Stretching

[RichardH]

Good news, a fourth member of the family is due in October. Naturally as my good lady is thinking of things such as painting the spare (no longer spare) room, booking appts with the midwife etc, I am being a complete bloke and thinking sh*t our 3 berther will no longer serve us (unless we sell a child to Madonna or such like)

 

We have looked at upsizing and given the perils of BlueString and others really can't be fussed with the faff of scouring this pleasant land to buy a bigger boat. We like ours, she has just had the engine overhauled and has a good fit out which leaves us with the stretch option.

 

What are your thoughts on stretching and would you recommend anyone?

 

Sorry that a question has taken a paragraph but wise to give some background into the reasons and the thoughts/work undertaken to date.

[Chris J W]

Good news, a fourth member of the family is due in October. Naturally as my good lady is thinking of things such as painting the spare (no longer spare) room, booking appts with the midwife etc, I am being a complete bloke and thinking sh*t our 3 berther will no longer serve us (unless we sell a child to Madonna or such like)

 

We have looked at upsizing and given the perils of BlueString and others really can't be fussed with the faff of scouring this pleasant land to buy a bigger boat. We like ours, she has just had the engine overhauled and has a good fit out which leaves us with the stretch option.

 

What are your thoughts on stretching and would you recommend anyone?

 

Sorry that a question has taken a paragraph but wise to give some background into the reasons and the thoughts/work undertaken to date.

 

Congratulations on the news!

 

Rather than stretch, do you have a large cockpit area that you could cover and make a bow room?

[Theo]

Congratulations on the news!

 

Rather than stretch, do you have a large cockpit area that you could cover and make a bow room?

 

 

Then you would lose the open bow area which is the best bit! That's why we like Theodora so much.

 

By the same token, If you have a semi trad you could cover that in.

 

How about a double layer bunk arrangement as on the old hire boats. It could be as simple as a pipe cot.

 

Nick

Edited May 23, 2007 by Theo

[Gary Peacock]

Stretching is getting a bit of a non starter these days, unfortunately the overheads for most builders don't make it feasible for most these days.

 

We used to do quite a few stretch jobs like this one HERE

[Bones]

there is a boat in thrupp that was cut in half and extended. That is the extent of my knowledge but they are pleased with the results - not least because Mrs Boat bought a lovely sofa and put it in there when it was cut open.

[Theo]

A thought.

 

How do you meet the fire risk as you weld the bits up again?

 

Nick

Edited May 23, 2007 by Theo

[RichardH]

We've considered the front and rear canopy options but sleeping still presents the issue.

 

The layout (from rear) is galley, long saddle which becomes the single, bathroom and then fixed double.

 

We have considered putting a pipe cot above the single which is ok but then me and the Mrs would have to retire to our quarters at 7 ish.

 

We also considered changing the long saddle to a pull out double and a pipe cot above fixed double. This would work but Morso would have to come out thus relying on the Alde 'we've got shares in Calor' Boiler.

 

Decisions decisions............!

[beeailseebob]

Yay! Congratulations! I have absolutely nothing useful to say on the subject, but may watch this thread with interest.

 

I'm expecting my first in August (and I'm very excited!) We keep wondering how many we can fit in our boat and think that for the next one, if there is to be a next one, we'll make bunks. But I had wondered about the idea of stretching.

[Keeping Up]

Our first boat (Thistle) had been stretched by her previous owners; it had been economic because she had been sunk for a couple of years and the interior needed refitting anyway. But they had an even better solution, which was to tow a butty (Dipper). The hold gave them some much-needed storage space (not just for general belongings but also for the animals and scrap metal) and their daughter lived in the butty cabin. When they got fed up with her they just untied the rope and came back for her a few days later. Is family member #3 old enough for you to consider that option yet?

Edited May 8, 2007 by Keeping Up
Speeling misstakes

[David]

Hi

We looked at streaching our 50Ft 12 year old (at the time) boat built by G&T Stafford 5 years ago. We looked at between 10 and 16Ft to suit various plate sizes with the least cutting/waste and time/money. Three yards Strethay, Foxton dry dock and Longport all came out with very little between them in cost for the actual steel work, around £6/7,000. However to reconect services, gas, water and wiring, to reline/insulate floor sides and roof in matching tongue and grove/faced panels etc so we just had a lined empty space pushed to costs into the £15,000's plus.

Good advice from Longport and them selling the boat for £35,500 (£9,500 more than we paid for it 3 years earlier) in 3 weeks and from our mooring so we saw all the prospective buyers, allowed for us to buy our present G&T boat of 62Ft of 4 years newer for less than the streached empty room cost.

My advice don't even waste your time looking at streaching.

david

[bottle]

First,

 

Congratulations to your partner, after all she will be doing the hard bit

 

I have no specific info as to stretching but last year saw R W Davis at Saul Jnc Gloucester/Sharpness canal stretching a boat.

[carlt]

but then me and the Mrs would have to retire to our quarters at 7 ish.

 

And before long you'll be looking at going broad beam as well.

[Timleech]

Probably only really viable if you do all the refitting etc yourself.

I've done a few in the past on that basis, but I don't offer too much encouragement now to people who ask.

 

 

Tim

[Djuwenda]

I have been thinking lately of having the front deck of my boat extended. at the moment, its about 4 foot long and I would love to add another 6/7 foot to it.

 

I know extending the cabin is usually a bit of a non starter, but in this case, the weld would only be to the bottom, no electrical work woud be involved, only the extension of one water pipe and one gas pipe...

 

Probably only really viable if you do all the refitting etc yourself.

I've done a few in the past on that basis, but I don't offer too much encouragement now to people who ask.

Tim

[Scotty]

We looked at stretching our 50Ft 12 year old ........

[dor]

I considered stretching my 50ft boat, but in the end it seemed an awful lot of money for the sake of an extra 7ft.

 

It's not the cost of the steelwork, it is relatively easy to cut the boat in half and weld in new sections. The real cost comes in stripping out the linings and rebuilding it all so that it doesn't look like what it is; a boat with a new section stuck in.

 

Our solution: Sell the boat and use the money to buy a sailaway. Yes it will cost more than the stretch and take a lot longer, but at least I will finish up with a new boat which will have the internal layout designed to fit the space.

[hughc]

Pete Newman at Langley Mill has stretched many boats. Regards HC

[Keeping Up]

I have been thinking lately of having the front deck of my boat extended. at the moment, its about 4 foot long and I would love to add another 6/7 foot to it.

 

I know extending the cabin is usually a bit of a non starter, but in this case, the weld would only be to the bottom, no electrical work woud be involved, only the extension of one water pipe and one gas pipe...

I've seen that done on a couple of boats, very successfully, but on both of them the front deck had already been long enough for the swim to have ended before the front bulkhead. Otherwise it would be complicated and expensive, although I suppose you could leave the underwater shape alone and just build a sort of extension above the water.

[Djuwenda]

I've seen that done on a couple of boats, very successfully, but on both of them the front deck had already been long enough for the swim to have ended before the front bulkhead. Otherwise it would be complicated and expensive, although I suppose you could leave the underwater shape alone and just build a sort of extension above the water.

 

I did have a long look at my bow, and it looks like its curvature stops before the cabin. There seems to be about one foot of straight steel work to play with.

[Dave H]

Hi Richard,

 

We had our 51ft Colecraft stretched 16ft two years ago by Dave Thomas at Braunston. I finished off the internal fit-out, i was extremely impressed with the quality and professional way the whole job was carried out.

 

At the outset Dave stated that it would take 3 months and we were back afloat to the day!!

 

I would thoroughly recommend him............

[Denis R]

I was just about to recommend Dave Thomas too. From my vantage point at Braunston last year I saw him do this sort of work, for which he seems to have a bit of a knack. I'm led to believe that his prices are reasonable too.

[Dave H]

Hi Richard,

 

We had our 41ft Colecraft stretched 16ft two years ago by Dave Thomas at Braunston. I finished off the internal fit-out, i was extremely impressed with the quality and professional way the whole job was carried out.

 

At the outset Dave stated that it would take 3 months and we were back afloat to the day!!

 

I would thoroughly recommend him............

 

The edit now has the correct length !!! What an Idiot?

Edited May 22, 2007 by Dave H

[Carrie]

Congratulations Richard.

 

In my experience, stretching is an unfortunate but inevitable part of the process.