refitting out narrow boat

[kevin123]

hi some may remeber an earlier post last year iv bought the narrow boat slough , been some time iv been on here ,anyway update so far i started working on her about three weeks prior to christmas iv compleatly stripped out the boat so empty hull ,have overplated the hull 10mm base plate with 6mm side walls , at the moment the side plates are fully welded across the top everything else tacked into position ready for fully welding which i will do as and when i can with the weather conditions at the moment ,i fixed a leaking roof moved the front bulkhead back so as i can have a larger area at the front to sit out in the better weather days ,in the next few weeks i want to start to refit her out , so i come to ask what would be the best way to fit her out

im asuming insolation is essential which would you say would be the best method , also what do you think the sequence for fitting out should be , any thoughts or help gratefully recieved regards kev

[WotEver]

In brief...

 

Ensure that it's still battened out for wall and ceiling panels.

 

Insulation - spray foam done by professionals (but be there when they do it and check the depth all over).

 

Run electric cables.

 

Build bulkheads. Panel walls. Panel ceiling.

 

Run plumbing and gas lines.

 

Trim everywhere.

 

Fit lights, pumps, white goods, sockets, switches.

 

Sleep for a month.

Edited January 14, 2017 by WotEver

[kevin123]

is spray foam the best as i was thinking of 25mm board panel insolation for walls , and if so what should the thickness be ,and already feel like sleeping for a month lol

[ditchcrawler]

I would also go for spray foam but I cant see how you can run gas lines before lining out.

[WotEver]

I would also go for spray foam but I cant see how you can run gas lines before lining out.

You're absolutely correct sir. I wasn't thinking.

 

Edited my original post.

[alan_fincher]

Actually spray foam does not seem to be particularly favoured if it is being sprayed inside an 80 year old working boat hull that has needed extensive repairs.

 

Any future need to do further repairs, such as addressing pulled rivets and the like is better if you are easily able to expose the back of the steelwork.

 

In this case I'm not sure how high up the 6mm side overplate talked about will have been taken, but hopefully not too much above waterline, or otherwise an historic riveted boat will look like a modern water tank.

 

Assuming the sides still display lots of rivets, and there ere genuinely holding plates together or attaching them to knees, I wouldn't be keen on using spray foam.

 

My other concern, (too late now!), is this boat will have been built to 7' 0.5" wide in the first place, even before any spreading or patched repairs. If it has had each side over-plated in 6mm steel, then as a minium a 7' 0.5" wide boat will have become a 7' 1" wide boat. This is getting into the territory where it may make the difference whether it will get through some of the narrow locks that are known to be narrower than most.

[FadeToScarlet]

It's worthwhile joining the Historic Narrow Boat Club for access to specialist advice (often freely given) about repairing and looking after old boats, as well as things like which locks are known to be pinch points.

[bigste]

I don't know the boat you bought but have you considered the woes of adding all that steel, 10mm bottom & 6mm sides. It's a lot of weight and it may well be far too low in the water to be safe.

[kevin123]

so install electrics water etc then foam , iv plated to water line , along the sides and about 200mm front and rear as the only wear was to the bottom in the middle which went to about 4mm in places so decided to just compleatly plate bottom and hopefully give the boat another 80 years , i did measure before removing d bars and was around 7 in one place , i will check tommorow now to find exact width ,the boat wieght was 21 ton when i took her out , now gutted i would think took at least a 1-1,5 ton out the new plates will add about another 4 ton so she will be around 24- 25 tons empty then balace water tanks fitted out around 27-28 tons i would estmate , but it was an working boat so used to carry around 28 ton of coal so should be ok i would think

[Dave Payne]

I would do foam first?

[Robbo]

I would read the BSS booklet, and then read it again. No point fitting something if you then have to redo because it doesn't pass the BSS.

[Alan de Enfield]

so install electrics water etc then foam , ........................

 

Not a good idea - doing it that way you will have no access to your wiring, or water pipes.

 

What happens when you want to run extra cables, or, have a burst water pipe ?

 

I believe it will also fail the BSS if the gas pipes are not visible (to enable checking of joints and 'supports')

[ditchcrawler]

Read this http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=89281&p=1944745again

[koukouvagia]

Absolutely essential that you refer constantly to the BSS requirements. I've done five fitouts over the years.

Here, very briefly, is the order I followed

 

1. red oxide the hull.

 

2. Lay floor. Cover this with hardboard to protect it while working

 

3. Batten out. Add conduits for electrical wiring. (add string to pull through extra wires if needed later on)

 

4. Add insulation. I used slab insulation with vapour barrier (see Alan's remarks)

 

5. Add panelling. I used MDF (absolutely no problems, by the way)

 

6. Finish interior trim

 

7. Lay all heating, water, waste and gas pipes before fitting any permanent features. Note gas pipe is visible and accessible

 

8. Fit fire and central heating

 

9. Connect all services up Electrical, water, heating, waste,gas

 

10. Add kitchen units and bath/shower etc.

 

11. After 6 months the boat looked like this.

 

 

One of these days I'll get round to sorting out the hundreds of photos of the fit out and finishing my build blog!

 

[WotEver]

Definitely insulation first. Well, battening first, then insulation, but I don't know how much original battening is still in place.

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

If the boat is mobile with the engine working and water to the sink then go on short cruises at weekends tie up to the bank and do a bit of fitting out before having a meal and a pint. That way you enjoy the boat and can take your time deciding what goes where.

[Robbo]

If the boat is mobile with the engine working and water to the sink then go on short cruises at weekends tie up to the bank and do a bit of fitting out before having a meal and a pint. That way you enjoy the boat and can take your time deciding what goes where.

Actually I would do the opposite, having not to live on the boat with shore power and storage nearby is a real bonus when fitting out a boat. Living on the boat on doing it up is slow, and most of your time will be spent moving your living stuff around to get to the area your doing. Boats have very limited space and it helps if you have just the things on the boat you need for the thing your doing at that time.

 

However what you said about deciding what goes where will change if you use the boat and live on it if an empty shell, if you've had a boat before you tend to know what works for you anyhow.

Edited January 15, 2017 by Robbo

[jddevel]

I`m in the process of fitting out a sailaway and have had a good deal of excellent advice from the forum. Although from scratch I built a good number of houses over the last 40 years and whilst many things are obviously different it`s scale that presents the greatest difference. My craft arrived at its land based location (advice from forum) an is currently 6 minutes from my home and 8 minutes from my timber workshop. It arrived battened out (I treated all timber first) and with ballast and flooring in. With my experience using foil backed Celotex I chose to use this the- odd piece had to be glued temporarily with gripfil . It is easily cut to shape/size and fitted between the battens and steel horizontal "ribs". I was able to use 50mm up to gunnel and 30mm for the remainder of the sides and roof. All joints were covered in foil tape. I then encapsulated using a staple gun the whole thing (apart from floor as yet) with Tyvek Airguard as a further vapour barrier. Then additional tanalized roof battens were run from stem to stern on the roof and under the gunnels. This all took around 4 days (57 ft semi trad). This has allowed all lighting cables in conduit along both sides of the roof spurred to downlighters. Water pipes (I`ve used Uponor), Gastite pipe and power ducted 12 volt and 240 volt has been clipped under the gunnels to battens both port and starboard. Now in the process of panelling leaving a 200mm border both sides in the roof. These borders to have separate "covers" the whole length of the craft to allow later modification/viewing. Similar "covers" screwed or clipped/hinged will cover the gunnel area for maintence BSS inspection of gas/electrics etc.

Having researched the use of both self applied and professionally installed foam on the forum etc. to me the cost and guarantee of finish was a no brainer. I`m so far personally very pleased with the results. Incidentally if using celotex and having no trade contacts to purchase "seconds" can be purchased via EBay.

You could use Dritherm 32 as an insulator but I find this irritates plus in my opinion no good as a vapour barrier to help prevent condensation. Good Luck.

[kevin123]

cheers all good advise , iv got to put batterns on first as i removed all others as the roof was leaking in places where previous owner screwed through roof and gave it afew leeks also he had put side battens in not fixed correctly so i had leeks have lifted the roof of refitted and sealed all around , not leeking now tested in this rain where having ,

[IanR]

If the boat is mobile with the engine working and water to the sink then go on short cruises at weekends tie up to the bank and do a bit of fitting out before having a meal and a pint. That way you enjoy the boat and can take your time deciding what goes where.

 

This is fabulous advice! We are still at the 'enjoying the boat whilst taking time to decide what goes where' stage! Our initial ideas haven't changed much, although they have been tweaked and reorganised a tad. Things have become apparent as we spend time using it, mainly what we definitely need and what we thought we needed etc.

 

Ian.

[Robbo]

 

This is fabulous advice! We are still at the 'enjoying the boat whilst taking time to decide what goes where' stage! Our initial ideas haven't changed much, although they have been tweaked and reorganised a tad. Things have become apparent as we spend time using it, mainly what we definitely need and what we thought we needed etc.

 

Ian.

 

I only say do the opposite because I'm living on a boat whilst trying to do it up and it is slow progress. Main reason is just how much stuff is on the boat, it's bad enough having just the stuff you need to refit, but now you have other stuff as well, so constantly spend time moving stuff around getting to stuff. Also the dust, the boat will be a workshop, it gets dusty. This means either you either delay doing the dusty stuff because you don't want your whole living area dusty, or you live in dust. I have a 12ft wide boat so have "plenty" of room to have a work area, not so much with a 7ft wide boat!

 

Although if you don't know what layout you want, using the boat and having temporary fittings to represent layouts I would do.

[kevin123]

i have the boat out of the water she had 2 holes in bottom some one had post create repaired (now fixed) drove her up from nuneaton np , the main reason for replate was 4mm in places on bottom sides were ok , could have just repaired but as i intend to live on her decided to fully repair with 10mm botttom , am also making a few changes , moved the front bulkhead back so got a bit more sitting out area in the summer , making her a large one bed , also going to fit new windows

[Alan de Enfield]

i have the boat out of the water she had 2 holes in bottom some one had post create repaired (now fixed) drove her up from nuneaton np , the main reason for replate was 4mm in places on bottom sides were ok , could have just repaired but as i intend to live on her decided to fully repair with 10mm botttom , am also making a few changes , moved the front bulkhead back so got a bit more sitting out area in the summer , making her a large one bed , also going to fit new windows

 

As you have added several tonnes in weight with the ADDITIONAL 10mm base plate you will need to check the height above the waterline of any hull-openings (engine air-intakes, sink drains, exhaust etc etc) to make sure they are a safe height (recommendation is 10")

 

If they are now too low you will need to remove ballast from under the floor - ideal time - as whilst you are moving bulkheads etc, you can lift the floor and remove the ballast.