ALL SYSTEMS GO!!!!!!!

Blimey what a day! I popped down to Colecraft to check on progress for an early January delivery (about three weeks behind our original schedule of mid December) and en route received a message from Dom Cole asking to call him asap. As I was only 15 minutes away I just popped into the office on arrival at the yard only for Dom to inform me that the boat was about complete and would be ready to go this Saturday! The team must had been working flat out, as in the last week the engine’s been fitted, radiators installed, wastes welded in place, doors fitted, 240v electrics installed and the woodwork completed!

I’d made tentative enquires regarding the cranage and haulage for January but couldn’t book anything without a firm date, so I was suddenly trying to arrange cranage the Saturday before Christmas with just three days notice! But thankfully AB Tuckey & Steve Foster managed to coax some drivers into work, as both companies break up for the Christmas holidays on Friday – I’ve added their links to show my appreciation! I suppose they’ll both still need paying?!

So the arrangements are that Tuckey’s will supply a crane and low loader at the Colecraft end. The boat will lifted onto the low loader first thing Saturday morning (or possible late Friday) . The lorry should arrive sometime Saturday morning at Shardlow to be craned off by Steve Foster – as it’s not cost effective for Tuckeys crane to travel this far.

From Shardlow we’ll cruise her down to Trent lock (at the bottom of the Erewash canal) where the boat will be based at Kingfisher Narrowboats until mid February. Kingfisher will be completing the joinery work for the beds, seating, wardrobes and doors etc and I’ll be installing the kitchen and bathrooms as well as installing the secondary plumbing and electrics. Kingfisher, owned my brother’s John & Mick Day, have completed the additional joinery work on all of our hire boats and their work is of a particularly high standard.

Once the major fitout is complete the boat will be moved up to Stenson for painting and then on up to Kings Bromley Marina in mid March ready for the hirer season.

I’ll hopefully post some photos of the boat being craned into the cut over the weekend, fingers crossed!

Justin.

AND THE WINNER IS…….

AQUA VITA, the name of our new boat as suggested by Philippa of Berkshire who wins a free short break on board. Congratulations Philippa! The theme will be used for future boats too, such as Aqua Vida, Aqua Leben, Aqua Vie and Aqua Liv etc..

We had over 100 entries and during the weekend narrowed the suggestions down to five possibilities before finally choosing Aqua Vita. Other Popular names/themes suggested were Kingfisher (& other birds), Lord of the Rings (characters & places), Constellations/Star Signs, Sapphire (& other gems), Potteries & Potters, Rivers & Canals and Thin Lizzie!

Many thanks to all those that took the time to think of a name and enter we’ve enjoyed looking through them all.

Justin & Jane.

SPRAYFOAM & LINING OUT

I’ve not had chance to update the blog for a couple of weeks (sorry) but the boat build is continuing at a pace, although we’re already two weeks behind schedule – some late nights to come me’ thinks!

As you can see from the photo the sprayfoam was completed shortly after my last post. A couple of days later I popped over to see Lenny to mark out all the 12v wiring locations for the downlighters, switches, pumps and alarms etc – you can just make out the pen marks on the sprayfoam. The main 12v supply will run along the cabin roof down each side of the boat (the black cable ties above the windows will secure the wiring in place). These service channels are then covered with 100mm wide oak strips which in turn will have the downlighters recessed into them. The 240v supply will be installed separately once the lining has been completed – the circuit will run out of view under the gunnel’s in electrical conduit. Both circuits will have separate consumer units with trip switches located in the cupboard at the back of boat.

This photo was taken the following week and shows the eventual position of the electrics cupboard hence the mass of 12v wires to be connected into a consumer unit, I hope they’ve been labeled correctly! The lining was by then well under way with another visit paid to mark out the bulkheads, detailed plans have been supplied but both Lenny and myself like to confirm verbally the locations.

These short site visits also provide opportunity to discuss small issues that I may have forgotten! However on this visit i noticed a mistake not down to me..the wrong steel pump out tank had been put on board. Although not a difficult mistake to make as there were about ten different sized tanks in the yard waiting to be allocated to shells. The correct tank was soon in place with the help of a fork lift truck and four pairs of hands!

I’ll be back at Colecraft this week so another update to follow shortly. Cheers Justin.