Self fit out whilst cruising??

[Chox]

I am wondering about the feasibility of having a shell made (sailaway) and then fitting it out in a basic fashion in order to cruise straight away. The idea would be to 'line' with sacrificial hardboard, fit a multi fuel stove, and principally 'camp' inside whilst doing the fit out. This way we could have the style and design that we like and at the same time allow it to 'talk' to us as we go along.

 

Looking at 40 to 45 ft, only the two of us, full time....

 

Good idea? Bad idea?

 

Cheers

 

Chox

[Paul C]

Bad idea. Do you want sawdust on your corn flakes? No electricity --> no water at random times? How much stuff do you have, and where are you going to put it while the boat is in pieces internally? etc etc

[Chox]

Hi Paul C,

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I had posted this once, then it disappeared ? now elsewhere)

 

Anyway, I hear you..... The reason we are considering this is due to the amount of rubbish or expensive boats around that still do not meet our requirement!

 

As for water and power, we have spent 468 nights away in our (small) motorhome during the last 2 years and 10 years ago we lived on a yacht for 3 years so we would be quite happy to 'collect and store' as need be. An emphasis would be on heat first, plumbing second........ the rest would follow.....

[RLWP]

Have you designed a boat interior before?

 

Richard

[Hoose]

its bad enough re doing a room at a time whilst cruisin, no room to put anything! i wouldnt fancy it

[Robbo]

I am wondering about the feasibility of having a shell made (sailaway) and then fitting it out in a basic fashion in order to cruise straight away. The idea would be to 'line' with sacrificial hardboard, fit a multi fuel stove, and principally 'camp' inside whilst doing the fit out. This way we could have the style and design that we like and at the same time allow it to 'talk' to us as we go along.

 

Looking at 40 to 45 ft, only the two of us, full time....

 

Good idea? Bad idea?

 

Cheers

 

Chox

 

Good and bad, good if you don't know what layout you want, living on it and you'll eventually come up with one (so I wouldn't put the stove in). Bad as you'll be constantly moving living stuff around just to do the simplest of jobs. If there's two of you I would say refit before moving in. Ofcourse if the boat has a natural bulkhead like a trad you can do the main area whilst living in the boatman's cabin area.

[Woodstock]

Friends of ours lived on a sailaway and fitted it out whilst in a marina, but some marinas may not permit this. Another couple had their sailaway on hard standing at a friends farm and lived in a caravan next to it whilst fitting out

[spadefoot]

Good idea. It takes forever & the more you get finished, the less space you have to do the rest. But! You get to be on the boat & cruising/living the dream whenever you want. Also, it gives you plenty of time to try different layouts & ideas before you're committed.

Think of all the boating time you'd miss if you had the boat on a mooring or hardstanding whilst you fitted out to completion. And even then there'd be bits that you'd wish you'd done differently.

Do it & enjoy it.

[Murflynn]

I would go for it. It's doable, but consider issues like:

- how do you have a safe cooking arrangement if you do not first install the gas system properly? (strictly you shouldn't use a camping stove inside the boat).

- dust will get everywhere, so you really need to divide up the boat into living and working areas, with a heavy curtain or temporary partition to keep the living area clear of dust. Restrict living access to one end of the boat, and working access to the other end of the boat, and avoid moving from one area to the other inside the boat.

- buying a lined (and insulated) sailaway will make the job SO much easier to manage. Less material to store on board, less big panels to move about, removing the awkward and intrusive work when cutting and fitting lining panels.

- a cruiser stern will give you a better working area for a bench, etc.

[KarlosMacronius]

I've done it, the biggest issue that slowed down progress for me was getting supplies to the boat. that and having to cut up large sheet material before getting it into the boat and having to store it on the roof (this meant I couldn't work on rainy days and lost some material to the damp god ). its still not quite finished!

 

Next time I'd go into a boat yard and get everything delivered and take a chunk of time off work to get it done or pay someone else to do it for me (much quicker as they've done it all before instead of learning from scratch. Having said that I did learn a lot and know what to do and look for on future boats.

[DeanS]

Hi Chox.

 

We bought a sailaway.

I fitted it for living in, within 2 weeks.

but I did it in a marina with an elec hookup.

 

I wouldn't suggest you try it "while cruising". (although it is possible with a gennie etc). I still wouldnt recommend it.

 

While in a marina , with elec, you don't need to rush to fit your 12V systems. You can use house lamps, make toast and coffee, do thing's properly. See my blog.

 

ps...it takes 10% of the time to do 90% of the work, and 90% of the time to do the last 10%.

 

All the best

D

[KarlosMacronius]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I rinsed the batteries whilst doing it too!

[Neil2]

If you are going to live on it full time you will need to insulate the hull/cabin as a priority otherwise when the cold weather comes you will get rampant condensation even with a solid fuel stove going. The extra cost of a "lined" sailaway is more than worth it.

 

I totally agree with Dean, I've tried working on boats with no shore power and it is such a pain compared to having facilities to hand.

 

Like many boat owners who yearn for a bespoke boat but haven't got the spare cash to commission one, we've considered a running project like this, but you see so many half completed boats on the network these days, many where the owner has clearly run out of time/money/enthusiasm. You need to be very honest with yourself, not just your ability to do the work but whether you have the determination to see it through.

 

As you seem to have little experience of canal life I'd suggest it would be far better to buy a cheap-ish boat and sail her for a year just to see if you like the lifestyle. Your previous forays in motorhomes/yachts aren't really comparable with narrowboat cruising. I hear what you say about overpriced boats but if you can just find something half decent you will still be able to sell it after a year probably without losing any money and that will give you a valuable insight into the peculiarities of living on the cut.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Neil2

[onionbargee]

I have done it. My advice is don't.

 

Get a mooring, with enough space to have all your materiels and tools set up in a secure environment, with electric on tap. Showers, water on site. And an address to have stuff delivered. Do it the easy way.

[John V]

Listen to them !!! it is bad enough fitting out while living in the middle of everything ......but to do it cruising ?

[bottle]

Let's look at it another way, 45' boat, 6' bow and front deck, 3' rear deck (assuming trad) that gives 36' cabin space

 

so

 

12' for workshop, 12' being fitted out and 12' for living in.

 

oops!! forgot the engine taking up some of that cabin space.

 

Good luck.

Edited June 4, 2015 by bottle

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

We bought Merlin as a derilict trip boat with 6 inches of water over the floorboard. Stripped all the ballast, seating and floorboards at Burnley yard. £300 of glass in one pile £700 of timber in annother. 13 ton of Accrington brick for ballast. Then set off towards Tarleton, each night as we stopped I would fit in annother window or lay some ballast, overwintered at Tarleton then made our way to Bank Newton fitting out as we went. Bought the first stove at Preston. Replaced it with annother at Skipton Bought a superb oven in Devises. We altered the design as we found what worked and how we used the boat.

 

Life is too short to not have fun. I have known people spend years fitting out a boat and never cruised it.

[Dr Bradley]

I have done it. My advice is don't.

 

Get a mooring, with enough space to have all your materiels and tools set up in a secure environment, with electric on tap. Showers, water on site. And an address to have stuff delivered. Do it the easy way.

Ditto. I,m still doing it after nearly 8 years. Partly because I didn't like some things and redid them, partly because I ran out of enthusiasm and once the unfinished boat was comfortable I preferred to go cruising.

 

The boat was (still is) full of timber. Nowhere to really store tools, sawdust gets everywhere and simply not enough space - and mines 57 foot and only me on it..

 

I would not do it again. Shoulfd I try it would be on hardstanding with somewhere else (nearby) to live. No distraction of cruising. More determination to finish and get going.

[DeanS]

If you are going to live on it full time you will need to insulate the hull/cabin as a priority otherwise when the cold weather comes you will get rampant condensation even with a solid fuel stove going. The extra cost of a "lined" sailaway is more than worth it.

 

I totally agree with Dean, I've tried working on boats with no shore power and it is such a pain compared to having facilities to hand.

 

Like many boat owners who yearn for a bespoke boat but haven't got the spare cash to commission one, we've considered a running project like this, but you see so many half completed boats on the network these days, many where the owner has clearly run out of time/money/enthusiasm. You need to be very honest with yourself, not just your ability to do the work but whether you have the determination to see it through.

 

As you seem to have little experience of canal life I'd suggest it would be far better to buy a cheap-ish boat and sail her for a year just to see if you like the lifestyle. Your previous forays in motorhomes/yachts aren't really comparable with narrowboat cruising. I hear what you say about overpriced boats but if you can just find something half decent you will still be able to sell it after a year probably without losing any money and that will give you a valuable insight into the peculiarities of living on the cut.

 

I'd like to add that it's also worthwhile fitting it out with movable stuff from IKEA....if you build stuff in, with expensive oak, from day 1, you'll never be able to move it around later....one of the successes that have allowed us to live on a boat with a few bodies on board, is that I can keep moving walls, nailing coat hooks in, etc etc etc....my boat is never "finished" because I have to keep changing it, as the needs of the family change. eg...kid had GCSEs to study for. I moved the sofa, screwed in a temporary desk...which will be removed again in a few weeks...and something put in it's place...so don't get to fussed with "the final design", until you've lived with it for a while...?

[John V]

 

...so don't get to fussed with "the final design", until you've lived with it for a while...?

 

 

[GoodGurl]

Do it in a marina, that way you will get it done quicker because you want to cruise, as said above if you cruise whilst fitting it will never get fully finished for years.

[Chox]

Thanks for all the replies so far. We are considering all options. All our married life we have gone 'against the flow' so why change now....haha

 

If we can find a place to fit out whilst living in our camper van that might be a good idea....... on the other hand, we have learnt over the years that if we wait until the right time, right place etc, we might until it's too late!

 

Keep the thoughts coming please, it is all gratefully received

[John V]

 

....... on the other hand, we have learnt over the years that if we wait until the right time, right place etc, we might until it's too late!

 

 

That is a very shrewd observation

[RLWP]

So, are you excited about building or boating? If it's building, buy a house. It's easier to do and you'll get your money back easily

 

If it's boating, buy a boat. Otherwise you spend years getting frustrated in a tin box building site when you want to be boating

 

Plenty of second hand boats around for the cost of a new sail away and it's fit out

 

Rich

[Chox]

So, are you excited about building or boating? If it's building, buy a house. It's easier to do and you'll get your money back easily

 

If it's boating, buy a boat. Otherwise you spend years getting frustrated in a tin box building site when you want to be boating

 

Plenty of second hand boats around for the cost of a new sail away and it's fit out

 

Rich

Always fancied building a house....

 

Always fancied building a boat....

 

Hey, it's an idea

Plenty of secondhand boats around, yes. Do I like them ??????? and that is the problem!