It's A Steel

[anhar]

After placing a deposit about five months ago my builder wrote to tell me that the shell is in, meaning could I please arrange to make the next stage payment.

 

I needed to view it of course so I decided to go up on the Harley, my route being mainly the M40 from West London. After 40 odd years of biking, I still get a frisson every time I start my bike. You'd think that it would wear off after all this time but no. Doesn't happen with the car, only bikes.

 

The bike has cruise control so while the low revving beast thumps its way up the motorway, I tune in 70 and can relax and read a book or whatever.

 

I always feel a little sad when leaving London and enjoy coming home. The M40 goes through a sort of ravine in the hills a few miles west of High Wycombe and descends on to a plain on the way to Oxford. I long ago christened this ravine The Cut (nothing to do with canals) and once through it, headed out of London I feel I'm in a strange almost foreign place. Conversely when headed back, upon ascending through The Cut, I feel I'm back on home turf.

 

The boat is waiting for me in a covered dock in the water. This firm does their work this way in contrast to many other builders who build out of the water. I don't know enough about boats to judge the merits or otherwise of this practice but they are an old established outfit so I trust them.

 

She's naked as the day she was born. Which is what she is, new born. Clad only in red primer this is a pure steel shell with no other materials as yet fitted. No ballast, no engine, no woodwork, no windows, no nothing. Like a naked lady that doesn't give a damn who knows it and is waiting to get dressed in that special clothing for the man in her life.

 

I walk up and down alongside her then clamber on to the bow and the stern. I enter her from one end then the other yet I know she won't feel violated because this is me. I hope she doesn't object to my exploring those dark recesses. In the middle of her stern her tiller protrudes. I play with it a little, see if she'll react. In the narrow dock, she drifts gently away from one side in response. I notice her cleat proudly erect in the centre of the roof and look forward to wrapping my line around it.

 

Satisfied, I pay my stage payment in the office, then return for a final look before going home.

 

We're on our way.

 

regards

Steve

Edited October 20, 2006 by anhar

[allybsc]

Have you been reading Mills and Boon

 

Whoaaaah laddie, you deleted that faster than a speeding bullet!!!!!

Edited October 19, 2006 by allybsc

[anhar]

Have you been reading Mills and Boon

I've just gone and deleted the whole thing by mistake Ally! Damn my knees. And I was in into real literary mode I can tell you. I can't at the moment face rewriting it and it would come out different anyway. Maybe I should just say my boat build is on the way following delivery of the shell to my builder a few days ago. Edited October 19, 2006 by anhar

[allybsc]

I've just gone and deleted the whole thing by mistake Ally! Damn my knees. And I was in into real literary mode I can tell you.

 

You were indeed, in full flow, at least one of us read it )))

Edited October 19, 2006 by allybsc

[anhar]

You were indeed, in full flow, at least one of us read it )))

Redone it but of course it can't be exactly the same.

 

regards

Steve

[allybsc]

I enter her from one end then the other yet I know she won't feel violated because this is me. I hope she doesn't object to my exploring those dark recesses. In the middle of her stern her tiller protrudes. I play with it a little, see if she'll react. In the narrow dock, she drifts gently away from one side in response. I notice her cleat proudly erect in the centre of the roof and look forward to wrapping my line around it.

 

regards

Steve

 

 

OH LORD!!! you turned it into boaters soft porn Anhar you are going to have an unhealthy relationship with this boat...get a grip

 

BTW congratulations.

Edited October 19, 2006 by allybsc

[anhar]

OH LORD!!! you turned it into boaters soft porn Anhar you are going to have an unhealthy relationship with this boat...get a grip

 

BTW congratulations.

Thanks.

 

Of course I'm going to have an unhealthy relationship with it, though I would describe it as perfectly healthy. I mean you gotta love da ting don't you, well don't you?

 

Mind you once I've got the boat and all those horrible chores start arising, I may get second thoughts. I don't wanna spend all my cruisin' time changing the weed hatch oil or greasing the inverter gland or whatever it is you have to do. I know most blokes, and oddly a few ladies, seem get off on that but not me, I just wanna go man.

 

regards

Steve

[allybsc]

Thanks.

 

Of course I'm going to have an unhealthy relationship with it, though I would describe it as perfectly healthy. I mean you gotta love da ting don't you, well don't you?

 

Mind you once I've got the boat and all those horrible chores start arising, I may get second thoughts. I don't wanna spend all my cruisin' time changing the weed hatch oil or greasing the inverter gland or whatever it is you have to do. I know most blokes, and oddly a few ladies, seem get off on that but not me, I just wanna go man.

 

regards

Steve

 

Like all good relationships, you have to put the effort in to make it work and you do have to love it. I have an Eddie Izzard moment every time I look at mine

[Lesd]

Congrats Steve !

Been a long time in the making but I'm pleased your finally really underway with the build !

I'm still trailing 6 months behind you lol....

[bottle]

Congratulations Steve, I am really pleased for you.

 

I am not so lucky at the moment had to delay mine for about a year as my house has not sold (on the market two years price dropped £25,000) but am lucky in another way that my builder has swapped my slot with some one else, who is ready to go. Thank goodness for an understanding builder.

[anhar]

Thanks Les and Bottle. Anticipated delivery is May next year. Here's a couple pictures of the lady in her bare current state.

 

 

regards

Steve

Edited October 19, 2006 by anhar

[allybsc]

Thanks Les and Bottle. Anticipated delivery is May next year. Here's a couple pictures of the lady in her bare current state.

 

regards

Steve

 

Yeaahhh, bare naked boaty Looks very nice, we will be following your progress, so regular pictures are expected...nay demanded.

[ChrisPy]

oooh !! don't like the nekkid flesh colour scheme. get her covered up ASAP !

[DaveR]

Curtains are nice though!

 

[Bullfrog]

Well done Steve. Hope the rest of the build goes well. But more purple prose will now be expected!

 

Regards

 

David

[anhar]

Well done Steve. Hope the rest of the build goes well. But more purple prose will now be expected!

 

Regards

 

David

Thanks David. Hope you're well.

 

regards

Steve

 

Curtains are nice though!

 

Indeed Dave. Until I start popping the bubble wrap, something that I'm sure many people find irresistible when faced with this stuff. The curtains will look a bit sad then.

 

regards

Steve

 

 

oooh !! don't like the nekkid flesh colour scheme. get her covered up ASAP !

Will do in due course Chris though I'm undecided as yet about the final colour.

 

regards

Steve

[wrigglefingers]

Well, I like the nekkid look meself!

 

As the proud owner of a boat that's looking to get majorly nekkid herself this winter as she prepares for re-painting in the spring, I believe all boats should enjoy being in the buff once in a while provided they cover up eventually!

 

Steve, if you want to fall in love with your boat you just go right ahead!

 

Looking forward to the next post ......

 

Jill

[DHutch]

Looking good!

- And proper hand rails too.

 

 

Daniel

[anhar]

Went to the builder yesterday to check on progress. Unlike my first visit I couldn't enter her from both ends, nor from the side either. Due to the work only the front end was open for access.

 

She's now lined out, has all her windows and the various units are being assembled externally ready for fitting. The shower unit is already in though and the bed frame is partly in place as is the wardrobe. She'll be a rear kitchen layout with the bedroom at the front and the lounge in the middle.

 

I lifted her covers carefully, she doesn't mind that, to check on what was underneath but she don't have no engine yet.

 

Here's a few pics.

 

 

regards

Steve

Edited January 28, 2007 by anhar

[DHutch]

It all looked like it going together all right doesnt it.

- Its nice to see some paint round the windows before they went in as well.

 

 

Daniel

[ChrisPy]

I don't see any insulation. Am I missing something?

[Pirate]

You`ll soon be afloat, I bet you cant wait.

 

And I`ll tell ya somat...............It`s worth the wait too

[anhar]

I don't see any insulation. Am I missing something?

Hello Chris

 

How do you conclude from my pictures that you can't see any insulation? It has to be under the panelling and therefore not visible, though I must admit I never checked it was there. If you look at the ceiling you can see that white sheeting which is I believe the insulation they use.

 

regards

Steve

 

 

You`ll soon be afloat, I bet you cant wait.

 

And I`ll tell ya somat...............It`s worth the wait too

Thanks Pirate. However your recent message about various problems with your new boat, which you declined to detail, has been haunting me somewhat, though I am comforted by what appears to be a pretty good firm doing my build.

 

regards

Steve

Edited January 30, 2007 by anhar

[Liam]

I was also thinking the same thing about the insulation. I can't see any?

 

The picture showing both the bare cabin side on the left and the panelling on the right.. there's no spray foam, or any sign of other insulation tucked behind it?

[alan_fincher]

I was also thinking the same thing about the insulation. I can't see any?

 

The picture showing both the bare cabin side on the left and the panelling on the right.. there's no spray foam, or any sign of other insulation tucked behind it?

 

Do you mean this picture, Liam ?

 

 

I assumed the bare metal was the as yet unlined inside of some steel side doors ?

 

The only place in those pictures where it might be exposed is, (I think), at the open void between roof and cabinside, where the wiring is.

 

If it's the builder and boat type I'm 98% certain it is, then curiously their standard PDF specification document doesn't make mention of what type of insulation they use, so it's not obvious which type we are looking for.

 

Glad it's continuing to go well, Steve!.....

 

Alan

Edited January 30, 2007 by alan_fincher