Cabin

Well the steel arrived three days late as it does and I had to send one roof sheet back because it was rippled.

Over the last week I have put the front well deck in, fabricated the back bulkhead, all the cabin side and roof sheets are tacked together.

Bulkheads are been made for the engine room at the moment. Then I can start all the detail on the cabin. I am waiting for my water tank which should arrive at the end of the week, until then I am unable to fit the other half of the front bulkhead as the water tank will live under the well deck.

If anyone out there is wondering why I am putting a full cabin on and not the traditional backcabin and engine room with an under sheet conversion, it is because BW shortened the boat in the sixties and I believe that the under cloth conversion would make the boat look stumpy. I have not lengthened the boat back to seventy foot as this will restrict me as to where the boat can go, ie. the Leeds Liverpool canal only has sixty foot locks.

Ps if woz is reading this I may well be interested in working on her sister at some stage please contact me on the above email address.

Front Decks

Been busy on the boat, front deck has been completed. I made the cants and decks out of steel, wood on steel is what they were originally made from, it's a sure sign of rust. The hatch is the original and I had to remove 70 years of paint prior to fixing. The floor has been put in the gas locker which was a horrible job, welding through paint in a tight space means alot of fumes.

I have also fixed the framing for the well deck at the front of the boat, fitted the bottom guards on and I am now waitng for the cabin steel to arrive on Monday.