Adrenochrome Dc30

[Adrenochrome]

Hello everyone.

I'm a new member with our new boat; Adrenochrome.

AKA Cherokee. AKA Goodall Gal.

We've just upgraded from our Freeman to our Bounty DC30. She's in a very poor state with decking upwards all made of timber and mahogany in an awful state, leaking like a sieve, electrics practically non-existent, and plumbing not fit for human use. Only saving grace are the newish nanni engine and the plastic tub.

From what I've managed to find on this forum, Adrenochrome is one of four built late 60's early 70's, two at Swancraft, one at Maffetts, and our one with Pauls Pleasurecraft and then Arrow boats. It looks like her sister is called Dakota (aka Swan Regent) which has been very nicely rebuilt, and possibly Kingfisher (N694) which was last seen on Boatshed back in 2014.

My wife and I still work full time with retirement just a few years away, so her restoration (boat, not the missus) will take us some time. Especially as we want to use her as much as possible. Anyway a few pics to set the scene.

I'd appreciate any background on the four if anyone's aware of where they may be.

 

 

[ExSurveyor]

Welcome  to the forum Adrenochrome.

Good luck with your project.

[Spray]

I saw Kingfisher moored at a boatyard opposite Beccles Yacht Station quite recently . Good luck with your new purchase.

[floydraser]

Welcome to the forum! 

Fancy trying to restore an old Broads boat. What a silly thing to do. 

Ah well, now you've started you'll never finish! But the good news is that you shouldn't be afraid to ask silly questions on this forum. You'll be hard pressed to find a problem that someone here hasn't seen before, I know, I've been trying for about 6 years.

Good luck.

[MargeandParge]

Good luck will be nice when she is done.

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[Ray]

Welcome and good luck with your restoration project 👍 I owned Dakota for a while a few years back, her restoration had been done before I bought her so unfortunately can't really help with technical knowledge but attach some photos for reference. She is still owned and run on the Broads by the way.

* She was previously named Sir Losis of the River

[Lulu]

Warm welcome to the forum and good luck with the project. Please keep us updated on how its going. 

[Gracie]

A very warm welcome aboard from me too. Good luck with the restoration, plenty of knowledge on here if you need any help

Grace x

[kpnut]

Welcome. I agree with all the posts about help and wealth of knowledge on here. Enjoy your project. 

[JanetAnne]

That'll keep you busy!

[Adrenochrome]

On 27/07/2024 at 22:47, Spray said:

I saw Kingfisher moored at a boatyard opposite Beccles Yacht Station quite recently . Good luck with your new purchase.

I'm quite often down that way. I'll have a look and maybe get some ideas.

[Adrenochrome]

On 28/07/2024 at 05:03, Ray said:

Welcome and good luck with your restoration project 👍 I owned Dakota for a while a few years back, her restoration had been done before I bought her so unfortunately can't really help with technical knowledge but attach some photos for reference. She is still owned and run on the Broads by the way.

* She was previously named Sir Losis of the River

Hello Ray. I've read many of your posts and comments around your boat. Thanks for the additional photos. I believe the whole cabin was rebuilt. Do you know how your decks were finished? I'm thinking of using marine ply, and then epoxy and fibre glass on top to seal them.

[Adrenochrome]

Having a look through the side decking. Plenty of ex-ply now the consistency of paper maché. New 18mm ply seems to slot in its place pretty well. Ideally this would all be on a hard somewhere or under cover, but needs must and all that. I'll have to replace the rubbing strakes another year, so maybe some penetrating epoxy or wood hardener may have to do for now.

Has anyone any experience using either on what I think if oak?

[Ray]

3 minutes ago, Adrenochrome said:

Hello Ray. I've read many of your posts and comments around your boat. Thanks for the additional photos. I believe the whole cabin was rebuilt. Do you know how your decks were finished? I'm thinking of using marine ply, and then epoxy and fibre glass on top to seal them.

Yes the decks were finished in marine ply. At one time a section of our deck on the port side became soft and investigation revealed that an earlier repair had been made by adding marine ply without attention to the oak "struts"* and material underneath the deck, quite an expensive proper repair had to be made cutting out rotting deck supports* 

* Sorry I don't know the correct terminology here.

 

[Adrenochrome]

Getting on with replacing the deck section by section. Pleased to see all the waste fitting and tank in place. Even though the boat only has a portapotty. We wonder why the original toilet was replaced with this. Maybe the waste tank had a leak. We intend to fill it and see if there is any problem. Hopefully we can put in a new loo and fit it to the existing tank, but if not we’ll have to find and fit every new.

[oldgregg]

Has the boat been away on another waterway?

Pump-out points are fairly common on the Broads but less so on other systems (particularly the canal network), so holding tanks are less popular. 

[Adrenochrome]

On 30/08/2024 at 09:16, oldgregg said:

Has the boat been away on another waterway?

Pump-out points are fairly common on the Broads but less so on other systems (particularly the canal network), so holding tanks are less popular. 

We were told by Herbert Woods who were the agents, that it had some time up in the Lake District. But I have no evidence to that.

[Adrenochrome]

 

So winter's closing in and now having to work inside. I got perhaps 3/4 of the starboard deck replaced and learnt a great deal. So will be able to progress faster in the spring. So moving on towards the electrics. Just as awful as the timber, so pretty much starting from scratch. Which is fine and I'm learning new skills every time I touch the boat.

A near miss with the bilge pump as knocked the live wire of the switch. So bilge wasn't running for a few weeks. There was a lot (i.e. so very much) of water to pump out by the time I noticed. Well at least it gave the batteries a good rinse! Excuse the drama, luckily wasn't quite high enough to touch the terminals. Anyways, all sorted now.

Cosmetically I hoping sister-in-law will be delivering some new curtains for a Christmas present. So at least the Dren will look a little less like she's abandoned. 

 

[Adrenochrome]

Looking forward into the glorious future, i'd like to put in a sliding roof. It looks like her sisters had such, but Dren doesn't. There does seem to be a frame on the inside of the boat and I wonder if maybe a sliding roof used to be there but was removed. Has anyone got any ideas on if I can get new sliders or mechanisms, or even a second hand roof and accessories anywhere. I'm quite happy to do the woodwork, but would need sliding mech.

Covert the above to something similar to the picture below?

[Ray]

Good progress, you're doing well 👍

[BroadAmbition]

Nice one. You’re doing just fine 

Griff

[MargeandParge]

It's just unique great to look at and will make a character cruiser. Well done.

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[JanetAnne]

Fibreglass topped boats tend to have channels for sliding hatches moulded into their superstructure whereas wooden topped boats have rails above the roof for the hatch to sit and slide on. I suspect it's this sort of design you'll be following so, if it was me, I'd be looking to visit Martham Boats and copying their system from a Judith or similar.

Having said that, if David from Judith M is reading this and has a piccy, his hatch design and rail is exactly what you need to be aiming for.

[Adrenochrome]

2 hours ago, JanetAnne said:

Fibreglass topped boats tend to have channels for sliding hatches moulded into their superstructure whereas wooden topped boats have rails above the roof for the hatch to sit and slide on. I suspect it's this sort of design you'll be following so, if it was me, I'd be looking to visit Martham Boats and copying their system from a Judith or similar.

Having said that, if David from Judith M is reading this and has a piccy, his hatch design and rail is exactly what you need to be aiming for.

 

[Adrenochrome]

Thanks for the ideas. I shall take a close look at the Judiths.