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Shorten a narrowboat


Janey72

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Yes, one was shortened to go up to Scotland some years back. The name will come back to me after I post this, because that is what happens

Edit to add

 

I told you so, it was Willow http://www.photo-wild.co.uk/WillowForSale.html

Edited by ditchcrawler
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6 minutes ago, Janey72 said:

Has anybody done this, or know of this being done?

There is a boat in Aylesbury CS basin that until recently was a 70' hotel boat. When the owners retired from running it they had the boat shortened by 12' so now have a go amywhere 58' liveaboard.

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3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

BW shortened a lot as work boats, also some were chopped in half to make two pleasure craft.

Shortening a working boat is pretty easy. Shortening a fitted out boat sounds like a nightmare. I suspect step one is strip out and throw away most of the internal fittings

 

Put it this way - if you shorten a boat, do you remove the bedroom, or the galley, or the bathroom, or what? And how do you fit in the replacement for the thing you just cut out?

 

I can't help thinking buying a different boat would be cheaper

 

Richard

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7 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Shortening a working boat is pretty easy. Shortening a fitted out boat sounds like a nightmare. I suspect step one is strip out and throw away most of the internal fittings

 

Put it this way - if you shorten a boat, do you remove the bedroom, or the galley, or the bathroom, or what? And how do you fit in the replacement for the thing you just cut out?

 

I can't help thinking buying a different boat would be cheaper

 

Richard

Maybe it hypothetical and just for interest

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on Mine they took the running gear off,

Cut the gunnels

gas axed the boat apart

dragged the two bits back together

re welded it up, you can see the scar.

put a new bit of gunnel in

wandered off.

At some point they probably re wired the headlight

 

a proper job would involve de riveting the butt straps and re riveting the new ones so you can’t see the join but hey it’s 1963.

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Morning all :))- great thank you - i might pop to Aylesbury for a look and a chat if possible. I am wondering about doing it in the future - i live on a 70 footer - the back is partially fitted out and i could lose a ten foot tube before fitting the back out. It may be too expensive but i have done a lot to the boat (1989) which i dont think i would get back in selling it to buy a smaller boat. The electrics would need to be addressed though and i recently did that. I wondered about long term effect to the hull and i wondered about the damage the re-welding would do and how far the heat travels - if there is much distortion in the overall shape.

 

eventually i would think about the tube becoming a pull along workshop...

 

Am grateful for the responses and info and would happily visit a shortened boat.

thanks a lot!

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Take a look at this recent topic:

 

This is stretching, rather than shortening, but the steps are basically the same. You just end up with one set of welds running all the way round, rather than two. The time consuming work afterwards of making good the fit out, services and paint are the same. The actual stretch/shrink is the relatively easy bit with a competent welder.

 

With a skilled welder the fact that the boat has a weld seam all the way round shouldn't be an issue. A boat of any length will be made up of plates welded together anyway. IT is just that most builders grind them flat afterwards, so you can't see them.

 

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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A good boatyard could do the job without anybody knowing, but you might have to be slightly flexible about length, so as to make cuts that are not in the middle of the panels. The other thing is you are creating at 60 ft a boat ( only in my opinion) of the silliest length. Almost impossible on the 57 ft canals, but not optimised on the 62 ft canals.

paint matching is impossible, ballasting would need addressing,, and the 10 ft tube would be expensive to modify and might put you over 71.6”.

 

with a 1989 hull what will you find when you chop it too, it might do 15 years as it is but if you put it onto dock you might well get the  well its ok but while you are here scenario due to hull wastage.

 

its all possible but at a cost

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Hi again

 

Thanks a lot, I much appreciate the photos. Good point about length - as if I did get the money together ever to do this it would be so I could get further up north on it, so that all makes sense.

 

I would like to work towards knowing the rough cost for the most expensive elements, which I assume are: taking and keeping out of the water, cutting and re-welding and reinforcing - the section I would remove is at approx 40 feet from the bow, to 50/55 feet - after the galley - there is no gas to deal with (this ends at the galley), water and hot water heating is basic and would need cutting and connecting, and both 240v and 12v pass through, but I can see all these. The section is not currently fitted out, except for ceiling insulation, wood wall panels and a temporary floor (I have seen the floor and treated it). Fitting out afterwards is something I have to do anyway, but will be doing myself. I have painted the exterior in the last couple of years, and expect to have to keep doing that.

 

I would need to store the cut out til I won the pools, and in an ideal world would attach a salvaged bow and stern.

 

So I guess if people are willing to add wisdom, any thoughts on stage one and costs would be of much interest.

 

Thanks for thoughts, links and pictures so far, Jane  

 

 

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Why not just turn the bit you want to cut out to turn into a floating workshop ….. into the workshop? 

That'd save you the hassle of: -

Finding a pointy bit to weld on.

Ballasting it.

Learning how to tow it without dragging it down the sides of moored boats or jack-knifing when trying to stop.

Making a right cods up of tying up.

Possibly having to double use every lock if by the time you add a front and a back end the joint length exceeds 70 feet.

Finding a way of supplying electricity to it.

Endless discussions with C&RT about your licence for a boat that used to be one length but is now shorter, although also you have an unpowered boat to take into consideration.

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On 18/01/2019 at 17:12, Janey72 said:

and in an ideal world would attach a salvaged bow and stern.

 

Where on earth would you find a bow and stern lying about (unless you cut another boat in half)? And if you did find them, what are the chances of the hull cross sections matching up?

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Lovin’ the sense of adventure....i see loads of boats lying about in boat yards that are being chopped up for other things....who says they need to match? I saw a people carrier doubling up as a wheel house the other day :))) i will ask the couple in the Aylesbury basin what they did with their tube....

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53 minutes ago, Janey72 said:

Lovin’ the sense of adventure....i see loads of boats lying about in boat yards that are being chopped up for other things....who says they need to match? I saw a people carrier doubling up as a wheel house the other day :))) i will ask the couple in the Aylesbury basin what they did with their tube....

It was cut up into pieces to get it out!

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