Launched, and home already... :)

Erm, yup, bit short of posts on what's been a very busy couple of weeks! 

I've a load of photos to upload, covering the bit of work pre-launch, the launch itself, our trip to sea, and then our big trip home. I'll get working on it very soon, so apologies for the absence.

It was a fantastic trip, and she's a great ship. She covered 175 miles, 66 locks, three rivers and a bit of sea in around 7.5 days, with no significant problems at all.

That said, I never want to see a ballast brick again. ;)

In other news, after the mysterious disappearance of one of my other two boating blogs, the NBCreamcheese one, I've registered a new location for it at http://nbcreamcheeseblog.blogspot.co.uk/ and with any luck, I'll have the content uploaded again from the old one sometime soon.

Righty, more to come on the big trip in the next few days. I'm in and out of hospital at the moment, so finding time and energy is proving a bit tricky!

Anyhoo, laters, as they say. ;)

PC

Layouts, rooms and dimensions...

I've been amending the planned CAD layout for Instigator to take into account the larger space the engine has taken up compared to what I'd originally guessed.

It's meant shrinking a few things and moving stuff around, but I think it'll work as it stands.

It's a fairly boring reverse hire-boat layout I guess, but that's what I want for this boat - it's not a showboat with wasted space for the sake of looking good. :)

Here's a linky to a proper size version... Boat layout piccy

PC

Painted, finished (ish) and time to pay the bill...

Been up to the yard today, to sign-off the build of Instigator... :)

She's looking cracking in a coat of the Signal Blue, as well as two-pack epoxy blacking. They did have a bit of a mare with the paint, believed to be caused by being sent the wrong hardener. It's led to a few runs and a bit of an iffy finish in places, but at the price they've charged me for it, I can't complain - it's only supposed to be a holding coat to keep it rust-free before I can get it refinished properly. That can wait until next year now, unlike if it were just in primer.

I've also been given the build manual for the boat, which I'll need for the RCD if I decide to comply with it. All exciting stuff.

The launch date has been set for 8th May - just after the May bank holiday. Gives us something to work towards, in a slightly scary way! :) 

My poor car dealt with the 500kg load in it, just about, and that's now been offloaded into storage with the boat until launch date. Half of that weight was made up of the batteries and cable! :)

So, some piccies from today;

 Prop is on and sterngear all sorted... Love them or hate them, it's a water-lubricated greaseless gland! :) 

Almost a shame to see the shiny stainless bits covered up, may strip them back during the final paint finish, we'll see! The eyes are on for fender fixing too, just need to put the fuel filler in next weekend and we can commission the engine. 

Looking quite shiny, despite the paint problems - I'm pleased with the colour! :) 

The floor inside has been painted in two-pack epoxy too. Nice and tidy. 

PC

Progress and disappointment - so close and yet so far!

So, some highs and lows...

Jo and I went up on Easter Monday to have a gander at progress. They seemed to have got a huge amount done in the week prior, with the boat pretty much finished apart from the final details, they'd even battened and spray-foamed it.

We'd agreed for tomorrow to be the sign-off day, where we'd commission the engine, get the electrics sorted out, and generally do handover tasks - and critically for all of us, pay the bill!

Sadly, they're a couple of days behind schedule, and the painting isn't quite finished. I got a phone call at 7:30 or so this eve to let me know the boat wasn't ready, and due to the wet paint, I couldn't easily lug kit onboard. I was left with the choice of waiting 'till next weekend, which would be a pain as I'd loaded the car up with around 500kg of stuff, and arranged for Ellie-sitting too; or to go up tomorrow to inspect and sign off as much as possible, and drop all the kit off in advance.

I've opted to go up tomorrow anyway, do the sign-off and drop all the kit off - it'll save it hanging around here and should allow me to settle the handover balance with them, if it's all okay.

One useful thing that I've managed to organise is to receive the AnnexIIIa from the builder, and send it off to BW with the licence application. Slightly shocked at how much more the thing is for its canal 'road tax' than the other shorter two boats, but hey! It does mean that it's now insured, and that I've had to pick a name! I've gone with Jo's original magic suggestion of Instigator, and hence, NBInstigator, she is... :)

In the mean time, the following piccies are from last Monday's visit...

It's looking quite long inside! Nice job of the battening and framing - apparently their foam contractor does all the cutting back, that's a good blag if you can get it! :) 

The side doors are great - I'm really looking forward to the boat being finished if only for this one reason. I've been jealous of friends' boats with them for ages, lovely when the weather's nice to be able to have a proper open view on the water. 

One of the two porthole cutouts - I'm not a fan of them in general, but too many bus windows seemed a bit monotonous... 

Jo guarding the new engine! The stern gear was still to go in at this point, and there was work to do with the diesel tank, but it's getting there. Bit bigger than I expected! :) 

View out of the stern - stainless tiller too, very tidy. This becomes the engine room space / inside shed, if you like... ;) 

Space under the bow deck, there's a welded polycarbonate tank to go in here... I'd have been happy with an integral to be honest, but was talked into it... 

Nice, long bow deck, as requested - at a sensible height too, should be good for perching on the sides! 

Gas locker detail - I'm really impressed with the attention to detail that's gone into the fabrication of these parts, and in the effort tidying and linishing. Looking really good I think. 

Blimey, looks a long way down to the stern! Straight as anything though! :) 

It's not any smaller on the inside! 

I was caught out sitting down doing nothing! :) 

Stainless tiller and bollards - I'm keeping the full length and will fabricate an extension setup when I get a feel for how long it needs to be. 

NBInstigator, as she looked on Monday! Exciting stuff! 

Anyhoo, I should have more piccies of a hopefully nigh-on-finished boat by the end of tomorrow!

PC

Boat3 - nearly finished! Eek! :)

Oooh, it's getting a bit scary! 

NBBoat3 is nearly finished. The following piccies arrived today, and they've again made a huge amount of progress in a week. 

I've also confirmed the final bill, as well as some details including fender eyes, doors and the colour. Have a look at the CavEmp blog to see what the Ral5005 blue looks like!  ( http://www.greenferret.net/blog/  )

I'm getting a little concerned, partly as my crew for the trip back, Jo, is off on holiday for a few weeks and I don't want to think about single-handing her back, and also my brain has been in CavEmp mode for the last few weeks and I've almost forgotten about Boat3! :) 

Anyhoo, hopefully if they can't store her for a couple of weeks, I'll be able to find a paid-for mooring in Boston where someone can keep an eye on her until Jo and I can get up there and crew her back. That'll be an exciting trip - I'm looking forward to it with a certain amount of trepidation! :) 

So, a few piccies to look at:

You can see that not only have they done the window cutouts, they've also got stuck into battening the boat as well, in preparation for sprayfoaming soon... 

Looking nice and straight down the sides - just the right amount of tumblehome I reckon. 

Stern looking tidy too - I'm quite looking forward to owning a trad for a change after two cruiser-sterned boats... 

There's a porthole to go in the gap where there're no windows below, with a matching pair of side doors on the opposite side... 

At the helm here sometime soon... Well, if f a rudder and tiller appears... ;) 

Great eh? And scary, don't forget the scary...

PC

A roof! And very quickly too! :)

Yup, NBBoat3 now has a roof and cabin sides...

This seems to have gone up very quickly  indeed and is looking fantastic. I'm really impressed.

I'll let the piccies speak for themselves! :)

At this rate, the boat is going to be finished remarkably soon! Quite scary! We're still working on finishing CavEmp for sale too, which is occupying a lot of time and brainpower, and hasn't left a lot spare for worrying about Boat3's completion... :)

I'm really impressed with the quality of the build and the fabrication. She's looking like quite a big ship though! :)

Anyhoo, fast and exciting... ;)

PC

Ennin Good...

Exciting stuff, the engine has arrived and is going in...

This is a Barras Shire 45, fashionable overpowered but should be quite a change from the two Lister ST2 in Creamcheese and Cavemp. I'm expecting peace and quiet.

The fabrication quality looks good still and you can see the skin tank is in as well as the sterngear hole...

:)

PC