designerstuart

i found 6mm ply for a curved ceiling a bit thin with battens at 600mm centres - it bent nicely but bowed out between the battens. i ended up trying to stiffen it along the edges and fitted some wedges to avoid the ripple effect which worked okay in the end. if i did it again i'd provide more support for the edges (i had my lengths going longways, so 150mm gap either side) rather than bulk up the thickness.

anyone ever seen poles and / or boards mounted on one side?

wood saw worked fine for me - and masking tape was better than parcel tape because the foam stuck to it and so when you pull off the foam, the tape comes away too. the bits where we had missed tape were a proper pain - hope yours was taped! went round pulling off all the excess by hand and cutting back all the spare bits with the saw. no need for complicated tools IMO. it took about an hour to do the whole boat, ending up with about 2 cubic metres of waste. and several hoovers' worth of dust which is impossible to get rid of until all the foam is covered up. enjoy!

-silence-

well that's a happy story

don't think so - we left from greenham lock dry dock on saturday morning! Never Mind!

And the winner is........ Steilsteven with 24 hours we actually managed it in 3 days. we were going pretty quickly, and as Keith mentions, we used a bike to set the locks up. we didn't have much time so this tactic was well worth it. lovely trip though! we did newbury to marlow in one day, from about 8am to 9pm. there was quite a faff at a few locks around aldermaston with a lot of hire boats p1ssing everyone off. and we passed a sweetie boat there but no purchases made as the owners were not the typical sweetshop patrons - well grumpy! then marlow to pyrford the next day, from 10am to about 9pm. nice trip too. going uphill was quite a change and as OldGoat pointed out, we soon realised the importance of good lines at front and back. then last night we set off at 6pm and were moored up at our new home at 9pm. so 27 hours or or so total, but we did cain it i admit. thanks all!

thanks WJM, it looks like we posted at the same time and i missed your detailed reply i'll check that out thanks again

thanks for the pointers all. seven or eight days?! holy cow! i could walk it in 4! (were you talking about a return ticket? cos i am only going one way) did not know about the special key. thanks for that!

hi all just wondering if you have any tips, comments or whatever. i'll be taking INTERMEZZO on its first trip for many years to its new home in guildford this weekend. i've never been on a moving narrowboat before! (except the rocking of course) my girlfriend knows how to drive it, and our friendly mechanic is coming too. how long do you think it will take? points of interest along the way? the rapids thru reading look a bit wild to me! thanks stuart

we had a bit where wax oil had been applied and the spray foam did not stick to it at all. luckily only a small patch we'd missed when we were cleaning it all off.

in one sense i don't really understand this - don't most boats have less than 2" or 50mm insulation? and as they often use polystyrene or rockwool, which have lower insulation properties, would this not mean that all boats are insufficiently insulated? but then, i do understand this, seeing that houses built today by law must have something in the region of 270mm roof insulation - and they aren't built from steel!

our boat was left with the same side against the bank for its whole time there. the black was in much worse condition on that side.

really enjoying your blog, thanks for the effort. inspirational to watch you work. and i am pleased your build is moving along a little ahead of mine.... tiling lessons noted!

nice blog, thanks

By the way Biggles, i had your guys in to do the work. Excellent. very nice chaps and best price too. Nearly drank me out of tea though! Would certainly recommend CosyHome to anyone looking for a good job.

i like the idea

ohhhhh that's what coachlines are...... thanks all

hello people we're thinking of putting some lines on the outside of our boat and have seen that some use a tape sticker rather than painting. i have seen some stickies peeling off, but do understand the advantage of being able to peel off to repaint the sides rather than careful linework with a tiny brush. like the stickers? good suppliers? thank you!

excellent. thanks for the detail.

oh right, so the whale gulper will draw waste uphill to it, you say? so all i need is a pipe connecting the waste outlet and the pump which goes below my ply deck, and the pump will still do the biz? does this make it more likely to smell? and any special tips to avoid that orrible puddling in the tray you get? i suppose it's just when the pump is not strong enough? thanks all.

hi all is it normal to recess the whale gulper into the floor? i want to maximise headroom in the shower and wonder if a low-profile tray with the waste pipe below floor level going to a pump which is as low into the bilges as possible. problems / ideas / comments / suggestions?! cheers!

the calculator links are all expired and those tables look dull!

great thanks all - and thanks Paul for the link. now i'm confused: do you have fittings with 12v plugs on? is it just pumps etc, or would you put a 12v plug on certain household items insetad of 240v plugs? yes, i would only use the washing machine with the engine running, and probably more likely, only when hooked up.

yes sorry forgot to mention it's a live-aboard. thinking a standard 240v fridge would make better sense - would that pull too much if used off an inverter? we intend to have hookup but don't want the services to dictate how long we can put-put along the waterways for.