Broad Ambition - TLC Time Again

[Guest]

1 hour ago, KaptinKev said:

I have been looking at the forums for some time now before as Mr Anonymous, but now as a member I can comment on what a fine and outstanding boat BA looks like. I can appreciate the hard work involved in looking after a woody and the GRP lot don't realise the easy life they have to yours, and although I haven't seen her in the flesh/varnish, she does look great on YT.

But I would suggest you keep Her and Robin away from ice.

I'm guessing that is with the exception of those that can and do work on wooden craft except own a GRP boat of which there are lots of classic versions , its horses for courses and to me that has  worked on steel wood and GRP vessels they all haves there advantage's and disadvantages , a boat is a boat really though as originally a  carpenter I do like a good looking wooden boat , then again a beautiful Dutch barge or classic GRP vessel does it too 

[BroadAmbition]

Lads week, I only managed two items on the list, (although I did manage some deep cleaning where required)

Q7)  New helms information plate in polished s/steel.   This replaces the original brass item that became incorrect after we moved the spotlight / horns on the fwd cabin roof and besides the brass item always seemed to need polishing

126)  Fit Traffolyte nameplates to cabin sides adjacent to deck fittings x 4.  This had to be done as there is no way we are painting coloured circles on the new deck covering.  Coloured circles around the 4 x deck fitting was fine with a non slip painted surface, but not with the upgraded deck finish.

 

That now leaves 16 outstanding items on the upgrade list and 7 on the maintenance list to attend to.  I'm due onboard next month for about five days or so to crack on with as many items as I can.  Onwards and upward in the normal fashion once again

Griff

 

 

[KaptinKev]

Hi Griff,

one thing that I would like to know when you have a boat that is in a syndicate, do all the people involved have to put in as many hours as you do to keep the boat in tip top condition, or do your labour hours go to the maintenance cost of things that the syndicate pays towards?

I'm interested to know how these things work, when there are a few people about to keep one boat afloat. 

[BroadAmbition]

do all the people involved have to put in as many hours as you do to keep the boat in tip top condition, or do your labour hours go to the maintenance cost of things that the syndicate pays towards?

Oh if only, and in an ideal world, yes.

However here in the real world, sadly no.   There are four custodians of 'B.A'  but five actual 'shares' (Me and Bro' own the fifth share between us, inherited from our Dad when he moved to a safe anchorage) myself, Bro', Robin and Degger.  We all pay in monetary terms an equal amount to the total running costs.  That is maintenance, upgrades, berth, toll, insurance, breakdown cover etc.  We each pay individually for diesel and pumpouts.

Labour hours - should be equal, of course they are far from it.  Being self employed I am not restricted by a set amount of 'Holiday Days' per year, so getting time off to work on 'B.A' is not a problem, what is a problem is that everytime I do so then I suffer a loss of earnings so it's a double whammy.    Bro' and Robin are allocated a set amount of days holiday per year, so using them up for working on 'B.A' is a price they individually pay, on the upside they still get paid of course.  Degger? - Well Degger is a law to himself, being a CEO he could be classed as self employed, but he is that busy we hardly ever see him onboard 'B.A' to take her out on the rivers let alone roll his sleeves up.

Then of course there are some tasks with 'B.A' that only out of the four of us that I am capable of doing.  Bro' is handy with electrics / engineering and some hands on stuff.  Robin can do most things if he is instructed how to achieve doing them, the snag with this is, by the time I have shown him how to do it, I could have started and finished it mysen! (Don't mention varnishing cabin sides!) Where Robin shines is in his capacity for research, coming up with some great ideas, getting good deals and keeping us dinosaurs up to date with technological advances with 'Boaty' stuff.  He is also a past master with the odd blue fender.    Degger is handy for unexpected large purchases without blinking.

I'm known as 'The Driving Force' behind 'B.A'   If we kept our labour hours exactly the same, nowt would get done in a hurry, that is just the way it is, it has worked for the ten years since we recommissioned her and we are all happy with it.  (Although I sneakily suspect that three custodians are more happy with that arrangement than the fourth custodian, but don't tell them I said that!)

Griff

[KaptinKev]

4 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

I'm known as 'The Driving Force' behind 'B.A'   If we kept our labour hours exactly the same, nowt would get done in a hurry, that is just the way it is, it has worked for the ten years since we recommissioned her and we are all happy with it.  (Although I sneakily suspect that three custodians are more happy with that arrangement than the fourth custodian, but don't tell them I said that!)

Griff

Many thanks for your reply Griff, and I can understand how more times than often there can be only one driving force in a syndicate. But if you need an extra fender, I'm sure that Robin can accommodate, but please don't tell him I said that.

[SueH]

14 hours ago, KaptinKev said:

Many thanks for your reply Griff, and I can understand how more times than often there can be only one driving force in a syndicate. But if you need an extra fender, I'm sure that Robin can accommodate, but please don't tell him I said that.

Mind you after a while them as does gets tired of 'doesing'.

As Griff says that is the way of syndicates.  There are:

Them as does

Them as can't

Them as don't  and

Them as won't

Sue

 

[Matt]

Mind you after a while them as does gets tired of 'doesing'.
As Griff says that is the way of syndicates.  There are:
Them as does
Them as can't
Them as don't  and
Them as won't
Sue
 

True that :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KaptinKev]

I have worked for a few organisations that or though these people do give up their time voluntarily for a good cause, sometimes it can be that these people are similar to syndicates that own pretty much a boat. There are quite a few people who like to say how things should be done, but not lift a finger to contribute.

I'm not saying all syndicates are the same, but human nature predicts that this can prevail in many. 

[BroadAmbition]

Now onboard as of 0400. Departed home at 2330, nightmare of a drive, roadworks and diversion galore. Maintenance weekend commences if I ever wake up, it’s nearly pointless going to bed!  Here till Monday afternoon 

Griff

[petersjoy]

2 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Now onboard as of 0400. Departed home at 2330, nightmare of a drive, roadworks and diversion galore. Maintenance weekend commences if I ever wake up, it’s nearly pointless going to bed!  Here till Monday afternoon 

Griff

Hi Griff, what roads are best avoided, Sam and Ben are off to Beccles today for a few days on Peters Joy.

It will be my turn to get back early in April.

Paul.

[grendel]

Griff, dont forget the photos when you finish something, must keep up to date for the model 

[garryn]

44 minutes ago, paul&lorna said:

Hi Griff, what roads are best avoided, Sam and Ben are off to Beccles today for a few days on Peters Joy.

It will be my turn to get back early in April.

Paul.

There are night time closures on the A47 between I think 8pm and 7 am. These have been going on for a while now. Very inconvenient if your out at night time but stops big hold ups in the day time.

[BuffaloBill]

We went down yesterday and have to say that they have, at long last, tarmac'd  

over that concrete section of road just north of Dereham on the A47. It's not

completed yet but what a difference on that bit so far! 

[BroadAmbition]

Drive home nearly as frustrating as the drive on Friday (That was a four n half hours God dammit).  Departed Norwich train station at 2200 having dropped Robin off.  First  road closure on the A47 before I had passed Norwich proper - resulting in a diversion back into Norwich again

Second road closure / diversion at E. Dereham - that one took me around the countryside for miles just to end up at Swaffam 

The third road closure I got away with over the bypass bridge at Kings Lynn as only the east bound carriageway shut although I did divert around a bridge.  Then just one slight hold up with resurfacing on the A17 but not much traffic backed up.

I got home for 0124, normally driving this late at night I should have been in for 0045.  Mini write up of what we achieved onboard  to follow,

Griff

[LondonRascal]

Charlie will fill you all in on the works that took place, generally speaking he spent the weekend on his knees - this made a change for him because this is usually only a weekday position he undertakes. Instead of tiles it was Dek-King and getting to know all over again  just how bad the adhesive that one has to use with the product is. It is black and has the consistency of cake icing - the second you touch it though it it will adhere to your skin and not simply 'wipe off' and thereon in anything else you touch gets covered with it too.

I was busy deconstructing the wheelhouse to find the cable runs for the new deck lights, then it was on with removal of the solar panel and all deck heads to run the wires and terminate them and then fitting the new 'walk over' flush mounted semi-flexible panels which are far smaller and offer a 100w output each which is a real upgrade on our last panel.

Getting ready to remove the fittings and seating

Seating gone, fuel and water tank visible to run wiring

Routed channel to run wiring into decks (later covered with the Dek-King)

Bringing wiring around to main DC distribution panels. 

Solar Panels in place

Close up showing where we have rounded the edges and removed the  small metal fastening grommets.

New wires coming down from deck above.

All new wires terminated and cleaned up (found a small water leak this is now sorted too)

Bonding the panels to the coachhouse roof

Final result

Custom made polished stainless steel covers to protect cables and entry point to deckhead below.

Deckheads back up - new LED downlighters on order to replace slightly corroded ones (that have lasted for 11 years)

Charlie and I working on the Dek-king

Putting the heating ducts back together

Then the seating area...

And there she is back together.

 

 

 

 

[Regulo]

Lovely job!! And the photo's make it so much clearer than any amount of words.

[BroadAmbition]

Robin seems to have pretty covered everything.  It was a time consuming three days that's for sure.  We did not manage to complete the fitting of the Dek King to the Stbd side, another half a day should see it finished, then it needs  a deep clean, sealing around the edges.  It's a pig of a job to apply this gear, it really is, goodness knows how the professionals get on with it.  I wouldn't mind being on one of their shoulders having a nosey to see how they get on, there must be a quicker way with many tips that I don't know of.  Both the Stbd water deck fitting and the diesel deck fitting had to be removed, which necessitated in dismantling most of the seating in the saloon as per the previous photo, sounds nowt of a job if you say it quickly enough

Once the decks are completed, then fashion a new cant rail all round.  The forthcoming deck lights  are hugely labour intensive to get sorted.  Both side decks had to be routed for the cable runs, then soldered joints, run the cables inside above each water tank, then follow wiring looms to bring them round to the helm area for connecting at a later date.  We have the 8 x LED deck lamps in stock but I will have to fashion teak backing blocks for them to be mounted angled slightly downwards, that will be another job for sometime later.

I will have to fit in a flying visit even it it's just there and back in the day to complete the Dek King and sealing.  Both aft deck hatches will then have to go off to the s/steel fabricators for new edging strips around them, which means temporary hatches will have to be put in place

We still have around 10 x items to attend to on the maintenance list and about 14 to do on the upgrade list.  I need to book myself in for another visit, looking at work diary this won't be till the end of June now

Griff

 

 

 

[BroadAmbition]

We had a few visitors over the previous three days.  Some were new berth holders in the wet shed as per the norm.  One chap that had made a sort of appointment was a veritable mine of information of the Broads, yards and boat building in particular.  He was an apprentice in Jack Powles yard as a 17 Yr old when it closed down.  Some of the stories he told us were fascinating.  One bit of information resulted in ones eyebrows doing a double six - Read on:-

Some of you will no doubt remember that once the custodians of 'B.A' back in 2011 knew that we were invited to take part in the Queens Diamond Jubilee 2012 we decided that we just had to bite the bullet and get a Powles bow badge made up for her. I had been searching the interweb and asking around trying to find one since around 2003 with no success.   There was no way we were going in front of the Queen not to mention they eyes of the world with 'B.A' improperly dressed.  So bite the bullet we did.  That missing bow badge took around six months and cost us over £2k

So back to said visitor, after he had looked round 'B.A' he asked me if I wanted an original Bow badge for her as he has got one up in his loft and we could have it for free! - AAARRRGGGHHHH -   I turned down his kind offer as we have no use for a second one, wish I had met him before 2012 though, that's for sure.  He also told us that every class of boat both private and hire that Powles produced, that a scale model was made.  He has no idea what happened to them though, well I had him trumped on that one thanks to our very own Grendel.

Now here's a little secret that I'm going to share with you all.  This one is the best of the lot too, to us it is kind of Earth shattering TBH -

He is more than confident that he has the original, and I do mean original plans in his possession of R641 Star Supreme 1 - our very own Broad Ambition and very soon they will be our property for keeps          

Now just how good is that!  We all know that R641 was the plug for the Bourne 40 hull (And the cut down 30/35ft too) and I will soon have the plans!

Anyone out there fancy a new Bourne 40 or even a new timber constructed Star Supreme class?

Griff

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Some of you will no doubt remember that once the custodians of 'B.A' back in 2011 knew that we were invited to take part in the Queens Diamond Jubilee 2012

Invited?? I thought you said at the time you applied to go ? 

[grendel]

4 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

He is more than confident that he has the original, and I do mean original plans in his possession of R641 Star Supreme 1 - our very own Broad Ambition and very soon they will be our property for keeps

can copies/ scans be made* it would be great to check the accuracy of the ones I drew up in CAD.

* most copy shops can do this nowadays - eg http://www.ittogo.co.uk/copy-centre.php

[MauriceMynah]

Ricardo, As I understand it, people applied to be part of the flotilla. Successful applicants were then invited to attend, but I'm sure Griff will correct me if I'm wrong.

[socrates]

Reading this post, I can't help wondering  how many other plans of vintage boats are languishing in lofts and dark forgotten places? I was told that the plans for Ripplecrafts boats were languishing in a drawer at Somerleyton Marina until 4 years ago. The current yard manager was having a clear out and threw them out thinking he would never see a Ripplecraft in his yard again. The very same summer we turned up with BG. What was worse, he also threw away the templates for cabin sides, front screen, and hatches.

 

[grendel]

I once had to trace every cable across several power station complexes, this was due to them shutting their old on site drawing offices that had been part of the engineering department that had been downsized. the net result was the disposal in the skip of everything they had in the department, and than someone realised that along with everything else they had disposed of all their cable records on site. we went in, and I spent nearly 2 years, 1 day a week re-recording all their cable routes.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

Ricardo, As I understand it, people applied to be part of the flotilla. Successful applicants were then invited to attend, but I'm sure Griff will correct me if I'm wrong.

Exactly what I ment MM 

[BroadAmbition]

MM - you are exactly correct.

I didn’t realise I should have explained the whole 9 months prior to the invitation being issued for the point I was making in my previous post or for the benefit of RH so he could dissect or derail yet another thread

Griff