Fit-out progress ... third instalment (March 2013)

The boatman's cabin starts to be built in March 2013 ... and just look how wonderful it is, a real traditional job.  A picture of the boat outside first ...

Fit-out progress ... second instalment (February 2013)

The lining out of the boat had commenced from February 2013 onwards, as shown in the following pictures ...

First photographs from the fit-out (December 2012)

The fit-out of the boat began in late December 2012 by Rob Bryan at his workshop at Ashby Boats on the Ashby Canal.  Here are some of the images.

The boat has arrived at the workshop, and this picture was taken on New Year's Eve, 2012.

The boat then progressed into the polytunnel, with these pictures taken on 12 January 2013, when battening-out had started ...

Journey from Norton Canes to Stoke Golding

The boat's steelwork was completed mid-December by Norton Canes, and we started an adventurous trip with the boat from NC to Stoke Golding, where it will be fitted out by Rob Bryan.  We had a false start as we had engine troubles an hour or two into the journey ... the engine stopped dead and I feared something major, but it transpired that the new gearbox output shaft that Dick had fitted was a tight fit, and had 'picked-up' a little on the shaft bringing the propshaft to a dead halt.  We were towed back to the yard at NC by Geoff and other kind souls who rescued us on that dark evening, for which we were very grateful.  Dick responded very quickly and removed the gearbox so that he could bed in the bearing fully, and the gearbox was back on the day after and we were ready to go.  Here are some pictures ...

The boat sails past Salford Junction under the M6

  

Finishing off ...

We visited the boat at the end of November to see the final finishing off ahead of the launch (weather permitting!) at the beginning of December ...

Here is a picture of the magnificent josher bow, which has now been painted in primer (yes, the green is not the final colour!)

A wonderful job has been done by Tony and Graham on the installation of the Kelvin, which looks fabulous now it's in position

Here's another picture of the engine in situ

The hatch lids and other hardware that will be put back on the boat before it's launched (being painted at the moment)

These are not wooden hatch lids ... just see the quality of the steel work  to create the scrolls on these side hatches

As the evenings have drawn in there has been quite a bit of late working - this is a lovely atmospheric shot of the boat, and note the extra sheeting that was added for the gritblasting and to help keep the temperature up for the paint curing

Steelwork finished ...

The boat's steelwork is now finished, and work remains on installation of the engine, with the details below recorded on 3 November 2012 ...

The beautiful shape of the Norton Canes anser pin ... look at the "nails", and on the dolly below  ...

The engine installation is well underway, and it looks fabulous now it's in situ in the boat ... and note the temporary bulkhead that has been put in place so that we can sail the boat around to the boat fitters.

Another work of art in the "swan's neck", or "ram's head" as some others refer to it.

Getting near to completion ...

We visited the yard at Norton Canes on 1 October 2012 and the following pictures show the progress so far, with the shell nearly complete but with quite a bit to do now on commissioning the engine, and lost of other jobs like temporarily fitting mushroom vents and portholes, and of course grit blasting.