Emily B

[Guest]

 Onward and upwards things are moving forwards I am pleased to say.

To start with both engines are now fitted with shafts connected. The exhausts are also 

run to the transom with  swan necks immediately inside the transom. 

Two very pretty brass hand pumps for extracting the oil from the sumps of the 1.5 ltr

BMCs.

Photo 5 The frame work for the galley frontage drawers and cupboards etc.with the bilge

which will be hidden given a good coat of paint.

Photo 6 showing the spirit stove in place, the Taylor s stove will be lifted in through one 

of the skylights if time allows, this will have an oven and grill but may not be operational

in time   for Beccles.

 

[Guest]

Just as an aside 

Some of you may Remember Ocean Pirate built by Brooke Marine in this very shed has been work done to her. She is now going to somerleyton  to have more work done

[Guest]

Back to Emily B.

Work continues on cleaning and tidying before more equipment arrives on board. This is the Taylors stove

which runs on pressurised paraffin. It is not that heavy in itself but to get it up and into the boat it becomes

awkward and heavy. Anyway if you have skylights and an overhead crane why strain yourself.  As you can see

the cooking side of the galley is beginning to take shape, I am really looking forward to cooking up a storm on these,

I will even have a stool to sit on. Luxury.

The engines in situ, I believe the Morse  control cables are going in over the next few days along with the  connecting

of the instruments on the dashboard.

I have had very little physical input into this over the last few months which is a shame logistics etc. but I do hope

to be at the launch at the very least.

 

[Polly]

Looking good!

[AndyTBoater]

Hello, hello and hello again.

As some of you may know Emily B has now passed into my custody. Most of the time it has been sitting on the hard at Robin`s place awaiting the (much delayed) rebuild of Lovejoy. Now Lovejoy is (to all intents and purposes) finished, it is time to turn attention to EB. 

I promised Alan that I would try and do her justice and get her back on the water ASAP.

This process has now begun. She is currently in Robins workshop having a few things "done"

Myself and Mrs Lovejoy spent ages (along with Robin, JA and Ally) discussing what we would do with her (not Mrs Lovejoy - Emily B)

Although she is a pretty looking thing from the outside, the interior layout was not the sort of thing we were looking for. 

It had 5 berths. 2 singles up the front which would convert into a double if needed, 2 singles amidships and a hanging bunk over the Stbd midships berth. 

Although she is 34 feet long, the inside cabin is only half the length of the boat and having 5 people crammed into this space was a bit of a struggle. As we dont know 3 other people who would be willing to share we have decided to make her into a very spacious 2 (possibly 3) berth 

The interior is still very much at a "lets think about it some more" stage so things could change. And probably will.

What we have decided on it that the rear cockpit and helm will have a few modifications. 

When the decks and such were epoxied over, the upper rubbing strake had just been screwed in place. The strake itself stood proud of the deck by about an inch and so acted as a rubbing strake/ toe rail combo. This meant that the edges of the deck were left un-epoxied  and therefore had started to soak up some water. These were removed and when the deck sides (also very wet) have been replaced will be epoxied and so should last another 100 years.

The decks sloping up to the cabin roof were very narrow and awkward - especially when solo. These are in the process of being widened by 3 inches for safety and other sensible reasons.

The cockpit was taken up mostly with a rather large rear deck which housed a HUGE bronze wheel which did all the steering and other than that was a bit of wasted space.

The wheel has been cut down and a reconfigured cable steering system has replaced it. And I found a bucket of red bilge paint and went a bit mad with that as well.

Removing the rear deck has gained about 2 feet of usable space in the cockpit. This will allow us to have a curved seating area across the back and extending down each side. 

The space under this will be used for the fuel tank. 

The existing fresh water tank is in the pointy end under the front deck. Its a bit small for what we were thinking so will now be replaced with 2 new fresh water tanks, one under each of the rear cockpit seats. 

The engine covers were about as low as we could get them but are being reduced in length from their current size by about 12 inches. This is easily enough to have a helm seat etc with space to spare but also opens up another foot of cockpit space, some of which will be storage but also a gas locker. 

More on this when I have decided how to do it.

The battery box is being moved to the centre of the boat, underneath the flooring which runs between the 2 engine covers. This allows for the space where the batteries were to be used for storage (or, if SWMBO gets her way, a posh table that rises from the floor)

The doorway was a bit narrow for someone as portly as myself and this will be widened, as will the floor leading to it. In my head it will look great but the mechanics of doing this still evade me.

Thats about it for now. As soon as Robin has widened the decks, replaced the rear deck and epoxied the lot it should be pretty much water tight (or at least it will be when my newly acquired cover goes on. 

Then its off outside to the "naughty corner" where I can start doing the inside bits and making the cockpit into a work of art.

I only hope that Alan and Barry approve of what I am planning. 

 

[Victoryv]

Lovely boat, well worth the effort, well done.

Anybody know how Alan and Barry are ?

[BroadAmbition]

Spoke with Barry a couple of days ago now. His eyesight is failing so struggles to read the forum and now can’t drive either. He’s not been afloat for over a year now. But he’s still with us

Griff

[Victoryv]

That's good, he's much missed.

By the way, happy new year Andy

[AndyTBoater]

Decks are now on and looking good. They will be sanded, epoxied over, sanded again and have a non slip coating applied. Colour has yet to be decided (I am going for the same as before because I have some paint hanging about. Mrs Emily B thinks a different colour but decisions are still to be made)

Exhausts have been moved and are now connected up (at least they are at the blunt end} Routing from the stern to the engines via a couple of Waterlocks has still to be decided.

 

 Fuel tank has been moved and is installed. Just needs tying down and pipework connected. Bit of a nightmare for me as I had to install a support beam across that back which needed to be level with the rest of the cockpit floor. 

This I managed and (stupidly) used the deck to measure down from to get the height right at both ends. I discovered that this was not the best idea as the boat doesn't seem to conform to any particular idea of "measurements should be the same on both sides". The Port deck is about an inch higher than the Stbd. The ribs (although they meet well at the keel are not parallel to the transom or anything else. The longitudinal beams at the hull are not parallel or the same distance from the keel.

In practice, what this meant was that after I had positioned the support beams, made a tank frame, positioned the tank and refilled it with fuel, I was left with a tank that didnt quite sit flat or level. 

Unfortunately for me, Robin noticed this before I had a chance to hide it up and made me do it again properly. 

Judicious use of a hunk of wood, a crowbar and some swearing saw that rear tank support moving the required 1/2 inch sideways before being screwed down in its new (and correct) position.

 

Emily had 2 x 140l fuel tanks which were lovely but 280l of fuel was not really a necessity on the Broads so I have gone down to 1 tank feeding both engines. 

This does allow me to fit 2 110l water tanks where the old fuel tanks were. The existing water tank is right in the bow and is a bit smaller than i would like for daily use. It is the perfect size to act as a supply for the heads and will be kept just for that purpose.

There is now a huge amount of space that I can fill up with other stuff and have some useful under seat storage. 

That's it for this week. More to come soon as I move forward and fit the water tanks, seating supports and maybe some electrical work on the feeds for the tanks senders and rear nav light.

Or I might just do whatever Robin tells me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JanetAnne]

8 hours ago, AndyTBoater said:

 

Or I might just do whatever Robin tells me.

 

That'll be a first 

You could always do the decks red.... everything else you have been near is, the floor, the ladder, Robins tools, the cafe 

[BroadAmbition]

Sounds like a riot you lot are having. How’s our swans?

Griff

[AndyTBoater]

Today was another day. But not as exciting.

No pics today as nothing was really achieved. And I was feeling decidedly grumpy. I may take pics tomorrow but then again I may not.

Plan was (amongst other things) to get the fuel tank fixed and secured, run the cables through all the steering pulley, drain the rest of the diesel from the now spare (and for sale) tank, strip all the hardware from the old windows and dispose of them, run wiring for the stern nav light and the fuel tank sender. 

None of this happened

What did happen was that Robin planed me up some tree wood so that I could fit the rear support for the helm and co-helm position and sort out the framing for the engine cover. So I ran some stringers fore and aft from the existing helm position to get the right height for everything. I "levelled" it up by measuring down to all the floor support beams that were originally fitted. And it looked awful. The fore and aft beams were not square to any bulkheads or pretty much anything. 

The whole cockpit floor seemed to slope down towards the cabin. 

So, having decided that "level" is probably the optimum state for a floor to be, Robin suggested that we set out a datum line using the cabin floor as a reference and then set the cockpit floor to that.

Sounded good as there would be a cabin floor with a cockpit floor that ran slightly higher and parallel to it.

Having done this and measured 3 times and cut nothing it was determined that the cabin floor was not level either. So we ran a level line from the front of the cabin to the fuel tank at the rear and squared this up to the bulkheads.

Over a 5 foot length of the cockpit it was measured that the cockpit floor dropped by 72mm stern to Fwd. 

The fore and aft beams now were levelled to this and measured again from the existing floor support beams upwards to the side decks. Only 50mm out now so something must be going in the right direction. 

A final eye through from the front to the back and a bit of judicious  tweaking and we had a temporary frame that was square to the bulkheads, parallel to the cabin floor and looking quite nice.

I had stupidly assumed that the floor supports that were in when she was first built would be our datum and had positioned the fuel tank to suit. This may now very well be a bit in the way so in a way, I am glad I didnt get around to fixing the tank down. 

Anyway, a day of messing about with tape measures and string and chunks of wood now sees us with a fighting chance of getting a level cockpit floor and fitting water tanks and stuff can progress.

Did I mention the cabin floor?? I think I did. We used the door threshold at each end of the boat as a datum point and squared up the datum beam to them and the bulkheads. When we measured down from this square and level beam it seems like the cabin floor goes up and down like a fully up and down thing.  So that needs to be sorted out as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BroadAmbition]

Onwards and upwards,  Every day is a school day.  At least you didn't get owt else covered in red paint!

Griff

[Vaughan]

9 hours ago, AndyTBoater said:

Robin planed me up some tree wood

A long time since I have heard that expression!  Jimmy Gedge at Womack used to use it as well.

[AndyTBoater]

So - the saga continues

datum set, checked and checked again. Datum beams in place.

We knew that the floor in the cockpit ran down about 3 inches or so and it was decided that the easiest way to solve this was to add a packing piece to the top of each floor support beam to bring it all up to the same level.

Except that when I measured to find out what thickness I needed at each bearer - I was surprised to find (although I really shouldn't have been surprised at all) that not only did the floor run out fore and aft but side to side as well. but only by an inch.

Tapering the packing pieces would have been a nightmare so all the floor bearers would be removed and new ones installed at the correct height and level in all directions

So thats another two steps backwards. Harrumph.

Anyways - its all out now and the first two have been refitted. Whilst the old ones were out I decided that if I was to replace them I may as well move them about a bit and create a centre storage section. This will be roughly whare the red painted square but is but will be a bit bigger. This was the battery compartment but as the batteries will be relocated forward and under the floor between the engines it seemed a shame to waste the opportunity to creat more space for junk and stuff.

You may also have noticed that the decks have had their final skim coat of epoxy. A light sand and they will be ready to paint.

Robin is busy strangling wood into submission using steam and a lot of G clamps for the curvy upper rubbing strake which should be being fitted next week.

I am working away this weekend and the boat is due out of the door on Thursday to be put in "The Naughty Corner" where I can continue discovering what else needs taking out and putting back together.

 

Talking of taking things out, we remover the toilet waste tank (a massive structure of 213 litres) to make way for a berth of a reasonable height with storage under.

In case anyone is interested both the waste and spare fuel tank will be offered for sale on FB marketplace and also here on the forum if the Mods or whoever will let me.

Anyhoo - onwards and upwards

 

 

 

 

[BroadAmbition]

Thanks for the update, enjoying the saga

Griff

[AndyTBoater]

Just a quickie. 

Robin has beaten another rubbing strikes into submission. Only the transom one to do now. 

I have spent the day in the bilges cleaning and painting. 

Things I have found in there so far are:-

Doggy poo bags (full) x 2

Tins of Spam (unopened) x 1

Screws, nails, bolts and cable ties x loads

Twigs and leaves likewise. 

Due to spiralling costs and inflationary pressures Robin has offered me the "budget" option for cockpit coatings. 

Once I give them a coat of wood effect paint they should look great. Apparently. 

 

 

 

sorry if these come out upside down. 

As a man I have tried everything (except asking someone who knows, obviously)

(Rotated for you FairTmiddlin)

[MauriceMynah]

Hmmm, doggy poo bags and tins of spam.

There's a difference??

[YnysMon]

14 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

Hmmm, doggy poo bags and tins of spam.

There's a difference??

Eeeww! 

I suppose it depends how long the tin of spam had been lying in the bilges. Was it rusty or blown? If not you could have had a nice (?) fry-up.  

On the other hand…

[grendel]

1 hour ago, AndyTBoater said:

sorry if these come out upside down. 

you need to travel to Australia and repost the images.

[AndyTBoater]

25 minutes ago, grendel said:

you need to travel to Australia and repost the images.

I am in Swansea. Does that help?

[AndyTBoater]

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

Hmmm, doggy poo bags and tins of spam.

There's a difference??

Not really.  Poo bags were firm to the touch as was the Spam tin. 

[AndyTBoater]

Bit more of an update

Things are moving along nicely (ish) Got the rest of the floor bearers in and all seem nice and level. 

New battery box is now in as well. Everything is tying together nicely. I have also created a new underfloor storage box which you obviously cant see. I was going to take pics to show all this in place but - I got a bit over excited and fitted the (not yet complete) floors

Its all a bit sawdusty but looking good so far. And flat. And level.

The water tanks will be positioned next which will show me where the seating is going to go and allow me to work out which bits I can cut and make into removeable floor panels.

Robin has been working on the rubbing strakes and these are now all fitted and awaiting de plugging, sanding and a couple of quick sealer coats of varnish. No pictures of these to show you as I still cant work out why some pics upload upside down. Once I work that out I will bung some up here for your delectation and delight.

So thats about it for the stuff being done in the workshop. I am moving outside into the "naughty corner" on Monday to make room for Hilda to come in.

In preparation for the move we have added a mast and a tarp to keep the worst of the weather off. Its quite cosy when its all in place

So - come Monday we should all be ready to go. 

Mast has also 

[BrundallNavy]

If you’re using an iPhone it’s all dependent on which way up you hold the phone. Take a picture turn the phone round take another and one should be ok. 

[MauriceMynah]

Alternatively,  you could use a camera!

Great for taking pics, less so for making calls.