Broad Ambition - TLC Time Again

[BroadAmbition]

During my mad dash & couple of hours visit onboard 'B.A' back in early December, I also brought home all the soft furnishings from the wheelhouse including the helms chair.  They are in desperate need of recovering.  This will be the third and hopefully for us the final time for the foreseeable.  The original covering was done by a local to Norfolk outfit and although the quality of the workmanship was fine, the material wasn't.  Cosmetically it looked great but only lasted about four years or so before it started wearing through.

Second time we bought the material ourselves from an outlet up here in Donny.  The recovering was done by a retired upholsterer (Neighbour of Bro's) who really knows her stuff.  She said at the time that although the material was better, it wasn't the very best and we could have bought better.  She was correct of course and that has now worn out too, lasted about nine years.

One lives and learns, this time we are not mucking about, under her guidance we have bought some contract material, wow this stuff is expensive, even shopping around 9 xm2 has cost us five n a half hundred quid  but she assures us that this time we have got the real McCoy

Sleeves up, here we go again

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

On of the cushion's is slightly too large, it has never fitted as good as it could so will be trimmed down before recovering

The two uprights or backs.  These are the original frames from 1966 and are plywood, just bare wood with no protection or varnish on them.  On one of them someone has written with an indelible marker pen 'Supreme R641'  then years later when Richo's had her in their hire fleet 'Superb I'  this is part of her history and needs preserving

The first job was to remove thousands (An I do mean thousands) of normal staples, which had become weak and rusty then  followed by the more modern s/steel upholsterers staples, they are a type of 'U' shaped type staple.  This took me hours and hours, I would settle down for a couple of hours each evening on our rug.  The only way to get this lot out is painstaking, a thin sharp chisel with a pair of vice grips, get under the staple with the chisel, gently tease it proud then pull out with the grips. Proper hard on one hands and fingers.  All the time being ably assisted by Purdey dog who insists on getting stuck in to me when I am at her level  Everything to her is one long game or new stuff to be investigated, for investigated, read remodelled or better still destroyed

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

Once I had removed all the staples - Note to oneself, never ever do this process again, its mind numbing and wrecks yer hands - the next dob was to sand down the plywood of all the feathers now standing proud, being o so very careful not to sand over / out the handwritten names.  Then it was the turn of the horizontal rib that had originally been fastened on in three pieces, leaving two gaps for the uprights frames back onboard on the wheelhouse sides.  I was going to redesign this better by cutting down slightly the two upright frames onboard, reposition the fastening screws.

This in turn allows me to replaced the horizontal rib on the seat back with a hardwood single piece, much better / stiffer and will make for an easier job for our upholsterer.  Of course the fastening screws for this were hidden underneath the foam and were of mild steel, another battle ensued getting those out, replaced them with s/steel as per the norm.  The rib is of course cut at a specific angle, this had to be copied I then routed a nice round smooth edge to the top back edge which will be kinder to the new material

Griff

 

[JanetAnne]

Griff!  What have you done!!!? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

....to that puppy? She's proper growing up isn't she.

[grendel]

I must say your little helper is stealing the limelight in your pictures Griff, though she looks like butter wouldnt melt in her mouth.

[BroadAmbition]

The last job was to apply some protection the the timber.  It has never had any from day one, probably because it is not normally seen or on view.  I wasn't going to go bonkers here with my normal varnishing routine up to 7 x coats.  Nope three would do it, the last coast full strength.  I completed the final coat only earlier this morning (Should have been clay shooting - Don't go there )   Once cured they will be taken round to Bro's neighbour for her attention

As an aside, every day being a school day and all that, did you know that varnishing can give you earache? No?  Neither did I until last night.

What with the temperatures round these parts being near to or below freezing and my garage being currently topped up by tiling tools and materials (They are due back into t van this afternoon), I decided to do the varnishing in our conservatory, the first two coats had white spirit mixed into the varnish as normal, I had turned on the underfloor heating to aid drying times although in my experience Ravilakk is quite fast on its own.  

Then it started:- "That pong (It's a nice aroma my dear) is giving me a sore throat and a headache"

and more of the same which in turn gave me earache!   Funny how in all my years of applying gallons of varnish the stuff has never given me a headache or a sore throat but now it can give me earache eh? 

Griff

 

[grendel]

Griff, Have you not thought of keeping up the tradition and adding her new name to the handwritten names on the back of the seat?

 

[BroadAmbition]

You know what? - I will do so, once this last coat of varnish has dried 

Griff

[grendel]

just as part of her history, for some future owner in 50 years time maybe.

[addicted]

In 1995, we bought a Fairline  Mireage aft cabin in dire need of extensive TLC. The upholstery was in a terrible state, heaven knows what colour it had been and the foam was totally collapsed. I found a material that I fell in love with in a shop called Material World owned I believe by Ashley Wilde It just happened that a good friend of mine had just become his new P.A. She told me that the material had been commissioned for a recently released James Bond film , I forget which one  and managed to get me a 30% discount, even so it still cost £600.00. We sold the boat 11 years later and  are still good friends with the people who bought her. The material is still in good condition. 

Carole

[JanetAnne]

Can't beat a good moquette for cushions. You do have to be careful which one you choose though as many are commissioned for rail or bus companies and you can end up discovering that 'contrasting fleck' in the weave is actually National Expresses latest logo!

[BroadAmbition]

Yesterday, the backs and all seat cushions including the helms chair have been delivered to our upholster along with the new material

Fridge door - will either be a second hand replacement or the original painted and refurbed when the wx warms up

Griff

[Polly]

Is it worth getting the fridge door powder coated, Griff?

Got the racks done from the caravan fridge cost was either £40 or £60 (not sure which) and they look new.

[BroadAmbition]

I’ll ask but doubtful due to the plastic edging and interior 

Griff

[NBYCo2124]

Griff, I see that you have sourced and fitted a Powles Bow Emblem for Broad Ambition. If new where did you get it made? President had a painted emblem on her stem originally, and I would like to replicate this but in alloy. My Internet searches have proved unsuccessful so far?

I don't know whether useful to others, but we had a peculiar engine cooling issue with President which was initially diagnosed  as weed fouling the filter, as the french canal she was on was full of weed, but it turned out the exhaust hose has delaminated inside, and acted as a block inside the exhaust pipe. The delamination became worse during the 200km trip to her new base in St Jean de Losne, culminating in no water emanating from the exhaust on the stern. Initially the water was fine from the exhaust. The whole system was checked from seacock, pipes, impeller to the aft of the heat exchanger. Engine is a Beta 43. We believe that when the engine was changed to the Beta around 5 years ago, that the exhaust pipe may not have been changed.

I read your article on here about changing the prop and what a difference this made to Broad Ambition, so will source a 4 bladed prop, as our boat hulls are very similar (President is a Bourne 40 hull) , although will do the calcs to get the right prop. Currently she has her original 3 bladed prop, but also with the engine change the old Borg Warner Velvet Drive was junked with the Thornycroft 2.5!!! (2 owners ago) and a twin disc gearbox was fitted, but with a different ratio, so the boat currently wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Upon arrival at the boat, there was curious damage to her starboard side at the rear flank, the side that was moored to the quay: The mooring cleat had been ripped off the deck, and the stanchions were bent/contorted. It turns out the canal was frozen and a large commercial boat was making passage through the ice (20mm thick apparently). President was pushed by the ice and water forward, but as she was moored securely, she heeled over to starboard, bent the stanchions from hitting the quay, and the mooring cleat was ripped out of the deck. I am pretty sure the stern gear has been affected too, as the steering on the passage apparently was less than good.

Anyway, a huge thank you from me to all those who post invaluable information on this incredible resource; Norfolk Broads Network. 

Regards

Robert

[BroadAmbition]

Griff, I see that you have sourced and fitted a Powles Bow Emblem for Broad Ambition. If new where did you get it made? President had a painted emblem on her stem originally, and I would like to replicate this but in alloy. My Internet searches have proved unsuccessful so far?

I'm not surprised they have proved unsuccessful I searched and searched from 2002 right through to 2011 with no success whatsoever.  I found plenty of photo's and the like but no actual emblem.  Then the 2012 Queens diamond jubilee on the Thames beckoned.  I just had to have her bow emblem in place.  So we bit the bullet and had one hand made to order.  A retired engineer that restores vintage cars up in this neck of the woods said he was confident he could make one.  He made it out of brass from photo's and dimensions that I supplied, I also took a mould / templates of 'B.A's bow so he could get the shape correct.  We then had it chrome plated and enamel painted as per the originals.  It took a fair while to make and cost us the proverbial arm and a leg but we only had to have it done just the once

 

as our boat hulls are very similar (President is a Bourne 40 hull)

Well that makes hulls more than similar then, the hulls will be exactly the same!

Hope that helps

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Herewith:-

 

[NBYCo2124]

Dear Griff

Thank you so much. I had better get my skates on, as a lot of work to produce a bow emblem.

I saw a houseboat for sale either on Apolloduck or ebay, and she was advertised as a former Broads boat. She had a Bourne hull, either 35 or 40 ft, I can't remember which, and can't find the advert now. I think she was moored on the Thames.  Looking carefully at the pictures she had a bow emblem that had been painted over in white. The emblem looked as if the boat was either a Jack Powles or an Ernest Collins cruiser originally.

I have attached a picture of President around 1974/75 showing the bow emblem, which was painted on.

Regards

Robert

[BroadAmbition]

I've been sent a couple of photo's of the upright seating backs from t saloon.  Coming along nicely

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

£40 paid for this second hand 240v fridge.  It's immaculate too.  Of course all I want is the door off it to swap over onto the fridge onboard.  It looks exactly the same dimensions as our 12v version.  I can't check or fit it of course until we are once again allowed to travel down to 'B.A' 

Griff

 

[grendel]

Griff, you can check it for fit, take the door off and if your old door fits that fridge, then the new door will fit the one in BA.

[BroadAmbition]

Really?

Griff

[grendel]

yes really, if the two doors are identical, either should fit either fridge, so if your old one fits that fridge without modification, then the new one should fit the fridge in BA without modifications.

[BroadAmbition]

I’m glad you’re here 

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Our retired upholsterer has sent me some photo's

Jobs a gudden

She said it was somewhat awkward due to the quality of the material - That's her doing as we supplied what she recommended

We are well chuffed with em.  That's three throw cushions, four seating cushions, 2 upright backs and a helms chair.  I forgot to bring home the 'Sound sausages' so they will have to be recovered at a later date - small easy job apparently.

This is the third time they have been covered and hopefully this time for a lot of years to come as we have at last got the quality / type of material correct

For the forumite on t'other thread asking about running / maintenance costs, the material was £600, the recovering was £250 (We are giving her £300 as she isn't charging enough) and we have promised to get her and her neighbour afloat for a long weekend too (They are both elderly Widows) 

Griff