Thames - A Personal Notebook

Picnic Skiff. Courtesy of Pete Reed@Flickr.

This is the time when things get a little more difficult and the compromises have to be considered. No matter what I do with the above it just isn't going to to go into the garage and neither, unfortunately will this:


Keith (The Who)Moon's "Mayflower" (was one fine rock drummmer) Courtesy of Wikipedia.


Pink Floyd's recording studio @ Hampton. Picture:(one of mine)
But, I could get several garages into this one!

However that is just not going to happen...So now is the time to become a little more specific - maybe a crossbreed between the top two above (and on a smaller scale) would fit the bill?. So, first things first,if you are going to build..where?
Well now, maybe I was lucky or just plain unfortunate, because one of these boxes came with the house.


Picture: Standard "Sixties" battery garage/lockup.

There are thousands of these in this area. Each a nominal sixteen feet by eight feet. Enough? Not really for a sixteen foot by five foot boat (especially when all your material is in alongside you at the same time!
However, I deemed that this would be possible.. Bit of double handling, not a problem. Easy!
Car, associated bric-a brac and spider colonies were evicted in total. No heat, no power, a suspect roof and a distinct resemblance to a black hole remained. In went the white paint for the walls and battleship grey for the concrete floor. A few shelves to keep the floor clear and suddenly there was a place to build!
Well in reality there wasn't. Regardless of how you aproach a build you require a flat horizontal base to work from.
Problem No.1.
Careful measurement showed that there was a fall of 15cm from the rear wall to the up'n'over door frame and at the same time there was a 10cm fall from left to right. This caused a little head scratching until it dawned on me that it could be solved quite easily:



I made up six of these trestles in 75mm by 37mm deal, four feet wide, worked out the height of the legs of each to cope with the respective falls and fitted two small caps which could be shimmed to pick up any localised lumps.These were fitted to each trestle and wonder of wonders, it worked first time around! (Doubt if I could repeat it!)
The solution was pretty well ideal. I could get between the trestles and keep a reasonable degree of accuracy going. I can recommend it to anyone with the same problem. Over the build period I have lost three of them as they were cannibalised for other essentials but two and one half remain and will be used for painting purposes (to allow the boat to be jacked clear of the trailer).

The construction method I chose was epoxy stitch'n'glue. I judged that working on my own in a very limited space was probably the best way to go at it. The design, as is the norm for most craft of this size and duty uses 6mm ply. I chose 9mm because of the "knockabout use" that the craft would encounter and a plus for the decision was the solution of the problem of the raised outer joint bandage (which certainly isn't pretty). This meant that I could remove one ply for a distance of 5cm either side of the joint for the length of the seam and reinstate the strength with the application of glass bandage plus epoxy and not come proud of the hull line. The result was fine and the joint strength more than adequate.
Problem No.2.
The 9mm ply choice had seemed fine to me. However I hadn't bargained for its' extra strength and, after snapping a panel, it was clear that drawing the two bow sections together was going to be a real struggle.
I used the same tactic on the lower bow chine. This time I used vertically routed strips at 25mm intervals.
Soaked timber, followed by copious amounts of boiling water, coupled with a resolute, sustained, windlass pull resulted in closure. With a sigh of relief, epoxy was poured into the joint. When dry the routed strips were liberally bandaged and epoxied to reinstate the strength.
At this point I had a shell and I quickly got some cross menbers into place to stiffen the floppy structure while I waited for my trailer to turn up.
Problem No.3.
When I had ordered the trailer initially I had asked for a swivel coupling (you used to see them on caravans) this was so that once trailer and boat were in the garage, I could easily turn the forepart of the trailer to lie inside the garage and close the door. Somehow the manufacturer forgot about this although it was on the order form. It seemed that they had neglected to mention to me that there had been a change in legislation and that the swivel coupling had been declared "agricultural usage". I was only interested in a quick solution and this was the result:


First real light of day! This ship just climbed out of its' bottle!

You can just see the "sleeve" here. There will be a better idea of it further on. This is just getting a mention here because it just shows that you can never take anything for granted. Always, always make sure that your requirements are always crystal clear even, when it is the only business that your manufacturer is in!
However, this was a turning point and now, construction could be completed on the trailer which would allow the build to be run in and out of the "boatshed" as the vagaries of the British weather dictated.
Room to move at last!


Moving along and still a lot to do!


The "Boatyard" unplugged! "Eureka! I can move again!"..




The "Boatyard" - Plugged!



Here is the solution for the "Sleeve" mentioned earlier. You can see that it is fairly substantial and solves the problem of door closure. Jack up the boat, remove sleeve and drop the boat on the jack until closed. Voila! (however, you can see a lot of cosmetic work has to be done here before final paint coatings start).
The more eagle-eyed among you may have spotted lighting in these pictures. Thanks to a generous neighbour I have been able to take a 1KW supply line from a garage further away. I made sure that this supply is metered at entry to the boathouse and it means that when I return from a trip with depleted batteries, I simply plug in and I am ready to go again in the morning! Well, maybe, that one hasn't been proven yet!


A seriously fore-shortened view. The stern section is actually the same length as the bow section but the basics are there and if there are any references to bits'n'pieces you can probably find them here.

This is where I am today. Less optimistic than I was about an end of August launch for there is still a lot to be done..We will see, but if the weather continues to deteriorate then it is not very likely.
So this would be a useful time for a recap and to evaluate what has yet to be done.

Originally the concept was to have a trailerboat that was visually pleasant, stable, suited to quiet gentle browsing along backwaters and, in general, to be unobtrusive where animal life, fishermen and OAPs were concerned (in that order). So,in the end, the search was dictated by the constraint of size (i.e. the need to both build and store the craft). There is, of course another constraint and that is the overall ease of handling on and off the water. It is pointless to arrive back at your slipway, exhausted after a strenuous day and no longer have the strength to manoeuvre the beast to get it home. So, again physical size comes into play. From previous experience, a long time ago, I used to have a Wayfarer which was a family dinghy, a sort of Volvo of the dinghy world. Safe, stable and heavy, it sometimes took all the strength that I could muster to get it back to to the club park. I decided, way back then, on the magic sixteen feet mark as being my maximum for capability. There is nothing more certain than when you need help, there won't be any! If you are built like "The Hulk" then you carry on and pick your own poison but, I think that for Mr. Average, the sixteen feet length is probably enough for this kind of usage.
For continuation see Boating DIY - Tidy-up and Launch:

picture: courtesy of Diamond Geezer@ Flickr. Henley-on-Thames

Boats of all shapes and sizes on the river on a sunny afternoon. Beer, bacon butties and bliss. Before you rush off and buy your dream .....think!
From the diesel-driven, three-layer, plastic wedding cake, complete with swimming pool and sauna, down to the multi-coloured ten foot painting punt, all have a place in someones' heart but, this is neither the time or place to do justice to the subject. Let me just make a few simple divisions to see if I can assess the reasons why I ended up with my final choice. Suffice to say that there are sport craft, barges (skinny and fat), cruisers, dayboats, tour boats, throw in a few ferries for good measure and don't forget the houseboats.

Sportboats.
I can no longer participate. Those who do, with any measure of success, are dedicated and fit. It has to be understood that for some of the sportspeople it has become a way of life, verging on the fanatical and this transatlantic attitude has destroyed all pleasures in light competition for me. I bowed out some years ago. Good luck to you all. I enjoyed it immensely when it was just sport.

Barges (skinny and fat).
Great fun and increasingly, a way of life for many. I have owned two, both in Holland. The first was a simple fifteen metre diesel driven little liveaboard and very cute. I should have kept her. Trading up was the way to go at the time and I ended up with a twenty three metre, 105 tonne, two-masted sailing barge. This beast was a nightmare. I traded her in for married bliss and a non-floating home (but near to the river). The life can be perfect for those with leanings towards the arts or those who wish to commune with nature. Tucked up a backwater on a crisp autumn day with a roaring wood fire, a pot of (goose?) stew and a good read. Life can be very pleasant on occasion....Like anything you try, it can be idyllic or an absolute disaster. Hire a beast first (and several times)to make sure that it is what you really want and it is essential that you drop the rose-coloured glasses over the side until you make your final choice. For the long term go for a fat one! That leaves cruisers and dayboats but let's not forget that the barges also fit into this category. However, having plodded around this planet several times in previous lives, I now prefer the one-off exploratory trip and, if it is a little special, it is ear-marked for future jaunts.

Cruisers and dayboats.
Cruisers and many dayboats,launches etc., because of their size, usually require moorings. That could be marina, riparian private, Environment Agency etc. This is a problem for me. Moorings are at a premium and regardless of who your landlord is, it could just be that you have tied up to a Scrooge. Of course it will depend on your contract but it is not something to be taken lightly and the prospective mooring owner would do well to have a few in-depth chats with some of his possible future neighbours before commitment.
Now, there is another small point which some newcomers, strangely enough, have not thought about and that is the day's range.
"How far are we going to get today dear?" asks the long-suffering crew.
"Well Sweets, says Captain Horatio Bletherington-Smythe, peering suspiciously at the weather," If we can clear the mooring by 0930 and get a good run down to the Jolly Miller's Lock, providing the iffy weather holds off the hire boats ...we could be at the Potted Palms Court in time for lunch, say 1200hrs. Two hours for lunch and a good run back, we should be all snugged down in time for dinner and, it is my belief that we should make...Let's see... all of ten miles out and the same back...Why! that will be twenty miles today!"
"Oh! Marvellous!" cried the crew and muttered, "Now I have to make the bloody dinner as well as prat about with these ......ropes."
Despite the fact that Captain Horatio's vessel does 200 knots in a Force 8, (well, the salesman said so) it is a sad fact that there just happens to be a speed limit on the river and he, like all the rest of us, will be puttering along attempting to keep the riverbanks in one piece and most definitely not trying to turn the rowing "eights" into submarines.
Ten miles upstream one weekend and ten miles downstream the next. Soon you will start to address your local ducks by name and before long you will be handing out birthday presents. It will take a planned holiday to break free from that routine. For a true horror story try hazarding a guess at the costs per mile (don't forget the loss of investment capital, moorings, haulout, craneage, maintenance, fuel, general wear and tear, and on and on and on). Go on, work it out! I dare you!
Is the monster essential? I don't expect an answer if you already own half of China but, if you don't, well just maybe you might consider an alternative or two. I did and decided on the following.
1. Downsize! Quickly!
2. Moorings are a definite no-no!
3. Keep it simple!
4. Store it out of the water!
5. Do your own maintenance!
6. If it is essential that you must have a watery holiday on any (over-inflated for comfort) cruising craft then hire the thing! There is also a bonus here if you wish to partake of foreign climes - you are going to get there a lot faster when you fly to your base.

Of course you still have to have something to play with but that becomes a personal matter. After much dithering about my personal choice came down to a trail boat and to make matters much worse, I decided to build it! But that is another story... (See Boating DIY: and Boating DIY Choice:)