N.B. Whirlwind

[Denis R]

Some of you may recall I thread I posted some months back regarding tugs with the boatman's cabin at the fore-end. Well, tomorrow I'm going to make the acceptance trials of my new tug that Peter Nicholls has been building for me over the last few months. The major feature of this boat is a 'contemporary' boatman's cabin (natural wood, no paint and scumble, LED and halogen recessed lighting) leading out on to the well deck at the front.

I've been keeping a photo record of the build and I promised that I'd post some pictures of the cabin details once finished. I'll also add a few datails about the rest of the boat too. All of a sudden this project is getting very exciting!! Watch this space!

For the time being here's a shot of it by the fitting-out shed awaiting final ballasting, its interior and external details, just after it was put in the water.

[charles123]

Looks very interesting, do please post pictures and details, I find a blog using blogspot.com is so much easier than posting on this site where you have to use a third party host for the photos, and you can put a link in your posts to take viewers there

 

Charles

[NB Esk]

Hi Denis, she looks to have a good build quality. Cabin sides seem on the high side, what draught is she?.

 

More pics please, including any in dry dock........

 

Regards, John...

[Denis R]

I promised to post more details and I seem to have started this blog somewhat backwards, so here's my attempt to put it back into some semblance of order....

A Brief Overview of The Project

This project started 25 years ago when I first looked at having a narrow boat built. I decided then that I wanted a tug and visited Peter Nicholls at Napton - I'd already decided that of all the ones I'd seen, his appealed most. For various reasons nothing came of it. Last year, after a very, very long dormant period the project came out of the 'pending' file once more. To cut a long story short and after a long trawl round various builders and boat shows, I called Peter to see if he might be interested in building a tug again. Although he now concentrates on widebeam barges and other more sophisticated craft, he was very positive and after two meetings to discuss the specification and price I signed the order at the end of October 2005....

The Boat

48' 3" liveaboard 'dormitory' for me with facility for my three children to stay at weekends. Many of the interior features are their design. From the back, there is a Beta Greenline 35 under the raised floor with a single berth at the side. Then comes a wardrobe for my clutter followed by my double bed, lengthways along the boat. The bathroom features a 'short bath' and shower, cassette loo and a wash basin and the door is off the 'corridor'. I didn't want a 'walk through' despite the extra space it would have given me. (My eldest likes a bit of privacy to put on her 'war paint' and she didn't fancy having to make way for somebody trying to get through, especially her brother!). Forward of the bathroom is the galley featuring a Smev combined hob/sink/drainer unit, a Smev oven, a fridge/freezer (with a decent percentage of freezer space) and opposite a Candy 3.5Kg capacity washing machine. Double doors lead into the 11' 6" boatman's cabin which contains all the usual features including the drop down double and a side bed for my two daughters or other visitors. Heating is by a 5KW Webasto unit and the engine also heats the calorifier. Cooking is by gas and there is a 120 gallon stainless water tank under the short well deck. Lighting is either by LED downlighter or halogen downlighter with a number of strategically positioned contemporary wall-lights. No fake oil lamps or lace in this boat! The fit-out is in light oak all through with carpet at the rear and along the corridor. Wood flooring completes the galley and boatman's cabin. Tunnel light is an 11" diameter Francis searchlight off an old fire-engine. Fuel is 100 gallons capacity and draft is about 1' 9".

The Name

The name comes from my late father's association with 10 Group RAF during World War II. He was variously stationed at RAF Colerne and 10 Group HQ, Rudloe Manor. RAF Colerne was the home of 263 Squadron after their famous exploits in Norway with the Gladiator bi-plane. Upon their return, they re-equipped with the new Westland Whirlwind twin-engined fighter, which was a very distinctive looking aircraft with a very heavy armament. A colleague of my father's Squadron Leader Geoff Warnes DFC was lost on operations after seeing one of his wingmen ditch in the channel after a ground-attack mission on the northern coast of France. Seeing the pilot in difficulty and failing to get his dinghy inflated, Warnes ditched alongside to help but both were swept away. My father learnt of this from a signal he received in the Ops Room at Rudloe Manor. Whirlwinds were favourite models of ours during my youth and there was often at least on Airfix model to be seen about the place. 25 years ago I decided that would be the name of my tug - suitably 'tuggy' - I'd seen names like 'Hurricane' and 'Tempest' so I thought, why not 'Whirlwind'? It's ficticious fleet number will be, perhaps not surprisingly, 263.... I'll post some pictures of the signwriting once the weather's improved and Becky's had a chance to finish it!

Construction

10/6/5/4 To Peter Nicholls' usual high standard - all material the EuroNorm equivalent to BS4360-43A from Corus Steel. Here's the boat shortly after construction commenced last November.

Shortly before Christmas 2005 most of the superstructure was complete.

I'll post some more details of the interior in due course, and one or two of it going in the water.

[bottle]

Denis

 

Like your postings etc. but could you please reduce the size of the pics.

 

I have a wide-screen but get it all in.

[Denis R]

Yeah, sorry about that. They look c***, don't they? I didn't think about it until it was too late.... The next lot should be a little more user-friendly.

[alan_fincher]

Yeah, sorry about that. They look c***, don't they? I didn't think about it until it was too late.... The next lot should be a little more user-friendly.

My problem is that it's not just the pics that are wide in my browser.

 

As a result the text does the same, so unless you continually scroll left to right on every line, you can't read it.

 

Nice boat though !

 

Alan

[Denis R]

The Launch

Here's a shot of the boat going in the water at Braunston. The crane was booked for another job so we took advantage and got them to do this the same day. Unfortunately I was working so didn't get to see it myself, but hey, it's not like sending it down a slipway so I wasn't overly bothered.

Hopefully I've got the image size a little more under control this time - sorry for sending everyone off the end of their screen before.

You can't see here, but the bottom plate is fully painted and the anodes are retained with non-ferrous nuts on welded in studs.

[Bones]

The Launch

Here's a shot of the boat going in the water at Braunston. The crane was booked for another job so we took advantage and got them to do this the same day. Unfortunately I was working so didn't get to see it myself, but hey, it's not like sending it down a slipway so I wasn't overly bothered.

Hopefully I've got the image size a little more under control this time - sorry for sending everyone off the end of their screen before.

You can't see here, but the bottom plate is fully painted and the anodes are retained with non-ferrous nuts on welded in studs.

 

she looks a beauty!

[Moley]

Yeah, sorry about that. They look c***, don't they? I didn't think about it until it was too late.... The next lot should be a little more user-friendly.

I notice you've hosted the pics with Photobucket.

 

I you go back and edit, resize until they're about 640 pixels wide, but don't change picture names, then the post above should correct itself.

 

Great looking boat, how about some interior pics?

 

Shame you missed the launch. But I thought these things were supposed to be tipped in sideways. Always scares the hell out of me when I see it on Waterworld or whatever Impressive though.

[Denis R]

I've had a go at re-sizing the pictures in Photobucket and it seems to have made a bit of an improvement....

Interior pictures to follow - the guys are busy finishing the varnishing at the moment, so I thought I'd wait until it's there in all its glory. Hopefully the better weather today's giving Becky a chance to get on with the signwriting too.

The children and me are looking to crack open the champagne this Friday afternoon when I plan to move my possessions on board. Carpet and wood laminate floor go down next week after they've corrected the trim due to the offset loading of what remains of my clutter. (Never realised clothes were so heavy until I started to move them out 'en masse'....and how much you can get rid of if you're being ruthless!!)

[Denis R]

Well and surprisingly, stowing all my belongings didn't completely cancel out the built-in list to starboard so a bit of re-triming to port is going to be required. The mattress arrived today so I won't have to slide around on the air bed any more, some of the odd jobs are being done and due to a vast improvement in the weather Beccy's been able to get on with the signwriting. Here's a view of the starboard side. BW licence number to add at stern in Arctic White, but apart from that, it's not having any further embellishment.

I promised to add a couple of shots of the Boatman's Cabin. This shot taken through the front doors showing the Boatman's Table.

Then from the Galley showing the light oak finish, no embellishment and functional layout that I'm really pleased with - flooring not down yet....

Finally, here's a shot of the stove - a bit more room than in the average Boatman's Cabin as this one is 11' 3" long, compared to, i think, 9' 6" in the typical worning boat. Tea can is one I picked up years ago when my 'hobby job' was steam engine fireman.

Beccy's painting the port side today and a cabinet's going up in the bathroom. Carpet laying in the 'captain's cabin' starts tomorrow, maiden cruise starts Saturday. Oh yes, and BT were on site today sorting out my broadband connection, so we're getting there.

[stuart]

Thats a really nice twist on the traditional styling. Very impressive photos - excellent finish on the wood looks good quality carpentry!

[Gary Peacock]

Well done she looks superb.

 

I wish all the boats I have to work on looked like that!

[Denis R]

Peter's team do do a good job on the cabinet making. The bits you don't see are equally as neat. It's a good workman like job, nothing 'arty-farty' - they're not into 'precious' detailing, but that's not what I wanted anyway. I'll try to get some shots of the rest of it at some point.

[bottle]

All I can say is

[khaffra]

Congratulations on your purchase, I also own a Peter Nicholls boat and am very impressed with ours.

I presume he still paints the inside of the hull as well before fitting out which I consider a very good idea?

 

Al

[Denis R]

Peter does thoroughly paint the inside of the hull - mine was painted with what would normally be a hideously expensive finish I think - one that he uses on sea going vessels, which he used because he apparently had 'some left-overs from the last job hanging around'. Luckily I didn't have to pay extra for it....