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Rebottoming a 20ft leaking springer - Bham advice needed


Odana

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My wee 1968 Springer-effect office boat has a hole. Actually, she has lots of holes and needs complete overplating or new sides. I'm looking for cheap options near Bham to give another lease of life, or innovative bodges to keep her afloat a few more years.

 

Context: Went into dry dock for a check and blacking at Hockley Port. Hull deemed thin and in need of overplating 'soon, in next few years'. I found one proper hole underneath which was plated yesterday morning, but then more leaks appeared as we refloated her - looks like weld on the V has bent and cracked under boat's own weight where it touched the blocks, and there were 2 other small holes that I could find when I took up the floor, so probably more. Plus some very deep nearly-hole pits which wont last long. I'm now beached on our Hockley Port slipway with a bilge pump going so water doesn't come over the floorboards while I ponder options - will be OK here for a few weeks but not indefinitely.

 

What would be the ballpark cost of overplating or replacing everything below the rubbing strakes on a 20ft V bottom boat? It is not a Springer, but looks like one - it has been cobbled together over the years from pieces, and doesn't necessarily have to stay V-bottomed.

 

Any recommendations for people to ring? The guy at Caggys' cant do it, and Tony Fryer at Hawne Basin is away till Friday week - will call him then. But Hawne basin is full on hardstanding at the mo apparently. Icknield Port Loop has just closed

 

We may be able to get it out on slipway with trailer - where would I start asking about that? The winch no longer works on this slipway, so it'd need someone to haul out w vehicle too. So it doesn't necessarily need a 'boat' welder, just someone who could do it on hardstanding.

 

 

Possible bodges we brainstormed yesterday

  • Concreting bottom as a fix - might sort the bottom and give much needed ballast but not reach the pits above the floor level on the sides.
  • Wrapping with something? Glass fibre etc? Not viable over bitumen I guess
  • Park it in a metal floating tray (the boat has no engine and goes nowhere)

 

The office boat is a luxury - cost me a grand to buy 2.5 years ago and another grand or so to fit out over six months of weekends with a friend, and I have to pay for moorings etc, so I can't pour unlimited dosh into it. My thought is 2-3 grand tops, but if it made it resaleable later, maybe a tiny bit more. Default is scrap, but I love the boat and don't want to.

 

Really annoying thing is that when I bought it knowing it was mainly 3-4mm I wanted to get it overplated while I had it back to steel and *everyone* and their dog told me not to worry - if it had floated for 45 years it would be fine, esp as it will only ever be static, don't waste the money etc etc. Fitting it out was a fun project the first time but the thought of ripping it all ut and doing it all over again - and paying for it again - fills me with dread. AND I've just paid Sherborne Wharf prices to beautifully black and weld a sieve! Grump!!

 

All suggestions - and sympathy - much appreciated

 

Pic of boat, slipway, and sample of hull before blacking, attached.

 

 

 

 

 

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Really annoying thing is that when I bought it knowing it was mainly 3-4mm I wanted to get it overplated while I had it back to steel and *everyone* and their dog told me not to worry - if it had floated for 45 years it would be fine, esp as it will only ever be static, don't waste the money etc etc.

 

 

What a pain. We had much the same advice when our old boat, also a Springer-style affair with a 4mm baseplate down to 3.5mm in places, was surveyed when we bought it. Thankfully no problems arose in the 3 years we owned it, but the thinness of the hull was always at the back of my mind and your experience makes me wonder if we dodged a bullet by selling it on before overplating/replating became necessary.

 

2-3k sounds like the right ballpark for sorting the problem properly (new bottom or professional overplating) and I'd be surprised if you added less than that to the resale value. I guess this boat is about as minimalist as they come (no engine, and I'm guessing no galley, toilet etc.?), but there always seems to be a market for these small 'budget' boats. Got to be worth 5k-7k if brought back from the brink, surely?

 

If you did decide to cut your losses and get rid, I wonder if its value as a 'garden office' for use on dry land - on a trailer or just bricks - would exceed its scrap value? People pay good money for shepherd's huts, gypsy caravans etc. for this sort of purpose and I could easily see someone going for this as a quirky alternative. All those things that look like shortcomings from a boaters' perspective (lack of engine & facilities, dodgy base plate, fitted as an office) would then become completely irrelevant.

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If you did decide to cut your losses and get rid, I wonder if its value as a 'garden office' for use on dry land - on a trailer or just bricks - would exceed its scrap value? People pay good money for shepherd's huts, gypsy caravans etc. for this sort of purpose and I could easily see someone going for this as a quirky alternative. All those things that look like shortcomings from a boaters' perspective (lack of engine & facilities, dodgy base plate, fitted as an office) would then become completely irrelevant.

I was thinking along similar lines: it looks so cute that I'm sure someone would want to buy it. But of course that would leave Odana without an office.

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Thanks all. At least I'm not going to sink now, so have time to make decisions. And I haven't even sworn (much) or cried at all yet! Hopefully she can be salvaged.

 

Update - Just had a call back from Martin Kedian who can overplate at about £135/foot AND do it carefully enough not to have to rip out the polystyrene lining. This has made me happier than I've been for 72 hours. Pic below shows why I don't fancy ripping it all out.

 

Next question - anyone know the best and cheapest way to hire a Hiab lorry or a trailer to lift out and transport what we estimate is 5-10 tonnes about 50 miles?

 

 

 

QUOTEIf you did decide to cut your losses and get rid, I wonder if its value as a 'garden office' for use on dry land - on a trailer or just bricks - would exceed its scrap value? People pay good money for shepherd's huts, gypsy caravans etc. for this sort of purpose and I could easily see someone going for this as a quirky alternative. All those things that look like shortcomings from a boaters' perspective (lack of engine & facilities, dodgy base plate, fitted as an office) would then become completely irrelevant. QUOTE

 

Brilliant idea - shame CRT are very funny about caravans and workshops littering the yard here - if I didn't have to pay mooring fees for it but could leave it on my own car park it would be even more attractive as an office! I may sound out the moorings manager about the size of 'shed' he'd allow....

 

 

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Edited by Odana
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Martin Kedian is top choice if I go with overplating. I have spoken with a few other welders who all did the suck-air-through-teeth thing and give me no confidence. Martin is great - he did a side hatch for us before which we were really pleased with. Still can't see how he will guarantee not to set the polystyrene lining on fire as he promises, but I will trust him!

 

Before I commit to that tho, I have pitched a mad idea to my moorings manager about converting the boat to a garden office following magictime's suggestion. Apparently I win the prize for most random request of the year so far from a moorer. IF I can negotiate summat then I figure I could cut the bottom off the V to about floor level, put a new insulated flat base in which could allow for it to be moved if necessary (or maybe even a really low trailer?), and park it in our car park as a new quirky feature of the boatyard. Pip the boatshed rather than Pip the office boat. Advantages - no mooring fees, licence, BSS or insurance, AND it won't rock so much! And as pointed out, it would be eminently saleable later on. Bit brutal though. I need a friendly artist to mock up a drawing of it to sell the idea to CRT... I'd be more than happy to pay a ground rent for it - still cheaper than current running costs!

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I wonder why it's lost so much steel in only 2.5 years - although you do say at least one of those leaks is a cracked weld.

It had some deep pits before, and even this time the measuring (not proper official survey, but thorough going over with meter) showed most of the area which turned out to be holey was 3mm, so I guess it just needs a few pinholes. In the first few months I had it here there was a galvanic issue with big silver patches appearing - even though no landline.Blacked waterline asap. Who knows....

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If you need to hire a HIAB lorry then the cheapest prices you will find are those closest to where the boat is or where it has to go.

 

I had to hire one earlier in the year and they charge travel time to get to the job as well as do the lift etc (well those I spoke to did)

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Martin Kedian is top choice if I go with overplating. I have spoken with a few other welders who all did the suck-air-through-teeth thing and give me no confidence. Martin is great - he did a side hatch for us before which we were really pleased with. Still can't see how he will guarantee not to set the polystyrene lining on fire as he promises, but I will trust him!

 

Before I commit to that tho, I have pitched a mad idea to my moorings manager about converting the boat to a garden office following magictime's suggestion. Apparently I win the prize for most random request of the year so far from a moorer. IF I can negotiate summat then I figure I could cut the bottom off the V to about floor level, put a new insulated flat base in which could allow for it to be moved if necessary (or maybe even a really low trailer?), and park it in our car park as a new quirky feature of the boatyard. Pip the boatshed rather than Pip the office boat. Advantages - no mooring fees, licence, BSS or insurance, AND it won't rock so much! And as pointed out, it would be eminently saleable later on. Bit brutal though. I need a friendly artist to mock up a drawing of it to sell the idea to CRT... I'd be more than happy to pay a ground rent for it - still cheaper than current running costs!

 

Haha! I'd love to see this happen and know I'd had a hand in adding bit of character to a boring old car park. I don't see it as anything "brutal" - more a dignified form of retirement!

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  • 3 months later...

Update on the poorly boat - she is off to Martin Kedian for a new bottom (and probably some other jobs while she's there) Couldn't get the transport before we disappeared for a month over Xmas, so she has had to wait.

 

If anyone is after recommendations for small boat transport, JW Morley based out of Nuneaton were superb with what turned out to be a complicated lift due to Pip's strange collection of fins and keels and unnecessary protuberances (all soon to go). I had complete confidence. They can lift up to 39ft boats they tell me. http://www.jwmorley.co.uk/

 

 

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It was about 3 tons and loaded to accomadate the rear fin but ok for weight on the axial will put some pics up as we go.

Yup. The old and rotten keel was a pain, so they dropped that through a hole in an extended section and strapped it tight. it does look a bit strange, but worked. Loading and securing this wee boat took quite some time!

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