All of the vents are angled upwards to prevent water ingress and all of the pipes are double clipped to be on the safe side. I have no intention of getting any water leaks on the boat.

We all have a short interlude to unload some timber from Lamprey which will be the new bottom for Sculptor. It's 3″ thick Opepi, 6ft + long and the widest plank is 41″ which must have come from a BIG tree. It's takes 5 of us to lift it out of the boat and onto the forklift so we can stack it. You can see what a large pile of timber it is when it's all out.

By the end of the day the yard is spick and span and I think Siskin is in a fit state to launch. I just need to get inside tomorrow and tidy up a bit so nothing rolls around when she's lifted. Can't wait

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

First of all apologies for keeping you all in suspense. I was so knackered at the end of Wednesday that I simply could not get up the energy to write the blog and Thursday was straight back into it.

There was some frantic last minute tidying up at the yard and in Siskin prior to Barry arriving with the crane. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the yard so clean and organised . Mind you it’s a good job I didn’t take a picture looking the other way as you would have seen the great piles of equipment and steel in the yard .

At least with the building out of the way I can get some last pictures of Siskin on the hardstanding. Theres actually five movements today. Siskin and Hasty (the steam tug) are going into the cut, Ruislip and Sculptor are coming out and Dave’s boat is doing a 180 so it’s going to be a busy day.

The crane arrives around mid day and it doesn’t take long to get it set up. Siskin is the first lift and the guys rig a couple of very large slings underneath her.

It’s a really quick job after that. A quick lift of a few inches to check that the balance is right and it’s spot on and then up and over Procyon and into the cut. It’s as simple as that.

Within a couple of minutes Siskin is in the water. Dave shoots inside and does a check for leaks before the slings are removed and then the slings are gone and Siskin is floating (and I’ve just found that I didn’t take a picture. What a Wally). Siskin weighs in at a shade over 12 tons which is not too shabby.

Next to go in the water is Hasty. A couple of air bags underneath her so that two skates can be positioned and then she can be dragged out of the mill building. This is the first time that you can get a really good look at her and she looks great. The exercise is repeated and soon Hasty and Siskin are brested up. Both need ballasting so they are a bit tender (Hasty more so as she is deeper drafted and sitting high in the water) so moving around on them is an interesting experience. It seems strange after so many months of clambering around on Siskin for her to be moving and rolling. She really has come alive.

Last boat for me to take pictures of anyway is Ruislip. I love this boat it either looks as if it should be small, plastic and floating in a kids bath tub or painted yellow and in a Beatles film. It really is just wonderful. I wonder if Rex would sell it .

After all the craning is done we fire up the BBQ, crack open the champagne (courtesy of Keith on Hasty) and the small barrel of Inclined Plane (courtesy of me) and relax for a bit.

What a day

There will be video soon so watch this space

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

Todays Tuesday morning and I'm bashing out a quick post before we head back to Siskin for another days cruising towards Debdale so to save you the suspense it's obvious we're on the water and mobile. However it has not all been smooth sailing.

Last Friday was probably one of the most frustrating days we've had on Siskins build. Simply nothing went right. The first issue was that we found we had a diesel weep on the stbd. side when we lifted the floor plate to connect the water pump. It seems that we must have disturbed on of the joints when we were struggling with the leak on the balance pipe before. Given that the leak is between the shut off valve and the tank it is going to need to have the tank drained so we decided to nip it up and leave it till we get to Debdale when we won't have such pressure on time.

The next issue is the dynamo. First problem is trying to figure out how it commects to the regulator, then when we have finally figured that out and got it all connected there's no output . We faff around for a little while trying all the obvious things but to no avail. As an alternative we look at connecting up the alternator but again there's too much work involved. The good news however is that the electric circulation pump draws less than 3A so there's enough capacity in the batteries to run it for at least 3 days so I decide that we'll go with it and I'll reef the batteries out and charge them half way around.

With 14 gals of antifreeze in the system we can start Siskin up and run her in gear for the first time.

The one good thing about Friday is that I knocked up a set of steps for the front of Siskin so no more struggling to get in and out.

Working weekend, Saturday sees a half day just tidying up the inside of Siskin and getting all non essential stuff out. Chris is over and with the help of Margret we motor Siskin up the arm and wind here at the top. The very first voyage of the good ship . In the VERY confined space of the arm it's difficult to get a decent impression of how she handles but one thing for certain is that she pulls up very well indeed.

Sunday sees me back at the yard. I need to get the last couple of hoses on the black water tank so that I can use it as additional ballast. Now the universal rule of hole saws comes into play. i.e. you have one that is too small and one that is too big. So I pop out to B&Q clutching my new trade card to pick up the right one. Except I pick up one which is still too small so it's back again and ask the man nicely for a 54mm hole saw only to be told they have none in stock . Now as this is at the trade counter I asked him if they might have one in the B&Q main store. So we trot off and luckily they have one Bosche hole saw and it's 54mm . Downside is that it £17.99 but my new mate from the trade counter says that I can buy it through them and it's only £8.99. What does that say about B&Q prices.

2 mins to drill the hole, total elapsed time 2 hours. Still it's done so after a final tidy I decide thatI'll polish all the brass work as we want Siskin to look decent.

Monday morning bright and early we set off to drop one car at Braunstone our destination for the first day and then back to the yard and ready Siskin for the off with water in the black water tank and triming the boat using the front clean water tank. 11:30 and we're off. Simon's at the helm as it's only right that he tries Siskin out. David and I check that the engine and gearbox are all working properly (which they are). Siskin glides through the water with barely a ripple. At 400 rpm (tickover) shes just about at walking pace. I may need to get an inch off the pitch we'll see after we've had a bit more experience.

We drop Simon and David off and we're on our way. After 12 months of building Siskin it is just so nice to be standing on the back cruising along.

The trip to Braunstone is uneventful excepth for a little moment where the Rams head comes loose on the rudder stock which has us across the cut like a stop lock. A quick tighten of the bolt sees it right.

After a really nice trip (albeit very hot) we arrive at Braunstone. Siskin has behaved impeccably. The motor runs like a dream and the boat handles so well. I could not be happier

August 4th, 2011

Day two of the maiden voyage of the good ship Siskin. Braunstone locks, Braunstone tunnel and Watford locks to do today so have assembled a motley crew to help with the locking consisting of MMM (my mate Mark) and his wife Melanie, and Ellen (our youngest daughter) and Eddie her fella.

Note the regal posture of the ladies on the tug deck and Mark making a support call to one of his customers .

With the crew working like a well oiled machine (albeit a bit clunky in places we sail through Braunstone locks pairing up with a hire boat. As I've yet to fit a tunnel light to Siskin (we do have a very big torch however ) I let the hire boat lead the way into the tunnel. Big mistake!! I spend most of the time in the tunnel either in neutral or even astern trying not to run up his arse. Siskin just glides through the water and a few seconds of power is more than enough to keep her going with enough steerage way for a minute or so. I definitely need to get the prop repitched.

Eddie is most upset. He's just worked out that my 1990 Nicholsons guide does not have the correct information about pubs in it. I did tell him that the info on the canal is still valid but he's not convinced

With a pleasant days cruising behind us we moor up just past the top of Watford locks where we've left the cars. Again Siskin has behaved just perfectly.

Wednesday and we're back to a crew of two for the easy trip from Watford to Husbands Bosworth (where we live). Like yesterday the weather is perfect and it is just so relaxing . It makes all the months of effort really seem worthwhile. Only problem is we only have another couple of days of this before Siskin comes out of the water again

The canal is very narrow in places with tree and reeds narrowing the channel down to a single boats width and it is VERY shallow on the off side as we find out when we move over to pass boats. I reckon that most of the blacking Andy put on the bottom is now scraped off. I reckon with Siskin down a good few more inches when shes finished it will be very interesting

Chris and I have a very relaxed day and arrive at Bosworth about 4:30 just in time to see the only two mooring places by Honeypot lane bridge get taken. Oh well the walk will do us good.

Last day on Thursday as we head down Foxton Locks to Debdale. Got the Grandkids crewing so that should be fun.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

Thursday dawns bright and sunny, yeah right it's pouring down . Today Beth, Rich, Leah and Corin (our two grandkids) are crewing for the short trip from Husbands Bosworth to Debdale.

We chug along in the drizzle which in fairness doesn't dampen anybodies enthusiasm and arrive at Foxton top lock at lunch time. There's a long queue for the locks (we're boat seven) so there's plenty of time to have some lunch and get a little bit of cleaning done in between showers. Grandkids are great for giving them a broom and getting the decks clean Just when it's our turn to go down the locks the heavens open. Chris, Beth and Leah are the locking crew with Rich deciding to take a supervisory role from the tug deck of Siskin. We make really good time down the locks but at the end of it everybody's looks a bit like drowned rats.

The trip to Debdale is far far to short. It's sad to think that Siskin has to come back out of the water again for at least 12 months while I fit her out. We've really enjoyed the last four days but I suppose that it's an incentive to get her finished.

When we arrive at Debdale we need to moor up as Siskin is not being lifted out until Monday morning. All the easy on line moorings are full and the only free space is right at the end of the marina down a narrow isle and between two moored boats with boats the other side of the isle as well (and of course all the boats are occupied). The space is literally 6″ longer than Siskin. With a careful reminder to myself that boating is NOT a contact sport and a certain amount of trepidation we creep into the marina, thread our way through and into the mooring space. No hassles, no collisions, no panics in fact no worries as Siskin slips sweetly into the slot. She just handles so so well

The maiden voyage of Siskin is over. With the small exception of the rams head coming loose it has been trouble free and most enjoyable. Can't wait for the real thing


A couple of folk have commented on the tire wrap of the front fender. Now I have to admit I'm not an expert and I didn't cut the tire for Siskins front fender but I did refit it after I had creosoted the rope so I thought I'd try and show how it I did it. I tried to post it here but it didn't work properly so here is a link to the appropriate post on Siskin's blog Fender Linky


Monday morning bright and early and I’m off to the yard, except it’s Debdale and I’m going in the opposite direction to “normal”. Strange.

First job for me is to get Siskin out of the berth and into the slip. Not a job I’m looking forward to as it’s tight, backwards, with a stiff breeze across the berth and there are people on the moored boats who will not, I suspect, be happy if I nudge them and spill their cornflakes .

I start Siskins engine (first blip on the button as always) and push off into the middle of the two rows of boats. With the engine on tickover and in reverse Siskin serenely sails in a straight line backwards with only the slightest blip in forwards with the rudder over to make any little corrections. She really does handle well (thanks Simon). With no drama at all we’re soon in the slip and the games with the big boys toys starts.

The post might get a little messy here as there will be lots of pikkies and few words but it’s all self explanatory. First Siskin is lifted out with the fixed gantry and swung over the hardstanding at the edge of the slip with just a couple of corrections to get her sitting level in the slings. Then the trailer (nice all wheel hydraulic steer) is backed under Siskin and she is lowered down nice as you like.

A quick trip round the houses and Siskin is pulled into the yard. where the fun is really going to start.

Mike has got hold of a container hoist from Seaforth docks in Liverpool(I wonder how the hell he got it down from there. I can just imagine him driving it down the M6 except it wouldn’t fit under the bridges )

. It’s a pretty simple job to straddle the tractor, trailer and Siskin and hoist her clear. With the tractor and trailer out of the way Mike can lift Siskin high out of the way and start the short journey to the hardstanding. it looks a little strange seeing the stern of Siskin poking our of the hoist way up in the air but with the way the hoist steers it’s a pretty easy job to do the 90 turn into the hard standing.

Mike then raises the cab of the hoist and the raises Siskin even higher. As she goes past I can see a bit of the bottom that Andy missed when he was blacking it.

Another 90 turn and Siskin goes sailing OVER a line of boats on the hardstanding with the hoist straddling them. It’s obviously something that Mike has done a few times as there is no apparent stress

It’s quite ironic really. Siskins new home for the next 12 months or so is parked right behind another Cowburn and Cowpar boat Simon built (Serin). I don’t know you think that you have something that’s a bit unique and you find out that it’s a common as muck

With Siskin safely on the ground and buttoned up it’s time to call it a day.

There may not be many blog entries over the next 3 – 4 weeks as I need a little time to get away from the boat and let my mind, body, soul and wallet recover but please do keep an eye out for when the next chapter in Siskin’s build starts

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Athy]

I have not read of yourexploits for a few months and have thoroughly enjoyed catching up today. Thanks for your lucid account of the building process and the many illustrations. I look forward to the chronicle of your explots on the inside bits of 'Siskin'.

[Steve Goddard]

It seems a bit strange sitting down and writing a post again. Bit like going back to school after a long holiday . Despite the lack of posts all has not been at a standstill on Siskin.

I spent half a day over at Debdale and transferred the diesel from the domestic tank to the propulsion tank (don’t tell the tax man ) so that I can strip down the pipework and fix the leak

A 10 quid pump off eBay connected to the tank sender valve and three batteries worth of charge for the old Dewalt had the 100+l transferred over in 45mins. I must admit that the drill was a bit on the warm side and I was a bit on the stiff side by the time it was done but it worked really well and the tank only had about 1/2 l left in the bottom which I drained into a cut down milk bottle and transferred by hand.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time as well getting all the electrics designed and specified out so that I can start pulling cables in the near future. I’ve decided to go down the digital distribution road perhaps just because I can . I looked at putting my own system together using a PLC or X10 but in the end decided that I could simply use the Mastervolt system. The decision was helped along when they announced their hybrid gen set (they still haven’t got it ready yet) which simply has to be the way to go if you are thinking of putting a gennie on board. I reckon at the end of the day it will add a couple of grand on the overall price of doing it the “traditional” way but I think that I can do some nifty stuff with the programming.

I’ve put some links to the electrical drawings in the post on the blog you can find them http://nbsiskin.co.uk/?p=2019#comments. I think they should work but if not and you want a copy drop me a comment.

I’ve also been over to the boat with Rob and we’ve measured up for the timber and sheeting for the main cabin. Hopefully that will arrive just after the cabling is finished

OK That’s it for now. There will be more frequent posts going forward but they may not be every day depending on how I get on so stay tuned



Well here we (David and me) are again pulling the bloody balance pipe to bits to try to fix the leak. First thing that becomes obvious is that I’ve still got to get all the tools I’ll need over to Siskin when we realise that in order to get the balance pipe out we have to cut the welds on the tabs holding the tank in and in order to do that we need a grinder… which is at home . One quick trip later and that’s sorted and the tank is free. We get the balance pipe to pieces and cleaned up. David starts putting it back together and I head into the main cabin to make a start on marking out the electrics. Nice thing about spending some time in actually designing where things are going to go is that there is only one change that I need to make when I actually transfer the locations to the boat. I need to move the lights in the bathroom a little (in fact this has nothing to do with putting them in the wrong place on the design more to the point is that I have now decided that the MV in the bathroom will not pop out in the shower, it’s a long story).

There is a low-level, constant stream of invective coming from David in the engine hole as he struggles to get the balance pipe back together. There are some really interesting Anglo-Saxon phrases, some antipodean phraseology, lower Saxony German adjectives and even I believe even some choice Farsi. Very impressive

With the balance pipe in place it is with some trepidation hat we open up the valves. there is no sudden gushing but we’ve been there before so we’ll have to wait and see if we’ve cracked it this time.

Just about enough time to wander round the boat and get some important measurements for the RCD paperwork, tidy up and head for the hills.

Hopefully the next time I’m over I can get a start on the wiring

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

I’ve spent most of the week clearing up after damp proofing guys and plasterers at home. God the’re a messy bunch. I finally managed to get over to the boat on friday to get some more work done.

First thing to check is the work we did on the balance pipe. the paper towel I put in the bilge is soaked with diesel. I clean it all up and put a new piece of paper towel down to see if I can find out where it’s coming from. The good news (if there is any) is that it’s a very small leak but if we have to strip down the whole balance pipe again it will be a nightmare. If that is the case I think we may have to look at a totally different setup for the balance. Ho hum.

Next job is to start and clear the spray foam out of the way of the cable runs. I’ve got a selection of weapons to try, an old bread knife, a carving knife, a Stanley knife and my trusty old scout knife (see fender post). After trying them all the scout knife comes out on top and I hack away at the spray foam clearing battens so that I have something to fix the cable clips to. I also mark out the direction of the cable runs so I can be certain a: I’ve got them all b: I remember where they are .

Soon the inside of Siskin is covered in hieroglyphics but I’ve got all the main cable runs clear. There are a few bits of battening that need to be notched to get clear runs so I dig out the latest toy, a Fien Multimaster that I had to get to trim the floorboards at home to help sort out the damp (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it ). Now first I have to say how on earth did I ever manage without one of these? It’s just one of those tools that just do exactly what they say they will do. I can see that it will be invaluable going forward and will save lots and lots of time and effort. One of the gizmo’s that comes with it is a flexible scraper and I decide to see if it is any good for cutting back spray foam. All I can say is it’s brilliant!! it cuts the foam back with no tearing that you get when you attack it with a knife, it leaves a great cut surface that doesn’t shed bit’s and creates minimal mess so there’s a lot less to clean up afterwards. If you’ve got one use it for this .

Now you may remember that one of the issues that I discovered during Siskins maiden voyage was that on the cut, at least, she was way way overcooled and that the secondary cooling water was hardly warm at the end of a days cruising. I’ve been looking at ways to overcome this. It would be quite easy to implement with motorised valves and temperature probes but I would end up with a pretty complex system. Trolling around I came across a Thermostatic Mixing Valve designed to use with solar heating.( TMV Data Sheet ). It seems to be just the job as it will handle the higher temps, it OK in a glycol environment, will throughput 60l/m at an acceptable pressure loss and is even 28mm fitting etc. etc. What I will do is to set it up as a bypass to the skin cooling tank so that until the secondary cooling water gets to about 55°C no water passes through the skin tank. As the temp exceeds that value the valve bleeds water through the skin tank so that you don’t get a big thermal shock as a valve flicks open and a great slug of cold water goes into the cooling circuit. At least that’s the theory . I’ve also found a supplier of temperature switches that fit standard BSP threads so I will fit a switch into the engine water rail that will switch the secondary water pump on when the engine water jacket gets to temperature. The schematic is in (ME02). Hopefully the end result of all this will be a system that gets the engine up to working temperature in the shortest possible time, heats the calorifier up as quickly as possible and then controls the cooling system temperature for optimal running. We’ll see…..

Like all things however it would have been relatively easy to have fitted this when we did the initial fit of the cooling system but it will be a lot more work to get it fitted now. C’est la vie.Today feels like the first “proper” day I’ve got on Siskin since we hauled her out of the water at Debdale. I’m finally starting the fitout proper as I’m cabling up the 24v lights today. As is normal practice everything ULV is cabled in thinwall cabling with all the lights being done in 1mm². I’m holding the cables in place with a mix of cable clips (1.5mm T&E, 2.5mm T&E, 5mm round) depending on how many cables are in the bundle. The clips provide sufficient grip to stop the cables moving but they can still be slid through to adjust if necessary. The main horizontal run will be in two compartment trunking under the gunwales which I’ll fit later so for the moment I’ve got a few supports screwed to the bottom of the horizontal stringer that the cables rest on.

Vertical runs are up the sides of the cabin side battens and then across the roof on the roof battens. All simple really . Theres a bit of reorganisation in the bathroom as I’ve ditched the idea of combined lights and fans and have now gone for a separate extractor fan in the mushroom vent so the drawings I’ve got are not correct. I feel a set of “as built drawings” coming on .

By the end of the day I’ve got all the lighting circuits in the main cabin and have cut a 54mm hole (done with the battery DeWalt amazing!!) in the front engine room bulkhead so I can start on the engine room wiring tomorrow and the 24v power circuits. Luvverly stuff it actually feels as if I’ve accomplished something and at long last the build of Siskin is happening again.

Had a little parcel of goodies arrive from the States this morning in the shape of some 16g and 18g stainless steel nails for my nail guns. I know that you can buy them in the UK but you appear to have to buy massive quantities (10,000 plus nails) at £40+ per box which by the time you’ve got a decent selection is mega money. I found a place in the states which does selection sets of different length nails (1000 of each) and even with the postage and VAT they still work out as the cheapest way to get a decent selection (about £100 for all the nails in the picture)

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get the bulk of the ULV stuff finished and then can get the LV underway

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Dorman]

Last day on Thursday as we head down Foxton Locks to Debdale. Got the Grandkids crewing so that should be fun.

 

Hi Steve

 

Good to see Siskin on the water looks great a real credit to you and the builder.

 

Simon

[Steve Goddard]

Everything starts to come together today. I’ve been scratching my head for days trying to figure out the best cable runs across the boat and really couldn’t decide which way to go. A few minutes of concerted head scratching first thing in the morning and I’ve made up my mind. ULV stuff goes across the roof battens and LV goes across the base of the engine room bulkhead just at the floor level. In order to do this however I need to shorten the three floor sheets at the back of the cabin. It’s not a big job to lift the sheets and run a circular saw across the end and then cut back the foam to provide a nice clear run for the trunking .

Now that I know where the cables are going I can run the 6mm² cable run for the loo, and one run of 1mm² that I had measured out but not fitted. This is not looking to good, it’s not yet lunch time and I’m starting to run out of things that I can do .

After lunch I run as much LV cable as I can (about half the runs) and that’s it…. damn this doesn’t normally happen there’s usually too little day and too much work not the other way around so I end up spending the last hour doing a really good tidy and clean up of Siskin so that at least next week I can start off in a clean boat.

Plan next week is to get all of the cabling done and dusted, all trunking in place and ready to start on the wood work. We’ll see.


Decided today to spend some time in the workshop and sort out the panelling for the front bulkhead of the main cabin. Above the gunwales is going to be paneled in rosewood. Why rosewood I hear you ask. Well a long long time ago we lived in Papua New Guinea and one of the things that I brought back was a load of rosewood planks as three of us bought a rosewood tree which was being felled as part of a road clearance project. I also got a bunch of rosewood faced plywood which I will also use. Given that all this has been stored for over 30 years it’s well seasoned by now .

Before I can start however I’m popping over to the yard to measure up the bulkhead and just to clean off the sprayfoam where the electric trunking will go. Just a five-minute job.

Now anybody who knows me will know that my five-minute jobs seldom take less than three hours and have been known to last several weeks. In consequence it’s lunchtime before you know it and an extreme case of the munchies has me heading home with the job not finished . Still what’s lefts only a five-minute job

I’m making the front bulkhead panel out of some rosewood planks. Only issue is that I have to make the planks first so it’s cut some 2 x 5 to length, rip them down on the bandsaw and plane them up to 1/2 x 5″ planks. I just love doing this sort of stuff it’s really satisfying. When they are all cleaned up and ready to go it’s just a matter of glueing them up and cramping them. I’ve got a couple of panel clamps which I picked up in a sale a long time ago which are just the job for this sort of stuff as not only do they clamp the planks together but they keep them flat as well. With a couple of sash cramps helping in the middle it a good ‘un. In case you’re wondering the light strips are masking tape so that there is no glue squeeze onto the good face.

I’m using Titebond III glue as it’s waterproof and I like glues that you can clean up with water. Just be careful that if you Google it that you spell it right. Miss out the “e” and you get some very strange results. When the panel is dry it will be cut down the middle to get both sides out with minimal waste.

Back to the boat tomorrow and get some more wiring in providing the cable has arrived.



Arrived at the yard this morning to find that the extra 1mm² cable had arrived so the first job was to finish off the 1mm circuits (on last run in the bathroom and the cabling underneath the tug deck). It’s not a long job so after I’ve finished I decide to start to cut back the sprayfoam above the gunwales ready for getting the sheets on.

Well what a job and what a mess. It’s reasonably easy to cut the foam back using my Fein multitool with a scraper blade in and a level as a straight edge, in fact it’s a bit like shearing sheep . The big problem is that today is so dry which means that there is a lot of static and the offcuts of sprayfoam stick to everything, and I do mean everything, the floor, the ceiling, the vac and even my beard pwep. It’s not a long job to cut the foam back but it takes forever to clean up afterwards. In fact the most used tool in the kit today was the vac . Still it has to be done.

I’m not too keen on tackling the stbd. side straight afterwards so to finish off the day I get the cable trunking installed on the port side. I’m using two runs a 25 x 16mm for the LV and a 40 x 16mm for the ULV. The LV trunking is screwed onto the battens on the knees and the 40×16 is stuck onto the back of the stringer on the bottom of the cabin side battens. When it’s in place it’s still possible to get into it to make any changes and both of them are above the bottom of the stringer so it will be easy to cap. All in all it’s worked pretty well and I’m quite happy with it.

Tomorrow I get to do it all again on the stbd. side which will be more challenging at there are a lot more cables to get into the trunking .

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[Steve Goddard]

A Worried Man

Today was a repeat of yesterday. The morning was spent cutting back the sprayfoam above the gunwales on the stbd. side. The static today was, if anything, worse than yesterday. Remember when you were a kid and rubbed a cat against a window to see if you could get it to stick to the wall or was it a balloon I can't remember . Added to the static there was a real breeze which blew the bits all over the place. What a nightmare. Still by lunch I'm done and cleared up (two bin bags full of shavings). I'm certain that I've probably missed some and will have to trim it back when I get to putting the timber on but it should be minimal.

After lunch I'm back on sorting out the trunking. There is a short length on the port side at the front and some extra cable up to the outlet under the tug deck and then its on to the stbd side. Theres a lot more cables here and first thing is just to straighten them out and get rid of any crossovers so they all run nice and clear. in the end theres only one which needs me to redo one short run to get the tangle out. With the Cables all sorted there's a bit more cutting back of sprayfoam (will it never end) to clear the run for the LV trunking which is the first thing to go on. While I'm doing this I see a number of the cabin side that has no cables by it. Yep I've missed the LV outlet for the immersion heater bugger . Still it turns out that it's no big deal as there is another outlet nearby so it's just a matter of pulling one cable back a bit and put another short length in. Phew . Come 3 o'clock I've got all the LV in place and decide to get Siskin cleaned up properly and call it a day.

So why am I worried. Well I've organised for Andy to come over to Siskin next Wednesday and thursday to help get the ceiling up and the sheets on the cabin sides. I reckon I've got at max another days work to finish off the wiring and sort out a couple of the polo's which are a bit high but there are still four days to go excluding the weekend. Now given that I'm always optimistic about the time it takes to do a job the fact I've got three extra days really worries me as I must have forgotten something ho hum

No pictures as the inside of Siskin looks just like it did yesterday, and the day before and the day before that





It's Sunday and it's dark, where's the time gone

Thursday: the day to finish off the cabling in the main cabin and by that I mean stuffing it all into trunking. I'd done the majority of the port side (big deal two cables) so now it was time to start on the stbd side where there are a lot more (but nowhere near as many as if I'd been wiring in the "traditional" method). The LV stuff is pretty easy to do as in reality there is only a single arctic cable running in a 25 x 16mm trunk so there's lots of room and it's easy to hold the cable in place while putting the lid on. The ULV is a bit more difficult however. Up at the bow end of the run I manage reasonably easily as there are only about 10 pairs of 1 and 2mm cable to handle but at the stern end of the run there are the two 25mm cables which have enough weight in them to make them really awkward to manage. It's just one of those jobs where having four hands rather than two is a real advantage. fortunately MMM is around and can spare half and hour to get the last of the trunking mounted and the cables stored inside. Top job, thanks mate (again) .

With that done it's clean up the sprayfoam debris AGAIN and call it a night.

Friday: a quick visit over to Brinklow to catch up with David and get the answers to a couple of questions i.e. had I interpreted the standard right with regards to sheathed cable (yes I had and the sheathing actually counts as trunking for separation but of course not for support) and how do I manage the penetration through the bulkhead (overall protection using 2″ silicon hose and then secondary separation using split conduit). It was also a chance to catch up with Simon and see how his boat is coming on (nicely of course). After that it's a quick visit to Axminster tools to be relieved of some more money and again the day has gone.

Sunday: Finish off putting the table saw I bought at Axminster together and get it over to Debdale and set up in the container I've now got so that we're ready to get the lining and ceilings in next week. Then it's back to the workshop to sand the front panels that I glued up earlier. There's a real distortion with my camera which I've only just noticed. If you compare the panel on the sander with the one in the back of the picture they look totally different but in fact they are identical. Interesting . I'm really pleased with the way that the panels have turned out and when they're finally "finished" so that the grain stands out they will look great. I haven't sorted out how I'm going to finish the wood off yet. Normally I would use sanding sealer and wax but that's not really appropriate for a boat so I'll have to get the old thinking cap on

The last little job is to glue up another panel for the gap under the door. this is pretty simple as it's only a two planker. I'll get the back of the panels sealed tomorrow so that they are ready to fit before we start on the ceiling.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard

[bargemast]

Hello Steve, it's always nice to see your progress on Siskin, everything takes much longer then you think, which is the normal standard when fitting-out a boat.

 

Good luck with the next step,

 

Peter.

[Steve Goddard]

Well I was wrong to be worried, as far as I can tell I’ve got almost everything ready to start lining out so I’ve got a couple of easy days where I can get the last few little jobs sorted then we can start on Wednesday.

If you remember I put a couple of letterbox vents high on the sides of the cabin at the bow. The intention was always to use these as low-level ventilation by keeping a channel behind the lining and venting them underneath the gunwales. First though I’ve got to cut the sprayfoam back a bit (what a surprise ) to make certain that I’ve got the full vent area all the way down. I don’t have to take too much off and there is still plenty left on after I’ve finished. I’m a little bit worried about having the back of the lining exposed to what is in effect outside air so I’ve got some of the foil backed insulation that you put behind radiators and fixed it on with some carpet tape over the two battens which define the vent with the foil to the outside. This stuff is quite thin (2mm) but more to the point the foam compresses well so I don’t think that it will distort the lining. I’ve also fixed a strip over the strengthening beam Simon put in the roof as the sprayfoam there is very very thin after it’s been cut back.

Next little job is to sort out a couple of the polos which stand a bit proud from the battening. One is on the forward MV and the other on the stbd. bathroom porthole. I chop a bit off the MV one with the Fein (dead easy) and then attack it with the sander and it doesn’t take too long to get it sorted. It’s a bit of a longer job on the bathrom polo as I’ve got to take three plys off but at least it’s not overhead.

A last walk around checking the electrics shows that I’ve got an additional circuit to put in to one of the light switches (don’t know how I missed that one) but as it is routed through the engine room it’s very easy to do. Phew

I’m really undecided whether I should put the end bulkheads up first and cut the ceiling to them or put the ceiling up first and scribe the bulkheads to it and in the end decide to put the ceiling up first working on the assumption that it’s easier to work to a single face than try to work in-between two faces. However in case I decide to change my mind I start to get the front bulkhead panels finished. I’ve been looking around to try and identify a finish that I like and that is suitable and came across a varnish that is supposed to leave a surface that looks like a wax finish and is water and heat-resistant. The only downside I can see is that it is water based so it might raise the grain when it is applied. Still it’s worth a try on the back of the panels (I simply can’t bring myself to paint nice timber even if it is never going to be seen again). If it looks decent I’ll play around with some test pieces to get the best finish I can. First impressions don’t look too bad but we’ll see.

One of the nice things about Debdale is that they are exceedingly well sorted there. I’ve rented a container from them as a temporary workshop and storage in the hope that I can keep the inside of Siskin relatively clear to work in. When I get it I’m impressed as it’s already fitted out with lights and power. A real little home from home . I spend the morning sorting out cabling to the container and setting up the table saw and mitre saw making certain they’re square etc. etc.. This will work out nicely.

While I’m waiting for Rob to arrive with the timber it’s lunch time and as a change I’ve bought some Thai noodles (note from wife don’t send him shopping again). Inside the pot is a really clever little plastic fork which folds in the middle for packing and then clips together when you want to use it. Brilliant except….. 1: it’s too short to reach the bottom of the pot and 2: it is cleverly designed so that it is impossible to pick up noodles with it. However you try they either slip off the fork or slide down onto your hand. Now I have to say I’m a pretty dab hand with noodles and can merrily shovel them down my face with chopsticks like there is no tomorrow without throwing them on the floor or depositing them in my beard (very important) but I spend a very frustrating 15 mins trying to eat the damn things. To add insult to injury they’re not even that nice Won’t be buying them again.

Rob arrives with the timber. Top job. The Tulip wood has had a coat of cuprinol and two coats of spirit based primer / undercoat and I reckon that it ready to go up as it is . One thing that is amazing is the amount of timber that there is just for the lining. The stack of ply looks enormous still I’m certain that it will soon disappear when we start putting it up.

Edited October 15, 2015 by Steve Goddard