CLYPEUS

[pipistrelle]

Since the modifications I'm making to CLYPEUS are more extreme than originally planned, I'm going to document them. Actual blog to follow & I'll add a link when I have one if anyone cares.

 

Backstory: I bought converted little Northwich CLYPEUS in December, following a very satisfactory survey and moved it to Brinklow for some repairs. The more major modifications I'm talking about here are because access to the wooden cabin conversion was through a half-height door and steep set of steps and my partner is 6'4" and I would like him to be able to live with me in relative comfort. Also -and I think it was commented on when the advert for the boat was posted on here- the diesel stove and water heater were set up so that two ugly flues were sticking out of the undercloth conversion. We're fixing both of these things, which hopefully will result in a nicer-looking and more functional boat. This is all a bit scary at the moment, but it's in the best hands for the job.

 

What I thought we were going to do: replace stove in backcabin, replace leaking windows, refit leaking bullseye, inset some lights into cabin conversion ceiling, adjust tiller angle/height, move some electrics from engine room, fit something to engine (JP2) to help start it (Dynastart or move compression levers to top)

 

What we are doing: removing deck between engine room and cabin conversion to hold floor, cut 12" off the cabin conversion (this will allow the engine to be removed if needed), move water tank to next to engine room bulkhead, fit full-height door, move diesel stove & gas water heater so the flues come out of the top plank, shift/cut down galley furniture to accommodate the shorter cabin, refloor living area with solid wood (it's mdf), fit more bookshelves!

[Nightwatch]

Sounds exciting, expensive alas rewarding.

[alan_fincher]

Welcome to the world of historic boat ownership.

 

"Clypeus" looks a wonderful project, and you really can't start with a better basis than a GUCCCo Yarwoods built boat, but I would of course say that, owning two of the things. The "Small Northwich" "Stars" are lovely things, and don't exist in huge numbers.

 

I must admit I have been tempted to do what you plan to do, and to record progress on "Flamingo", which we have owned for over a year, but where my eye problems and other self inflicted injuries have limited our progress more than we would have liked.

We did write some simple blog posts that tracked some progress, although I am not sure some ever got posted. You are prompting me to review that, and see if we can also spread some insight into taking this kind of thing on.

Additionally our other boat "Sickle" has now been identified as needing some hull work to put it back into good order, and again I will try and document some of this work. At the moment the biggest challenge has been to find a specialist yard that is able to do this work without too great a elay, but I'm hoping we have now solved that.

I'm very much looking forward to updates on "Clypeus", and, if its allowed, would love a guided tour some time. You are of course welcome to look "Flamingo" over at a convenient time - it may well make "Clypeus look an easy task by comparison (!)

[David Schweizer]

Pipistrelle

 

I knew Clypeus and her owners well when she was on the K&A. She was an open hulled working boat then and had recently been restored to remove the horrible mess that BW did to the hull when she was in Gloucester. Somewhere I have some photos of her, which I could probably scan and send to yopu if you let me have your email address. I also still have the shaped brass protection strips which were made to fit on the top bends, but never fitted.

 

I am particularly fond of the small Northwich boats, as I worked Pisces in the 1960's. One of the six boats, including Clypeus, brought down the K&A to Glocester before it was formally closed

Edited February 11, 2016 by David Schweizer

[pipistrelle]

Thanks for the kind replies. Haven't replied sooner as I was in the States for work and been on strong antihistamines since I got back - don't walk barefoot on the beach in California, people.

 

Nightwatch, yep. I can't wait for the expensive bit to be over and the rewarding bit to begin (well, okay, the rewarding bit began the first time we steered the boat!).

 

Alan, you are welcome to a tour when the work is done. And I hope you feel well enough to blog the work on Sickle. Having been on medication that has made me sleep for much of the past week, I can understand not having the energy to blog.

David, I'd love to see pictures if you can find them. What did BW do to the hull, out of curiosity? Our surveyor said it was in very good condition, so I'm curious.

 

Today's challenge is the stupid and boring one of sourcing some wooden flooring for the converted bit. I thought I had found some wooden removable floor tiles that seemed great but the company's inability to communicate combined with the high price of the things has made me think to look elsewhere. Why is it the most trivial things that seem to be the hardest to decide?

[David Schweizer]

Thanks for the kind replies. Haven't replied sooner as I was in the States for work and been on strong antihistamines since I got back - don't walk barefoot on the beach in California, people.

 

Nightwatch, yep. I can't wait for the expensive bit to be over and the rewarding bit to begin (well, okay, the rewarding bit began the first time we steered the boat!).

 

Alan, you are welcome to a tour when the work is done. And I hope you feel well enough to blog the work on Sickle. Having been on medication that has made me sleep for much of the past week, I can understand not having the energy to blog.

David, I'd love to see pictures if you can find them. What did BW do to the hull, out of curiosity? Our surveyor said it was in very good condition, so I'm curious.

 

Today's challenge is the stupid and boring one of sourcing some wooden flooring for the converted bit. I thought I had found some wooden removable floor tiles that seemed great but the company's inability to communicate combined with the high price of the things has made me think to look elsewhere. Why is it the most trivial things that seem to be the hardest to decide?

 

I will try and find the photos, I have a rough idea where they should be. If you know how to lift photos from the forum, I could paste them on here.

 

With regard to what BW did to Clypeus, have you measured her length? When Terry had her she was about 15" short, he told me that Clypeus was used basicly as a rubbish boat at Gloucester docks, and BW had welded hooks to the gunwales in order that she could be lifted out of the water by a Dock crane, The gunwales and adjacent hull sides got horribly miss shapen so the damaged section was cut out and the two sections re-joined, I believe by rivetting but am not sure.

Edited February 18, 2016 by David Schweizer

[alan_fincher]

With regard to what BW did to Clypeus, have you measured her length? When Terry had her she was about 15" short, he told me that Clypeus was used basicly as a rubbish boat at Gloucester docks, and BW had welded hooks to the gunwales in order that she could be lifted out of the water by a Dock crane, The gunwales and adjacent hull sides got horribly miss shapen so the damaged section was cut out and the two sections re-joined, I believe by rivetting but am not sure.

 

I'm not sure of the timescale being referred to here. but assuming we are maybe talking 1970s / 1980s work on what was basically a rubbish boat then I would have thought it very unlikely to be riveted.

 

Never say never, of course, but by this stage, I would have thought just about all work by BW "craftsmen" on contractors was very basic welding, with no great care about the appearance of the finished result.

 

If it has had part cut out in this way, I would expect a fairly obvious join, unless subsequent work has been done to make something done by BW look less obvious.

[pipistrelle]

David: Interesting indeed. I didn't see any evidence of such an obvious join -rivetted or not- when the boat was out of the water. The surveyor's measurement is 71'6", though whether that is the measurement, taken on the day or one assumed from the type of boat I'm not sure. He also commented on the straightness of the sides in general, but that could well be due to restoration work that was done to the hull. Perhaps I should try ringing the number on the side and see if Terry answers! I'll ask at Brinklow on Monday. They already gave me one picture of it as BW boat, just prior to restoration, but that's not terribly informative.

 

Also, am I right in thinking Terry got the conversion fitted fairly shortly after the original restoration was done? I have a briefcase of receipts dating this to 1996-8.

 

Alan: I *think* that the fix David refers to here would have been done during the restoration, not by BW. There's certainly no evidence of a welded join and there are rivets all over, so there could be a rivetted join which I didn't notice when the boat was out of the water.

[pete harrison]

 

I will try and find the photos, I have a rough idea where they should be. If you know how to lift photos from the forum, I could paste them on here.

 

With regard to what BW did to Clypeus, have you measured her length? When Terry had her she was about 15" short, he told me that Clypeus was used basicly as a rubbish boat at Gloucester docks, and BW had welded hooks to the gunwales in order that she could be lifted out of the water by a Dock crane, The gunwales and adjacent hull sides got horribly miss shapen so the damaged section was cut out and the two sections re-joined, I believe by rivetting but am not sure.

I photographed B6 (exCLYPEUS) on numerous occasions during the late 1980's and early 1990's prior to its sale in 1992 / 1993 as at that time I lived quite locally to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. I have no recollection of this boat being shortened, although 15 inches would be difficult to see.

 

Some of my photographs clearly show the lifting lugs, and about 8 inches back from the forward lifting lug is a steel strap on the outside of the hull that I suppose could indicate where the hull had been 'cut and shut'.

 

All of the time I knew this boat it had its original back cabin and engine room (extended pre October 1964 - I suspect this extension dates back to its use as a fire boat during the Second World War), a square sided fore cabin of about 10 feet in length and an open ended square sided cabin covering the centre 20 feet of the hold. Although B6 retained its rudder and rams head it was unpowered with its counter about 12 inches out of the water, and had been for several years. The fore end 'T' stud was missing and replaced by a 'cruciform' of scaffold tube dimensions and about 18 inches high. B6 was usually paired with the middle Northwich motor RADIANT B3.

 

Just for the record B6 was sold by British Waterways Board under the name of SALTLEY and was described as a butty (see Waterways World November 1992 page 40)

 

edit - tidy up and add a couple of minor details

Edited February 19, 2016 by pete harrison

[David Schweizer]

My knowledge of Clypeus dates from 1996 and any information I have was gathered from either Terry or other people around at the time. The (then) owner of Antlia was one person who knew about all the history of the six boats that were sent down the K&A to Gloucester I know the restoration was done by a well respected historical boat restoring outfit, and Warwickshire Flyboat comes to mind, if so, Rex, Simon and Steve at Brinklow will undoubtably recall the work being done. I would ask Terry if I knew where he was these days. he had a stone masonry company based in Bradford on Avon, but I have not seen his van around recently, so maybe he has moved on or away.

 

When I knew her she was an open hull working boat with a standard Yarwoods cabin and Engine room. I have found the photos of her and will post some of them as soon as I have got round to scanning them.

Edited February 19, 2016 by David Schweizer

[archie57]

Clypeus had the wooden bottom replaced in steel at Gloucester, and to do so they cut it in half to get it inside - the rejoining was not very good so Ian Kemp when working on it after being sold off shortened it slightly to get rid of the untidy bit!

[David Schweizer]

Ah, I got the story half wrong and half right, but still correct that she has been shortened.

 

Pipstrelle - I have remembered the name of Terry's masonary company, and they are still trading at a different address. i can let you have the contact details if you are interested.

[alan_fincher]

[tongue_in_cheek]

 

I'm wondering if Pipistrelle has a claim here against either the vendor or the surveyor.

 

Sold and surveyed as 71' 6" - actual length ????

 

Mind you it may now be very much the same length as those 2 pairs that Yarwoods built about a foot shorter for the Erewash!

 

[/tongue_in_cheek]

[pete harrison]

[tongue_in_cheek]

 

I'm wondering if Pipistrelle has a claim here against either the vendor or the surveyor.

 

Sold and surveyed as 71' 6" - actual length ????

 

[/tongue_in_cheek]

And if it is 15 inches shorter (as per Mr Schweizer) than it was when built then perhaps it now fits into the C. and R.T. licence dimensions of 67'3'' to 70'6'' instead of 70'7'' to 73'9.

 

Every penny counts

[David Schweizer]

Here are a few photos of Clypeus taken in 1997

 

 

Bradford Wharf

 

 

Near Avoncliffe

 

 

Near Avoncliffe

 

 

Strapped onto Ladywood, the K&A Trust Trip Boat, above Bradford lock. Who is that handsome chap smiling at the camera?

Edited February 20, 2016 by David Schweizer

[steamcompound]

National Historic Ships have her on the register as No 1611, engine built 1945, length as 69.97 feet (21.34 metres)>

[Wanted]

Is this Clypeus that was owned by I think a guy called Mike/Mic? New Zealander I think. Moored in Brentford on the Island?

 

Nearly looked into buying it at one point.. Lovely boat.

[Leisure boater]

My understanding is that when it was to be rebottomed it was cut in two and taken off the waterways to be done. The way it was cut removed one of the knees. Ian Kemp riveted in a new knee to replace the one cut out hence bein a bit shorter, he also removed the guard on the gunnel angle and the lifting straps and eyes. I think he did the back cabin as well. I have no idea what or Brinklow did to her. She is defiantly one of the more sound old boats about.

[pipistrelle]

Wow, amazing photos David! I don't think it's been repainted since then. Thanks so much.

 

Yes, this is the boat that was in Brentford. I never met the previous owner, but I think they moved to New Zealand so sounds like the same guy.

 

 

Pete & Leisure Boater, thanks for the info. Yes, it was B6 - I have one photo of that time from the guys at Brinklow.

 

I gutted the front of the living cabin last Monday. Pulled up all the damp mdf flooring and moved all the kitchen units around. Started dismantling the front bulkhead and deck in preparation for removing all of that. Next up is getting the fittings on the water tank removed and refitted so it can be flipped on its side in front of the engine room bulkhead. it's going to look amazing when it's done - I'm glad we're doing some of it, even if only the destructive bits.

[Leisure boater]

Ian Kemp may have some photo's from when he was working on her, might worth a call. He will certainly know what work he did.

[pipistrelle]

I might give him a call if I can't figure it out from documents/when I have a spare moment. That's a good idea.

 

Yesterday we went up to Brinklow again and removed even more crap from the boat. They had been busy and removed the mid-deck. My pictures are a bit rubbish, but you can sort of see that this mid-deck went across at gunnel height between the engine room and conversion, with a half-door that made access to the conversion tricky:

 

 

and now that deck has been removed:

 

 

The end goal is something like Steve Priest's Aquila, where you can see the hull sides and have a full-height door. I think this will look much more sympathetic than it does currently and am really glad we took the advice to go down this route. It certainly looks lovely on Aquila. I think it's nice to have a part of it look like an unconverted boat.

 

The water tank had come out. The plan is to upend it and have it against the engine room rear bulkhead. Initially we thought that we might need to remove the fittings and get those re-welded by a plastic welder, but thankfully not, as it already had extra fittings in the right places. The plan is to get a steel bulkhead added to the conversion and then wooden doors fitted (possibly reusing the existing door as the top of a stable door). It looks great (if building sites can look great) and we cleaned up the floor of the boat a bit - the rear deck had been leaking so there's some rust on the bottom which was scraped off. Way less than we removed from the bilges of Baseplate, my modern boat which is of an equivalent age. Thankfully the cloths extend over this to keep out rain, as there's no front on the converted part now!

 

We removed the wooden worktop from the kitchen, sanded and treated it and it looks like new. I spent most of yesterday scraping off layers of grease from it and lamenting the fact that whoever installed it a) installed it first then drilled a hole in it to feed the gas pipe through (meaning to remove it we had to cut the gas pipe) and had neglected to treat any bits of wood that were invisible (meaning one work top had got damp and rotted through). We also removed the mains-powered fridge and freezer which are being replaced with a smaller 12v single unit. There was a huge and extremely unsightly bundle of 240v electrics stuck to the engine room wall which have been removed and will end up in the conversion, out of sight and out of danger of tripping people up while cruising.

 

Next up is drilling holes for the new flues to go, but we're leaving that to the professionals. We may have a go at laying the floor, though.

 

Also four flatter windows should arrive next week to replace the leaky windows at the front of the boat. If these are a success, I shall be saving up for four similar ones for the rear of the boat, to replace the sticky-out Velux ones. And a new paint job is on the cards for the backcabin and engine room, once my wallet and sanity recover and I can decide how to paint it (keep it the same? or a traditional livery that it had at some point? or something else?).

Edited March 2, 2016 by pipistrelle

[IanR]

Hi Pipistrelle, we are in a similar situation to you although our hold isn't fitted out at all yet. We have six double glazed escape type windows under our cloths, the rear two we will be removing. Might they be of use?? They were fitted just before we bought the boat and are not required for our plans. I have no pictures of the widows themselves, just a pic of the cloths to show how little they stick out!! A google image search for Indus Too does show a pic of the steelwork and windows without the cloths. There are also two round, frosted, horizontally split windows which we are also taking out. Looking forward to more pics of your progress!!

 

Ian.

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by IanR

[pipistrelle]

Hi Ian, wish I'd seen your post sooner as just spent 8 additional weeks waiting for windows to turn up! Sadly they should arrive this week and are all paid for...

 

How's your fit-out going?

I have more pictures at last. Work is going well. Just waiting on window installation and gearbox parts now I think.

 

New full-height doors. These will be painted blue and yellow, I think, because the old doors looked nice blue and yellow and there's spare paint.

 

The flue for the diesel stove now goes out through the top plank. I think this looks fabulous and am extremely pleased with it.

 

Ditto for the gas water heater:

 

So no big flues sticking out through the cloths. And no tiny half-height door. The kitchen area has been reduced by half and in order to reposition the water tank, about 14" of the wooden cabin was chopped off and a new steel bulkhead welded in, but the boat actually feels more spacious.

 

Last one - the outside, last week, just to remind me what a beautiful boat she is (and that backcabin is so cosy, even without a stove).

 

I have no idea why all the pictures are sideways and can't see any way to fix this. Earning money to fix the boat is more important so...apologies.

Edited May 9, 2016 by pipistrelle

[archie57]

My neck hurts! Keep up the good work, it will be good when it's done!