Crick Boat Show has become a social event for us over the years. We spend most of the first day just saying hello to people we haven’t seen for a while. This year we also wanted to check out various things for Oleanna, having a lot of companies in one place takes a lot of miles travelling out of the equation.

Finesse Boats Limited
Last year we approached Tyler Wilson to build and fit out Oleanna for us. They had recently started fitting out boats, using the skills of Louis and Ricky (son and son in law of Jonathan). On our last meeting in Sheffield we were informed that Louis and Ricky were taking over the fit-out side of things under the name of Finesse Boats. We had a choice whether Oleanna would be one of the last Tyler Wilson Boats or one of the first Finesse Boats. The only difference would be in the boat builder name as the same people would be working on it either way and in the same workshops etc. The contract we’d discussed with Julia would also remain the same.
Quoting from their handbill
A newly formed collaboration of the finest boat builders in the industry. From paint to upholstery, steel to joinery, everything is contained on one site.

Finesse were being launched at the show, so we went along to say hello and see if any progress had happened on our build.

Ricky showed us a couple of photos of Oleanna in the paintshop. A photo can be seen on their facebook page. She was being sanded down after primer and undercoat. Next week they would start on the top coats. Once another boat is complete there will be room for Oleanna to move across and the fitout commence.
During the show we popped back to see them, asking dimensions of a couple of things and pointed them in the direction of a few stands that were relevant to our build.

Toilet Revolution
There were actually three stands at the show with composting toilets. One was purely for the Airhead, another was Ecotoilets (who we spent most of last winter trying to get in touch with to no avail). So we went to chat with Patrick from Toilet Revolution. On his stand was a Sun-Mar which was very impressive as the whole composting process takes place in the toilet. It is just a shame that the unit is so huge, it even needs a step to enable you to sit on the throne. He was very informative and sent us a link for plastic urine tanks which we would need. Oleanna will be a 24volt boat and the Separett Villa only comes as 12 volt. So either we will need to step the voltage down to 12 volts or fit a 24 volt fan.
Ricky popped along to see Patrick as he hasn’t fitted a composting toilet yet. Very handy to get both of them together and Ricky see the real thing.

Sofa Bed Barn
Michael at Sofa Bed Barn made us a sofa bed a couple of years ago for Lillyanne. We have been very happy with it, but sadly it won’t fit onto Oleanna as the layout is different. I had been in touch prior to the show to see if he would be able to make us a sofa that would also work as an occasional single bed with storage underneath.
Last year on his stand he had a new model sofa ‘Dalton’. This is a two seat sofa which pulls out and has a pouffe that adds to the end and would give you a four foot bed across your boat. This year he had brought a new version without arms. We chatted through at length what he’d be able to do for us and it looks like we have a solution. The Dalton without arms can be made to different dimensions as can the pouffe. So we can have a 2.5 seater sofa with a 2 ft square pouffe that can be pushed out of the way most of the time, but is the right size to make the sofa into a single bed when needed. Heights of the storage box below could be altered if we wanted it deeper, as can the overall height of the back. Once the fit out of Oleanna is progessing I’ll be able to get accurate measurements for height and the finished length. Then a decision on upholstery, whether to match the dinette or be different?
In the end we will have a bespoke sofa but based on a standard sofa, so hopefully not costing us an arm and leg.

Cratch and Pram Covers
We saw four companies about covers. Wilsons of Kinver, Kinver Canopies, Titan Boat Canopies and Canvasman. The prices that we were given as estimates ranged from £2000 to nearly £3000 plus vat. Ideally we’d like Dark Blue Acrylic covers with windows, which are backed in a paler colour, so that when all closed up it is still light in there. Some people think that the acrylic goes green in time, where as PVC doesn’t. But as I’ve found a scrub with some techwash gets ride of it and the canvas look is one that we prefer.

Freezers
Our original plan was to have a pull out freezer under the dinette seating as our shareboat did. But  height of the seat would be an issue for most freezers. The height we have to work with is around 1 ft. No-one at the show had one that low, even with the condensor at the back (Waeco) they are still too high. So we may need to rethink where it can go.

Crane or Boat Mover
Tuckey’s was there as they lift all the widebeams into the marina for the show. Mick had been introduced to Barry, so we went to chat with them about the price of transport and cranage to launch Oleanna at Crick.
The harbour master has said that he would find us two moorings side by side for a couple of weeks so that we could move from one boat to the other with ease. Then once Lillyanne was empty and had a thorough clean we’d put her on the market, possibly with ABNB or Rugby Boats.
Another option that we have is that Oleanna is launched in Sheffield, we move on board there and then move Lillyanne by water back south to sell. We could either do this ourselves or hire a boat mover to do it for us, this option is likely to be cheaper than Tuckey’s.

Solar Panels
There were some solar panels that received a good review in Waterways World a few months back. They are sold by Photonic Universe in Kent and they had a stall at the show. We will go for a 250 watt semi-flexible panel which seems to be the most powerful single semi-flexible panel available. We will have a 20 amp MPPT controler. This will enable us to fit another 250 watt panel if we find that one isn’t doing enough battery charging. We checked with the technical bod on the stall that a 20 amp controller can handle 500 watts at 24 volts. He confirmed that Mick’s technical training back in the 1970’s hadn’t been wasted and that W = V x I is still valid 40 years later!

Selling Lillyanne
When the time comes to sell Lillyanne we obviously want the best price for her. We can try selling her privately with an advert on apollo duck or go through a brokerage. Whilst still in Crick after the show we paid ABNB a visit. Lillyanne was bought through ABNB two years ago and they offer a 10% discount to previous customers. Her details were still on the computer from when we purchased her, so a few adjustments to the things that we have done and a new value was worked out. This was a nice surprise as she is worth the same or even more than we paid for her two years ago. Their valuation would of course be dependant on an inspection.
We’ll also be approaching Rugby Boats nearer the time to see what their brokerage fees are compared to ABNB.

A busy show for us. Not many boats looked at, although we did have a walk through a 45ft boat for sale at £49,999.99. Everything was very basic inside and with no heating you would need to spend money straight away on it.

Whilst we’ve been busy boating on the Thames our contract and schedules have been put together. These were emailed through to us on the 5th May. A couple of small amendments needed to be made so we called Julia and these were very quickly fixed and re-emailed.
The contract has had to be emailed as our address is only a contact one and it could take several weeks for post to be forwarded to us. Next was find someone to witness our signatures. However as soon as we were off the Thames we were wanting our cat to have some freedom when we moored up, this meant being away from other boaters especially dog owners.

But in the end we spotted a boat we’ve been playing leap frog with for several days in Banbury, so we pulled in and asked them and they obliged. Thank you! Now all we need is a post box!

Our first payment has also been made over the weekend, so the hull is now paid for.

Yesterday was a very wet day, so it was time to get our heads down on more research for the boat. There are still a few things to make final decisions on, which alternator, gas versus diesel central heating, how much more will plumbing a back boiler into the system be amongst others.

Some thought today went into where we would want sockets, lights, switches and charging points. The drawing equipment came out and a suggested plan was put together.
10 lighting circuits, 4 usb chargers, double sockets etc. We are also considering installing some CAT 5 cable so that our computers and media devices can be connected to a router on board instead of relying on wifi, which isn’t always good at the other end of the boat from our mifi.

A look through samples for furnishings, I’ve managed to eliminate quite a few, but the main fabric for the dinette isn’t quite what I hoped it would be, so some more samples are needed before we can make our final decision. Who knows they all might still change dependant on the dinette.

Yesterday we made the trip up to Sheffield to catch up with the build. NB Oleanna was sitting out in the yard with a 2 part epoxy blacking and then a primer coat to protect her from the elements. The shell is finished with all the little twiddly bits. Inside has been painted too to stop any rust and the next stage is for her to be painted, wooden battens added to the interior and then spray foamed.

It is maybe easiest to talk through the photos.

 Looking from the bow. the rubbing strakes follow round the curve of the bow. The base plate has been cut away to shape around the shape of the hull. Rings are visible where the bow fender will be attached.

There are no front doors as these will be made of hard wood and glazed.

The few scratches on the paint work of the bow are from the hull being moved around the yard on fork lifts and will be touched up.

Side view of the bow. You can see how the bow curves upwards. There is a silver coloured sacrificial anode towards the bottom of the hull. There are four of these in all. 2 either side of the bow and two either side of the stern. Next to the anode is the grill at the end of the bow thruster tube. This is to stop objects from being pulled into the propeller inside the tube and fowling the thruster.

This shows the top of the bow and the lid of the gas locker. These are the only fake rivets on Oleanna. The T stud is where the bow line will attach for mooring.

Below here there is space for two 13kg bottles of LPG which we will use to cook with and we will possibly have a gas central heating boiler too.

The cratch board will sit to the furthest right of the photograph, supported by a cross member to the roof of the boat, this will then have a cratch cover attached, covering the well deck.

Curves and mouldings to the steel work add extra interest. The moulding on the right gives water the chance to run off the roof at these points.

On either side of the well deck there is a locker with metal hinged lid. The ends nearest the bow doors have been scalloped so that the doors can open up fully. The hole seen at the bottom of the scallop is so that if water gets into the well deck it can drain back out into the canal. To the left in this photo you can just see the lid of the bowthruster locker. This will give access down to the motors etc, however the battery will be located in one of the side lockers.

This is looking from inside back through the bow door opening. You can see that the floor and it’s cross members have been sprayed black and that the hull sides have been sprayed grey for protection against rust. The cross members will have wooden battens added to them. Between the cross members on the floor is where the ballast will be positioned. The cabin sides will be sprayed with insulating foam stopping the chance of condensation on the inside of the hull.

The next few photos show the inside of the cabin, first looking back to the stern, then the bow. Holes in the ceiling are for the mushroom vents which help prevent us from suffocating when all the doors are closed. You can make out the inside of the stern doors, these are steel, but will be lined with wood.

Around the porthole closest to the bow extra uprights have been welded to the cabin side. These must be so that there are secure fixing points for the cupboards that will be in here.

The pipes coming out from the side of the cabin are for drains from appliances.

The furthest forward is for the washing machine which will be at Mick’s side of the bed, then the shower followed by the bathroom sink. These are all positioned above water level outside, otherwise they would let water in and we’d sink. The shower will require a gulper/pump to suck the water up and over the side.

Looking at the stern doors. Below them is what looks a bit like a letter box. However this will actually be a vent into the galley from the engine bay, this gives enough ventilation without having to have vents in your back doors. The rear cabin steps will sit here centrally.
The pipe coming through the rear bulk head is for cables, water pipes etc. There is a matching one on the other side too.

The low box/cheese wedge is the swim of the hull, this takes up quite a bit of space at the rear of the cabin and stops you from being able to use these areas for appliances.

Three of these are on the exterior gunnel sides and where you can attach fenders. However from past experience we would be very unlikely to attach them here. The temptation to cruise with your fenders down is too great and lifting them a bit of a phaff. This is also the most likely reason that we have over the last couple of years gained several fenders, around our prop, that have been lost by other boats in locks when their fenders were down.  We are more likely to attach fenders to the grab rail by using wooden hooks. These you can position where you need them and then just lift them out of the way completely. So why still have these? They will be very useful when we moor as we could use them to tie additional lines creating what are known as springs.  Having two lines going in opposite directions from the bow and stern mean that you are less likely to move in strong winds or when speeding boaters pass.

View down the starboard side, another boat in the way.

The port side showing the side hatch that will be opposite our dinette, window in the centre of photo will be the galley. The grill on the side of the boat is for ventilation into the engine.

Below the stern you can see the point where the swim has a hole for the prop shaft to come from inside, this will be where the propeller sits. Behind this is the rudder which pivots in a cup that is attached to the swim.

Today we’ve had three more photos from Tim of NB Oleanna being put onto a low loader to travel to Sheffield. The hull will be finished off and then all the fit out will begin.

Cabin sides and roof welded in place

The cabin sides and the roof have been welded into position. The rear rubbing strakes welded around the stern. The piece of box section across the back opening is what in the theatre world we’d call a travelling batten. As we are having a semi trad stern there will be no roof on this last section of cabin sides, so the batten is there to keep the structure in position as it is lifted onto the low loader.

Two fork lifts position NB Oleanna onto the lorry.

The shell lifted into the air whilst the lorry backs in under it.

Tim Tyler forwarded some more photos this morning of NB Oleanna up to the gunnels.

The stern

The rounded  section is the stern most of which you can see when a boat is in the water, Below where it comes to a point is called the swim. At the point is where the drive shaft comes through from the engine and turns the propeller. The two skimpy legs are just there to support the overhanging stern during construction. On the top edge there is a notch which is there to drain rainwater from the stern. On our current boat we don’t have one of these, rainwater has to drain down into a trough around the edge of the engine bay.

Engine Bay

This is a view looking from the other side of the stern. Nearest the camera is one end of the engine bay. Forward of this is the interior of the boat. At the bottom is the engine mount. To the right of this is the skin tank, this is used like a radiator in a car to cool the engine, the water itself is cooled as the tank is on the swim of the boat under the surface of the canal water.

Looking towards the bow

The sides of the hull are made up from two lengths of steel, you can see the weld line which is paler than the sides and stiffeners. An extra stiffener has been added to give more strength where the two sheets meet. The diagonals are used to hold the sides in position whilst they are welded to the base plate. They also help the hull keep it’s shape and strength until the cabin is fitted above.

The bow

Here you can clearly see how the bow baseplate curves upwards. The shaping of the bow has been spot welded into position.

Looking back towards the stern

This shows the stiffeners and diagonals well.

Today we got news that our shell was moved to Sheffield last week. Hopefully we’ll get more photos of her build through from Tim. In Sheffield she will have the finishing touches of the steelwork done, followed by all the technical stuff and fit out.
Best keep our cruising ahead of schedule so that we can head to Sheffield when needed, we have a deadline to get to London in two weeks.
More photos when we get them.

Today Tim Tyler has forwarded us some photos of the build. Sadly he has left his camera at the workshop, so we only have three photos so far. But more will follow.

The base plate is now rising from the floor. More photos would have been too much excitement for a Friday evening, we’ll wait for them patiently!

Nothing to report as yet. We had communication with Tim on Friday and the chaps have been concentrating on the Northwich hull. But he is hoping to make some progress on Oleanna next week.
We’re looking forward to some photos.

With a hire car we decided to have a look at a Bubble Stove. They are made at Harworth heating near Doncaster. Two stoves were being put together in the workshop that we could look at. Terry was very helpful.

Corner Bubble nearly complete

Deep firebox also has a fretwork grill at the front

Back boiler

A corner Bubble Stove with a back boiler can be pushed further into a corner of a boat as the back boiler goes around all the back and also extends over the top of the fire box, therefore absorbing much of the heat before it reaches bulkheads. These are built into the stove unlike other brands where they slot into the back. Vermiculite fire bricks surround the fire box, including to the front, where there is a deep lip which should stop hot coals from escaping onto the floor.

They originally designed the stove for Louis and Josha boat builders in Thorne.

Our problems with selecting a stove for Oleanna have been to do with the amount of space the stove needs, how far the BSS says it has to be from bulkheads, the size of hearth surrounding it, the double skin flue and then the lack of space ontop of the stove for kettle and cooking pots. If your stove is alight it is free cooking heat without extra moisture going into the air that LPG cookers give you.

Being a triangular top gives you space for two pans. Inside there is a stainless steel grate

The Bubble has two areas where you can put a kettle, but it seemed to have an up stand around most of the top, which would stop this being possible unless you had small pans. Terry showed us a stove with a cooking rail round it, which would prevent pots sliding off but enable them to overhang the top. We weren’t too keen on that solution as it would be in the way of our bathroom door. We discussed if it was possible not to have a rail at all and Terry said it was and it would not cost any extra, it may even cost less!

Fancy guard

The problem with the double skin flue, Terry has complained to BSS about it. He believes that a guard instead is a much safer and a better looking option. He showed us one which was quite fancy with fretwork and bits of brass, we’d want a plainer one, which is possible.

After turning down the idea of a Bubble Stove with an oven above it, too domineering for Oleanna, we came away quite happy with what we’d seen, only the price tag is quite a bit with a back boiler. Free heat from a stove isn’t quite so free after all!

A Josher and Northwich in the background.

Then we headed across country to Newcastle under Lyme to Tim Tylers workshop. The industrial estate is the same as many, lots of grey units that all look the same. Lucky for us the front doors were open and the bows of two boats were visible, we were in the right place.

The central weld

Mick stood 58ft 6 inches away

The Northwich and Josher were sat in different states of completeness leaving a gap to one side of the workshop. Tim told us that our steel had arrived this morning and the base plate had been laid. There she was 58ft 6in of 10mm steel on the floor. The base plate is made up of two sheets which had already been welded together on the top. At some point they will be raised off the ground and be welded underneath too, the underside will also receive a coat of blacking as a standard part of the build, not many builders do this.

Marking out of the stern and swim

Towards the back of the steel, templates were laid out and the stern curve had been marked out along with the swim. The curve of the swim extends to 13ft from the stern, so a bit further than we’d estimated when at Jonathan’s. We double checked that Tim knew the spec for the hull and he had received my back to front plans.

Tim’s workshop will build the majority of the shell leaving window cut outs and bulkheads until it is in Sheffield for finishing. He suggested that the hull would be more or less done in the next two weeks, this is quick compared to most builders, but it is what they do every day, they build a lot of boats!

Tata

NB Oleanna’s steel has come from Tata Steel and there will be around 10 tonnes in the hull. I doubt our one boat will make much difference to the British steel industry, but it’s a small help. Tyler Wilson gets the baseplate steel milled wider than most builders. This gives you what is known as a Birmingham square which means that the floor space in the cabin is wider and the sides of the hull can be upright instead of angled.

Piles of sides

Machined 90 degrees

Alongside our hull were stacks of sheet steel for the hull and cabin sides, some had a 90 deg angle already machined into them. Some of these will be Oleanna’s sides.

As the workshop carried on being very busy and noisy we chatted with Tim (well shouted at each other over the noise). He will send photos of the construction to keep us upto date with the build as the next time we see her it is likely to be in Sheffield.

Very exciting times!!

Well we thought we’d settled on our layout. A while ago we’d talked about having the stove on the port side of the boat, therefore less likelihood of the chimney being knocked off while cruising when coming across situations where you have to move to the right whilst passing other boats, over hanging trees, bridges. I’d put Oleanna’s stove on the starboard side. To move it, all we need to do is flip the boat over, a mirror image. So today the tracing paper plans have been rescanned, noted that they are meant to be back to front and sent on to Julia to forward on to the builders to save time.

NB Oleanna will start life at Tim Tyler’s boat yard in Newcastle-under-Lyme and then move to Sheffield to have the shell completed, Phone calls with Julia and Tim suggest that the baseplate will be laid next Monday or Tuesday, confirmation will be later this week.

Things are moving fast all of a sudden. Luckily my plans are good enough for the shell to be started, window positions etc whilst the CAD versions are worked on by someone else with the finer detail. They can flip the boat over on CAD easier than me!

Bubble Corner Stove

We may have found a stove that will fit and work for us. A Bubble Corner Stove with a back boiler can be fitted closer to bulk heads due to it’s wrap around water jacket. It is  a corner stove so the flue is central, but the sides hopefully extend far enough to put a kettle or cast iron pot on. I had a go at drawing up a 1:1 scale version on our table. The website gives you all sorts of dimensions, sadly not quite adding up to what appears in the drawings. But taking the smallest dimensions, adding an inch to the flue for a double skin, it is possible to fit our cooking pot on it with only a small overhang. Our only possible drawback is that it appears to have an up stand around it, which would mean getting much smaller pots to cook in and a new kettle. We have asked the questions and wait to hear back from them, Fingers crossed.

Research on the composting toilet is on going. Our friends Bridget and Storm have the model we are looking at and have very helpfully sent us photographs of their urine tank and storage for it. A 20 and 25 litre tank are available from the suppliers in England which are 140mm deep plus the screw cap. This may be possible to have under the floor, but the gauge wouldn’t be visible in this position.