FMC Ferret Update

[Tiggers]

As I am aware that not everyone indulges in the joys of Facebook, I thought I should give everyone a little update on Ferret's progress at the museum. All of this can be found on the National Waterways Facebook Page, as well as other regular update.

 

We are now nearing completion on the steel work on the stern end of Ferret. Unfortunately a lot of it was in far worse condition than anyone could have anticipated, but this only became obvious upon removing the cabin. We have attempted to keep as much original material as possible which made the job far more labour intensive. Needless to say, I think many people would've written the counter off and replaced it.

 

To give you an idea of what we were working with, this is what the uxter plate was like upon removing the bed ole

 

The cheek plates of the uxter on both sides needed replacing as it had worn away to almost nothing. As the chine still had a good thickness to it, it was decided to just replace the worn area. Although it would've been nice to replace the whole section, it would have been near on impossible to be able to fit a plate in in-between the chine and the swim angle without dismantling half the boat. It was decided instead to leave half an inch to weld onto, and then re-rivet it to the swim angle. On the starboard side, the swim angle also needed a couple of feet replacing:

 

New cheek section waiting to be riveted.

 

As you can probably see from the above picture, above the uxter chine angle had worn quite thin. Rather than replacing the sides, which were all perfectly serviceable apart from less than an inch along the bottom, welds were put on to add a bit of thickness. Fortunately, once ground back and painted, these wont be visible and it means saving a lot of original material.

 

 

Two out of the four cabin frame angles were also beyond savoir:

These were used as patterns to make new ones up. The bottom section of the second angle on the port side had also gone, but rather than replacing the whole thing, a piece of steel was let in:

 

Most of the swim was in surprisingly good condition, with the exception of a small area on the starboard side that was heavily pitted. This area was removed and a new piece let in:

(Not quite finished her, the red oxide is just to stop it from going rusty until we finish it off.

 

On both sides of the counter round, doubler plates had been put on. These have now been removed and new pieces of steel have been let in and are now just awaiting the original piece of guard to be riveted back on:

 

The counter round itself is incredibly thin in places, and quite a few holes have appeared where weve been cleaning it back. As I mentioned, I think a lot of people would see it as being beyond savior. We are currently letting in very small pieces where there are holes and trying to beef up places where it was down to a couple of mm thick whilst trying to keep the character. Although it has meant a huge amount more work, she does have a particularly nice counter, and itd be a shame to loose it.

 

Weve also had to replace sections of the gunwale and deck angle, although again weve only replaced what is absolutely necessary, and all will be riveted back on:

This picture shows the new section of back deck angle await riveting. The central angle around the counter will have a new vertical piece welded on as this had completely disappeared.

 

You can probably see the chine angle is black as well. After cleaning everything back to good iron, it was all coated in rust treatment, just to be on the safe side!

 

So all in all we are edging completion of the steel work on the back of the boat, which means that the cabin can start to be rebuilt alongside refooting the rest of the boat. Still an awful lot to do, but were getting there, and shes going to look superb when finished, and done properly.

 

Im more than happy to (attempt) to answer any questions anyone has, but please, I really dont want this to turn into a slagging match like it does when ever I post anything about the work Im doing

 

Correction for spelling, I meant visible not viable!

Edited July 8, 2014 by Tiggers

[stagedamager]

Cracking update. Keep up the good work! It'll be worth it in the end!

[IanM]

Excellent to see the progress. Keep it up

[koukouvagia]

Really interesting. Thanks for posting them.

 

These pictures remind me of the work that was needed on Owl fifteen years ago. Every week when I went up to WBCo. I was told that they'd found some more iron that needed to be replaced!

However, once these old boats are properly restored they should last until the next generation. I've just had a full hull survey done and apart from seven rivets that needed welding up (all above the water line) and few small patches behind the knees, the boat has a clean bill of health.

 

What I find a bit galling is that the insurance company I'm with expect me to have another full survey in only six years' time. I haven't contacted them yet to find out why the interval between surveys has been reduced from 15 to 6 years.

[Tiggers]

The time between surveys does fluctuate and is usually due to other factors such as a high number of boats over 20 years old making claims

[FadeToScarlet]

Proper job. You and the team should be really chuffed with that.

[andyb116]

Having been there and seen the work that has gone into it, it's looking good. Well done to all

[David Mack]

A long time ago I was chatting to the then owner of ex FMC The King. When he acquired the boat the stern end was in such poor condition that he had simply chopped it off and asked a steel fabricator to weld up a replica. He was very disappointed to find that the new counter lacked all the fine curves of the original, and was a complete travesty. He ended up doing a certain amount of cutting and shutting to get it to a somewhat better shape, but still well short of a proper Josher motor stern. The boat now looks like a butty conversion with welded stern on an otherwise rivetted full length hull. He bitterly regretted not getting somebody more sympathetic to just let in new plates only where necessary.

 

So well done to you guys for preserving as much material as possible of the original, as well as keeping the shape and the rivets!

Edited July 8, 2014 by David Mack

[Ray T]

Interesting read, thank you for posting.

 

Good to see youngsters getting involved.

[Mendip-Locks]

Thanks for posting a good read and accompanied with a nice set of pictures.

[cheshire~rose]

Wonderful to see the progress. Thanks for keeping us updated

[Laurence Hogg]

I think Yarwoods or Saltley would employ you tomorrow without question. Well done for preserving the integrity of the hull, hard work but paying off.

[JamesWoolcock]

A long time ago I was chatting to the then owner of ex FMC The King. When he acquired the boat the stern end was in such poor condition that he had simply chopped it off and asked a steel fabricator to weld up a replica. He was very disappointed to find that the new counter lacked all the fine curves of the original, and was a complete travesty. He ended up doing a certain amount of cutting and shutting to get it to a somewhat better shape, but still well short of a proper Josher motor stern. The boat now looks like a butty conversion with welded stern on an otherwise rivetted full length hull. He bitterly regretted not getting somebody more sympathetic to just let in new plates only where necessary.

 

So well done to you guys for preserving as much material as possible of the original, as well as keeping the shape and the rivets!

Hi David, but I think in this case you mean a Josher steamer stern, not a motor. The King was a steamer. The steamers and the first few motors have a very different stern end to most later Joshers, which besides the up sweep of the counter, have the sides tapering in from the top too, with the back of the round vertical. Very finely built hulls at both ends.

 

James

Edited July 8, 2014 by JamesWoolcock

[JamesWoolcock]

Well done Tiggers and the team, but for you for the update. I'll go with Laurence Hogg, and that was praise indeed.

 

James

[Paul G2]

What's with all the nuts and bolts? Are those just to hold things in place until you can replace them with rivets? I notice in some of the photos there appears to be a lot of old nuts and bolts alongside of rivets, in places where it looks like there should be rivets (e.g in the second photo in the piece of angle attaching the bottom plate to the sides). Will you ultimately replace those with rivets?

 

ETA - Nice looking job, btw. You do very nice work!

Edited July 9, 2014 by Paul G2

[Tiggers]

Thanks everyone.

 

The nuts and bolts are purely to keep things in place and tight until they are riveted

[andyb116]

Paul G2, as for the rusty bolts along the bottom angle, they are what bolt the bottom planks to the boat, (it is wooden bottomed). Tiggers will no doubt be along with the right terminology, all I will say is there are three in each plank each side and when you've cut them out of five planks, cut and drifted the nail out of the kelson and knocked the planks out your body knows about it. They new how to build boats back then.

[Starcoaster]

Well done all involved, the pictures are excellent.

[Tiggers]

Another update for all those interested.

 

As steel work on the stern is now complete (with the exception of riveting, been FAR too hot to be riveting) it is now time to start work with the cabin etc.

 

The first new bottom board has now gone in (hoorah!)

 

 

This is now bolted to the chine and keelson and has allowed us to put the new rain stoppers in (for want of a better name) that the engine ole bulkhead sits on. To ensure that they are water tight, we made some pegs by bashing soft wood through a hole cut out of steel. When they get wet, they should expand and stop any ingress of water

 

 

With all these pieces back in, we were then able to put the engine ole bulkhead back in, and pull the boat back into shape (using the bulkhead and measurements taken before deconstruction as a guide) allowing us this week to start with the wooden cabin frames and gunwales.

 

 

Youll probably notice in the picture that the boat looks like a hampsters cage. We have been putting down damp saw dust and wetting the bottom boards every night to stop them from drying out, not an easy task in this heat (and neither was getting the bulkhead back into the boat!)

[Ray T]

Well done all. What is the funnel and pipe arrangement please?

[Tiggers]

It's the water outlet for the bolinder

[Ray T]

It's the water outlet for the bolinder

 

Thank you.

[David Mack]

It's the water outlet for the bolinder

So you don't have to stick your head out of the engine 'ole doors to see if the cooling water is flowing!

[stagedamager]

Great work, as usual!!

[archie57]

I once bought a converted blue top boat with just such a funnel and pipe arrangement, put there for the convenience of the previous owner!