Ready, steady......

[bottle]

Hi Keith,

Mike was referring to my boat's twin 'skin tanks' used for cooling. Im also having red/white twin deisel tanks for precisely the reason you state.

Rgds

Les

 

Whooooops!!!!! must get a new pair of glasses, just as well I have an appointment on Thursday

 

Twin skin tanks will be for better cooling especially when/if the engine is working hard on a river.

Edited July 2, 2007 by bottle

[Lesd]

Banana skins every where you go Keith, no worries. Yeah Im guessing your right about the river thing, it was something I stressed early on and he must have translated that to the twin (skin) tanks.

Les

[Greg & Jax]

Hi Les , Heidi ,

Looking realy good , you must be realy pleased to see all your reserch an dreams starting to take shape !!

great piccs !!

take care !

Greg Jacqui .

ps not that long till naming her !!

[Barry]

Wow Les this is really interesting - Its great watching a boat take shape

[Lesd]

thanks for all the kind words folks, its much appreciated. We're really pleased with progress to date.

 

Here's the Day 10 update.

 

All of the internal bracing is now pretty much complete, the final floor braces welded into place today.They're at 21 and 23'' centres I believe. Im assured the scantlings calculations are bang on and ok per the RCD !!

 

 

Now the bow, Steve has captured exactly what I was looking for. He had a bunch of photo's of bow parts that we like and some scribbled drawings and from those has come up with this, I love it already, its distictive and a little different from the norm in my view (but Im totally biased lol)

 

side view

 

head on

 

Tomorrow she starts to head upwards as we move onto the cabin sides etc !!!!!!!

Les

[Barry]

You know I like that bow detail - unusual to me (just in case it's been done before and is actually quite common but I ain't seen it) but some nice curves there - distinctive!

[NB Willawaw]

You've probably got twin skin tanks for cooling such a large engine - a 65 is quite a large engine !!

 

We have twin tanks but use one for engine and one for the cocooned genset.

 

Looks nice Les - you must be getting excited.

[blackrose]

 

In putting the thruster tube that far forward, your builder is obviously very confident about the level the bow will rest in the water. Mine is way back under the bow deck, about a foot in front of the cabin bulkhead. It still works well but obviously would have been more efficient had it been further forward, but then it would have been going through the water tank which extends right under the gas locker.

 

I'm not quite sure why the underwater part of the bow on LBs (at least the widebeams) come up so high? With my 280 gallon water tank full the pointy bit of my baseplate is only 4 or 5" below the waterline. When it's empty it's on the waterline. I guess because mine is 12' beam it has a lot of buoyancy and there's no ballast in the bow section.

 

Let's see if I can post a photo...

 

Edited to say: Sorry is it acceptable to put a photo of one's boat on another's build blog? I just thought the comparison of the thruster tube position was interesting, but I'll remove it if it's not the done thing.

Edited July 5, 2007 by blackrose

[Lesd]

Hey Mike,

You've cracked the photo posting !!!

I've no problem with you putting the pic on here. I dont know what the protocol is but i think it makes an interesting point. My boat base plate does curve up but not quite as much as the above photo makes you think, the whole boat is sitting on supports so the curve up will be a fair few inches less that it appears. Certainly a fair bit less than your curve on Blackrose so Im hoping he's got it right !

 

Hi Mark, thanks for the feedback, yes we're getting very excited as she starts to come together. Im going up next week finalise roof mounts and positions for solar/wind etc....Steve reckons the hull will be finished completely in less than two weeks, we then move onto the fitout which will be a lot slower (3months +).

 

Baza, glad you like it, more photo's tonight !

 

Rgds

Les

[NB Willawaw]

My advice is to make sure the wind generator post is situated as close to the batteries it is charging, as possible.

Make sure they build something substantial if you have a big diameter turbine. Good Luck.

[Lesd]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the advice. We gone for the Rutland 913 (0.9m diamI believe). The mounting will be just clear of the rear hatch, I think about 20' of cable from the base of the pole to the batteries. The mount will be two 150mm square, 10mm thick steel plates bolted together with a 10mm rubber gasket sandwiched between to act as a sound/vibration absorber. The bottom plate will be welded to the roof and the Rutland pole bracket welded to the top plate. I'm hoping this will be ok. Eyelets will be welded in a square about 8-9' apart on the roof totake the guy wires. The solar pnels will be mounted a little further forward, perhaps 30 feet of cable run to the batts (but about 20' to the elec cupboard where the controller will be housed). Do you know what size cables I should use for these ? BTW I was thinking about using the cruiser handrails as a conduit tokeepthings tidy up there.

Les

[blackrose]

Hey Mike,

My boat base plate does curve up but not quite as much as the above photo makes you think, the whole boat is sitting on supports so the curve up will be a fair few inches less that it appears. Certainly a fair bit less than your curve on Blackrose so Im hoping he's got it right !

 

Well if it ends up blowing air he'll have to do something about it!

Edited July 5, 2007 by blackrose

[Lesd]

Dont say things like that Mike, you'll give me nightmares !!

[blackrose]

Dont say things like that Mike, you'll give me nightmares !!

 

Haha, I'm sure he's built enough of them to know what he's doing.

[blackrose]

My boat base plate does curve up but not quite as much as the above photo makes you think,

 

Rgds

Les

 

How does it feel saying "my boat" Les?

 

Good init!

[NB Willawaw]

Off the top of my head, about a 10mm2 cable, which should give approx 0.5V voltage drop over those kind of distances at the theoretical maximum power of the 913 (about 20A at 12V) - in practise, the power will be much less than this so the voltage drop significantly lower.

Check that you can get a 10mm2 cable in the cable glands of the windgen and the regulator, which I believe is an external box on the Rutland unit.

I haven't got a manual on this unit, so cannot check these details.

 

(edited for typo's)

 

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the advice. We gone for the Rutland 913 (0.9m diamI believe). The mounting will be just clear of the rear hatch, I think about 20' of cable from the base of the pole to the batteries. The mount will be two 150mm square, 10mm thick steel plates bolted together with a 10mm rubber gasket sandwiched between to act as a sound/vibration absorber. The bottom plate will be welded to the roof and the Rutland pole bracket welded to the top plate. I'm hoping this will be ok. Eyelets will be welded in a square about 8-9' apart on the roof totake the guy wires. The solar pnels will be mounted a little further forward, perhaps 30 feet of cable run to the batts (but about 20' to the elec cupboard where the controller will be housed). Do you know what size cables I should use for these ? BTW I was thinking about using the cruiser handrails as a conduit tokeepthings tidy up there.

Les

Edited July 5, 2007 by NB Willawaw

[Callunna]

Fascinating and exciting info, Les. The interior layout is EXACTLY what we would want. It's great to see the work in progress - I'll be keeping a close eye on developments and possibly picking your brains over the next few months - if you don't mind, that is.

[Lesd]

Off the top of my head, about a 10mm2 cable, which should give approx 0.5V voltage drop over those kind of distances at the theoretical maximum power of the 913 (about 20A at 12V) - in practise, the power will be much less than this so the voltage drop significantly lower.

Check that you can get a 10mm2 cable in the cable glands of the windgen and the regulator, which I believe is an external box on the Rutland unit.

I haven't got a manual on this unit, so cannot check these details.

 

(edited for typo's)

 

Thanks mark, I'll check out the specs for the kit.

 

Fascinating and exciting info, Les. The interior layout is EXACTLY what we would want. It's great to see the work in progress - I'll be keeping a close eye on developments and possibly picking your brains over the next few months - if you don't mind, that is.

 

No problem, We've learnt so much from the folks on this site over the last couple of years so it would be nice to help someone out where we can

Rgds

Les

Edited July 6, 2007 by Lesd

[Lesd]

How does it feel saying "my boat" Les?

 

Good init!

 

It feels really great Mike !

 

Quick update, we've been away all weekend so this is a quick pic we were sent on Friday which was end of Day11.

The bow is now complete, the cabin bulk heads are in place at bow and stern, here's the completed bow.

 

 

 

Les

Edited July 9, 2007 by Lesd

[Lesd]

Day 15.

Just back from our latest visit to the builders. I had to go up today to deliver the wind gen fixing kit and the two solar panels, the builder needs to get these brackets fabricated and fixed in place before the shell is complete at the beginning of next week !

I was really pleased with progress, this was the start of day15 so just two weeks after the start (6 day weeks), as you can see the base plates are fully welded, bracing is complete, hull sides and roof have now been tacked in place.

 

Internal roof bracing being finished off. The boat seems to my inexperienced eyes to be very well braced.

 

The roof is two piece, the sections are butted up and joined using a D bar which will be fully welded on both sides to ensure the finished roof is completely watertight;

 

The sides are in place and are ready to be shaped at the bow and stern to add the required curves. The windows were cut on the floor before the sides were weled into place. What really impressed me is that Lambon Hull use single sheets for the boat sides above the gunnel so there are no unsightly weld marks were plates are joined. (I was amazed when I walked around Crick this year,of the boats I looked at I only saw two boats with one piece sides and they were both Polish !!).

 

The boats cabin sides are 5mm plate, at the bow (and stern) they will eventually be curved slightly and will be 'thickened' to improve the profile. Here you can see the bow and sides;

 

Im not due back to see the shell until it's complete which hopefully will be early next week, after that balasting, sprayfoaming will take a week and then painting before fit out begins (the painting method may be of interest as it will involved a short trip to a lorry spray painting booth/oven !)

 

More later in the week.

Les

Edited July 10, 2007 by Lesd

[Jon Martin]

Day 15. Just back from our latest visit to the builders. I had to go up today to deliver the wind gen fixing kit and the two solar panels, the builder needs to get these brackets fabricated and fixed in place before the shell is complete at the beginning of next week !I was really pleased with progress, this was the start of day15 so just two weeks after the start (6 day weeks), as you can see the base plates are fully welded, bracing is complete, hull sides and roof have now been tacked in place.Internal roof bracing being finished off. The boat seems to my inexperienced eyes to be very well braced.The roof is two piece, the sections are butted up and joined using a D bar which will be fully welded on both sides to ensure the finished roof is completely watertight;The sides are in place and are ready to be shaped at the bow and stern to add the required curves. The windows were cut on the floor before the sides were weled into place. What really impressed me is that Lambon Hull use single sheets for the boat sides above the gunnel so there are no unsightly weld marks were plates are joined. (I was amazed when I walked around Crick this year,of the boats I looked at I only saw two boats with one piece sides and they were both Polish !!).The boats cabin sides are 5mm plate, at the bow (and stern) they will eventually be curved slightly and will be 'thickened' to improve the profile. Here you can see the bow and sides; Im not due back to see the shell until it's complete which hopefully will be early next week, after that balasting, sprayfoaming will take a week and then painting before fit out begins (the painting method may be of interest as it will involved a short trip to a lorry spray painting booth/oven !)More later in the week.Les

Thanks mark, I'll check out the specs for the kit.No problem, We've learnt so much from the folks on this site over the last couple of years so it would be nice to help someone out where we canRgdsLes

Hi Les, new to the site, but I am considering having a river style dutch barge built, same size as yours, these guys seem to be the talk of the town in some of the other circles which we have had dealings - how do you get on with them? We also heard that they have teamed up with another builder, don't want to say who for good reasons, what do you know?Best regards, and by the way looks very well built !Jon and Lisa Martin

[Lesd]

Hello Jon and Lisa,

welcome to the site.

I've known Ian/Steve about 6 months I guess, I was impressed from day 1. From first dealings I liked their 'customer focused' approach, they actually listen and use their obvious experience to offer advice, they dont ram ideas down your throat. It just felt different somehow. So far I haven't been disappointed, they've lived up to their promises. I know the build is only a few weeks old and there are several months to go so you need to ask me again at the end of the build, but so far I'm very impressed.

 

Regarding their teaming up with another builder, I'm not sure if you read all of my thread but my first post contains this info (I asked them about posting this before I started the thread and they were happy for me to include this detail as background info);

 

Quote

The builder(s)

The steelwork will be build to our design by 'Lambon Hull' (www.lambonhull.co.uk). Some background; the company has been going for some 2 years now, run by Ian Hillsden and Steve Lambon, both ex Pinder Boats, Steve has 18 years of steel boat building experience (narrow/widebeam and Dutch barge).

 

Build for the hull is due to take approx 4 weeks. The completed shell will then be moved next door and will be fitted out by 'Cutwater Marine'. Cutwater is a JV company set up between Lambon Hull and Daddys boats (www.daddysboat.co.uk). Rich Hubery of Daddys boats will be fitting out our boat. Fit out due to take 3 months.

End Quote.

 

 

Good luck with your search for a builder for your barge, based on my experiences to date I'd reccommend a vist to these guys to see for yourself.

 

Rgds

Les

Edited July 11, 2007 by Lesd

[Lesd]

Day 17,

More work completed on the cabin styling, Lambon 'thicken' the appearance of the cabin sides, plus they've fabricated the curves I wanted at the front;

 

From this;

 

 

To this;

 

 

Starting to look really nice now (Im still very biased lol). Steve Lambon in the background.

 

Les

Edited July 13, 2007 by Lesd

[Lesd]

Day 18. More work on the cabin sides at the stern today, they have been shaped and 'thickened'. The cruiser hand rails have also been completed. The stern deck will be finished with a curved rail and gates which will later be topped with a sapele handrail. The cabin sides will curve down to the gates. The guys will working on the boat tomorrow (sat), I'm told the hull will be completed on Monday !

 

 

 

Les

Edited July 13, 2007 by Lesd

[NB Willawaw]

Any closer to thinking up a name yet, Les ?