The Doors

04/07/2010 by admin.

Sunday 4 July 2010

With the wooden external engine room door inserts looking rather tired, it was time to get them replaced.

Two offcuts of oak-vaneered MDF, surrounded by softwood trim and several coats of exterior varnish and the doors are as good as new.

Not quite as ornate as the original - but we like them.

This means of course I will now have to make some new side-hatch doors.

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Crystal clear waters

15/07/2006 by Mark.Whalley.

15 July 2006

Having put it off over and over again, I decided that it was time to tackle the water tank.

Suspecting that the tank cover had not been lifted since the boat was built, we had never actually drunk any of the water from the tank over the previous couple of years. Although the water came out visibly clear, as the tank became empty, there would always be a brown rust residue clouding the water. It this point I would refill the tank and within a couple of days after the residue had settled, it would be back to its ‘normal’ clear state for a few weeks / months. Whenever we wanted drinking water we would use 5 ltr plastic bottles which we would keep on having to refill.

 

One water tank inspection cover with barely visible securing bolts!

 

Obviously this could not continue, so with warm and dry weather forecast for the weekend and having worked from the Annex (aka home) on Friday, I decided to set off at 05:30 on Saturday morning with the intention of getting a full day on (or more precisely in) the tank, and if necessary would also have Sunday as contingency. As Bev had not been to the boat for while, she was going to follow me up (with Max) later on Saturday afternoon and stay until Monday.

The first challenge was to attempt to remove the sixteen countersunk Allen key bolts. With many years of exposure to the elements this was not going to be an easy task. No matter how clean I made the Allen key holes and how much WD40 I applied, simply using an a Allen key was clearly not going to work. The only think for it was to drill each bolt out with a tungsten drill bit. Ensuring the bit was slightly smaller than the bolt enabled me to use a pair of nose pliers to remove the shell of the screw threads. I then used a tap and die set to rework the holes to the same size of the original bolts. A couple of weeks earlier I had managed to remove a number of these bolts, and although I had considered alternatives to the replacement countersunk option, had decided to stick with the same. Screwfix (http://www.screfix.com/) supplied me with a bag of 50 bolts which would mean I had spares for whoever would be the next person to lift the cover!

 

16 new bolts (well 15 actually!)

 

With the cover removed and remaining water emptied, it was time to tackle the inside of the tank. As can be seen from the photos, the years of neglect had resulted in rust forming in several places

 

Back and port-side walls. Angled pipe in lower corner (centre) is feed to water system.

 

Bow and recessed gas locker base.

 

Several hours later with loose rust and bitumen removed, the tank is ready for painting.

 

Not much room down here!

 

With loose rust and bitumen removed, ready for cleaning and painting

 

ditto

 

Look at those white feet (and beer gut!)

 

With the walls of the tank now cleaned, I applied three coats of bitumen paint (that which is approved for potable water). Unfortunately, the fumes from the bitumen were so strong, I could only stay inside the tank for a few minutes at a time. This made the whole job much longer.

 

Nice shiny black bitumen

 

 

Having taken measurements of the inside of the tank, and taking into consideration the angled port and starboard side walls, the curvature of the bow and gas locker resses, I attempted to calculate how much water could be held in the tank.

I also did a controlled filling of the tank whereby I took the average time to fill a 5 ltr water bottle a number of times and then the time taken to fill the whole tank.

At 250 gallons (950 ltr), amazingly, I was only out by about 10 ltrs!

Over the following weeks I filled and emptied the tank 3 or 4 times before the water lost its bitumen taste. But at least now I can happily (and more importantly safely) drink the water!

One more ‘tick in the box’.

 

 

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A memory like a …

12/01/2004 by Mark.Whalley.

12 January 2004

A memory like a … thing with holes in …? If I don’t write down what I did within two days, I forget exactly what I did! At least I didn’t cut my finger off this time! This week I’m aiming to get the new floor down – or at least make a damn good start on it.

One of the problems with a small working space, and no immediate storage to hand, is how to juggle things around to be able to work and live. After some careful thought, I decided to convert the bedroom into a temporary store and to use the shower tray for some items. All the wood, PVC trunking and stove pipe fitted neatly across the two bedside tables. The stove slotted down the side of the bed in front of one of the tables. The large pack of polystyrene blocks sat in the shower tray. I then removed all the carpets – now paper thin and put them in the skip. The shelving and small cupboard on which the TV set was dismantled and the TV / video now positioned on the Black and Decker Workbench next to the divider between the galley and saloon. The hifi sat on top of the work surface under the hanging glass cabinet. On moving the sofa bed, I discovered how to remove the cover – again, this was bagged and packed in the car to take home for washing.

The lino floor and aluminium edge strip was removed from the galley along with the under-cupboard plinth and half-height bulkhead between the galley and saloon. It was my intention to fit the new floor underneath the fridge and oven and as far under the kitchen units as possible (without actually removing them).

In the main part of the saloon I removed a single ply sheet from the floor to carry out a further inspection of the ballast.

 

Removal of plyboard to reveal ballast

 

Sections of concrete walling

 

and steel reinforced fencing

 

ditto

Although the ballast in the bedroom was poured concrete, as can be seen in the photos above here we have a variety of different materials.

 

Loose concrete moved away to reveal bottom plate. Dry and relatively rust free.

 

 

 Date stamp of ‘Oct 82′ - which means the original fitout must have been after this!

 

After taking the photos, I replaced the ply board and planed one of the edges that had previously been squeaking when walked over due to the tightness of the adjacent board.

A good evening’s work so I cleared up, showered (not with the polystyrene slabs, but in the Pumphouse!) and had the only ‘Sunday lunch’ for this week - pork chops with veg.

 

Every bit of space is precious - even the shower tray!

 

Earlier in the evening I took some photos of the BW truck parked in the yard. On it were a large number of supermarket trolleys, obviously recovered from the canal. I have always wondered what happens to them now?

 

BW van full of supermarket trolleys (sorry about the poor quality of picture)

 

On returning from work, and whilst it was still light, I noticed that the top lock and pound had again been emptied. On talking later with Kevin, he was also unsure why, although there clearly was work being carried out on the towpath.

During our brief chat, I discovered that Kevin was a Scout Leader with 1st Quinton Scouts. Clearly his group (and those around) were very popular and well attended. This contrasted to our Scout Group (1st Pennard) which struggled to find leaders and was reduced to just running a Cub Pack. We also discussed the Birmingham Canal Navigation Society (BCNS) whose headquarters was located in the Pumphouse. It turned out that they were having a committee meeting the tomorrow night (Tuesday), and although these were not always well attended (approx. 10 people), the Society as a whole had over 700 members, including one from Australia!

 

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Tank cutters

06/01/2004 by Mark.Whalley.

Several false starts this morning. Leaving the boat, I closed the stern hatch and doors, then realised that the lock was still hanging in the engine room. Opened the doors, reached for the lock, closed the doors and locked the boat. Then I walked to the car, opened the door before walking over to the car-park gate. I then realised that the key for the BW padlock was on the boat. Of course, all this would only happen when it’s raining and I don’t have my coat with me!

I’m sure I’ll soon get into the routine, and I must organise the keys better.
Later in the day I completed the BW license application and made a photocopy of the original before sending off to Watford.

At lunchtime I drover over to Limekiln for some gas, four bulbs, two Trilights, another cork key ring and a copy of Waterways World (nearly as good as Penthouse).
Back at Tat Bank (via Wednesbury’s B&Q), I have a longer discussion with Kevin. Having reset the master circuit breaker for the bollards, I tried the two card meters in the bollard closest to the boat, but still to no avail. I then decided to try the next bollard along the pontoon, and low and behold, it worked! As I would still like to keep my position on the pontoon, I moved just a few feet further up towards the second bollard, and used the now fully extended hook-up cable. Now at least I would no longer need to run the generator, nor would I require the spare fuel I had just bought! I then marked the outline of the flush-mounted electricity hook-up point and cleared the T&G and insulation from inside the engine room. As it was dark, and the hole that needed cutting was on the waterside of the boat, I decided to leave the actual hole cutting until another day.

Using the new jigsaw bought from B&Q on the way back to the boat, I managed to complete the cutting of the inspection hole in the floor under the bed. Now at least I know what the boat’s ballast is made of – concrete! At least I know there’s no water down there!

I then fitted the two Trilights in the saloon, to replace the dim surface-mounted lights. As both units are independently switched, as well as wall switched, I decided to fit all three tubes in each light – Blackpool Illuminations or what!

To make more room in readiness for the new floor, I loaded the 2nd chair into the car for storage in the attic at home.

Having previously bought two tank cutters, I then discovered that the smaller of the two did not fit the same drill attachment that fits the large cutter. Another trip to B&Q required.

When I returned to the boat this evening, both car park gates were wide open. Talking to Kevin about this later on, he said the the BW staff and contractors often left them open. However, he had hoped that now there was a boat on site (i.e. Tastoma), they might be a bit more thoughtful – obviously not! I had also spotted a number of lads, in typical ‘hoodies’ trying to demolish the marine ply fence put up on the tow path for sealing off the engineering works. Again, Kevin mentioned that a short while ago, one of the open-top BW barges was moved off the mooring. It apparently made its own way back to Tat Bank just yesterday! Thinking that the kids had shimmied around the railings at the far end of the Pump House, Kevin had now put some grease on the bars to make entry more difficult. Let’s hope that it works!

A much later finish tonight – 10pm. I showered, shaved and enjoyed yet another Sunday dinner of lamb. Unfortunately, I had no mint sauce or gravy – must put that on the next Tesco / Sainsbury shopping list!

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