NB kingfisher

I have hair envy

I only have hair memories.

Thanks, Looks a great frame.

Awesome thread, following with great interest. :)

👍

I didn’t realise that had sneaked in😂

I had a boat with one of those engines, I don’t know anything about engines but it looked very well built and did make a good noise. We didn’t have all the smart control panels though! The whole boat used to shake if you ever needed to use it to top the batteries up. Solar panels though and you won’t need to worry about that too much.

Boat looks great. Good luck with the project!

I so don’t miss the living in a part fitted out boat.
Mattress is flipped up and of sight, used to sit on the bags of parquet floor and cook pasta on the camping stove, had to eat it in bed when there was a cold snap and I’d not yet installed stove.

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I am hoping for a good summer as don’t want to install the stove and decide I want it moving 20cm or something afterwards.

Did you finish the boat?

Not quite! But I’m terrible for procrastination.

SABB engine was first boat.
Fit out boat was 2nd boat, a 10year old sail away that the original owner had never really started.

I’m not on it at the minute. I moved out of town for work, got a nice rural mooring. Was living the dream, had a lovely 3 mile rural tow path commute.
The job was bad though and I had a girlfriend in London so was always back staying with her.

No more girlfriend and a bit of work near the boat lined up from mid May so I’ll be back on it then which will be nice.

I think it was a cold week in October that caught me out.

You’ve got the whole summer ahead of you so you’ll be good.

Look forward to seeing it progress!!

Didn't you have a Mercian ? Stedlocks I mean.

Yes fella... still have. Vincitore special

the people at Watford (are you using P&S to dry dock the boat for survey?) are sound - there's a strange symbiotic relationship between P&S who run a proper boatyard, are pretty straightforward, do most things in advance over email and e-invoices, then there's Bridgewater Boats which, though they share the other half of the basin, are totally different. they just run their moorings, and iirc take cash or sometimes card, can be a little bit prickly so my advice is make sure you're on good terms with them if you moor there! be patient, predictable, and easy to work with (i'm sure you are). it's from them you'll maybe be able to cotch a mooring spot for an extra few weeks to do the work - that's what we did! - though current situation means not a lot of people are moving as frequently as usual so it might be a big congested. my friend who has lived on the gorgeous Fifty Seven (not for sale any more, but the only pics i could find of it) for many years said to me a couple of weeks ago lockdown means the Canal & River Trust don't want people to move until lockdown ends properly (whenever the heck that is). i'm well out of date now being a landlubber these days but whatever.

fwiw, i know rickmansworth/uxbridge/watford canals very well (we now actually live in watford so i can pop by and say hello when you're around!) as we spent a year just on that stretch, from hayes & harlington up to denham. it's lush and green (sometimes too lush and the weeds become immediate prop foul) and there's usually a lot of space. if you need anything or have questions about the area (eg the cafe in the rickmansworth aquadrome is a delight if you get there before the hordes of screaming kids, and sundays around 11am the old geezers have their weekly miniature (non-motor) yacht meeting and it's fantastic, highly recommend a watch) just give me a shout.

also, obv, subbed, really looking forward to seeing how this turns out! you've already won the boat game by having not just a bike (how the ruddy hell do people manage without a bike) but a cargo bike! i faffed about with a trailer for ages before getting an omnium. your life will be so much easier. good luck with the fit out! you're welcome to use our washing machine and have a cup of tea any time you're in watford

Yes, P+S for haul out. Most expensive option but approx. 6 weeks extra wait for anywhere else. Will be epic watching it coming out by crane anyway.

CC’ing is starting again from the 12th, with that counting as day 1 so should be a bit of movement happening soonish.

Found a local surveyor who knows the sellers friend (and the boat) and has owned a couple of Les Allen’s in the past. Offered to do me a ‘full survey’ at reduced cost as there’s ‘not that much to survey’ + spend a bit of time going through the boat with me and answering any questions I have re: fitout/equipment etc.

Thanks for the kind offer, will definitely take you up on that at some point ☺️

np, i can't remember his forum name but the v lovely christian d on here let me use his washing machine when our inverter broke in uxbridge (he lived over the road) AND told me the best place to get a chinese takeaway. the forum delivers :') <3

Interesting project! Perfect box shape to build a little house. How does it work with places to more? Are you planning in staying in a marina and use the shower and water there?

P&S did my blacking last year - they were very good. Unbelievably, they were the nearest place which could take a boat my size out of the water (9.5 x 70 ft), 2-3 days journey from Limehouse.

depends on whatever the survey comes back with really, once that is done will be able to come up with some kind of plan.

Ideally don’t want to moored in a marina any longer than absolutely necessary as just using up find I could be spending on fitting out.

If the survey is alright then I might employ a pro to install an instant water heater + the beginnings of the electrical system to save me the time I’ll need to figure it out, then get a gym (shower) membership until I get the bathroom in.

Okay! Ah I see you're gonna build a bathroom on the boat! Are there free spots you can moor when you're not in a marina? Just curious because I'm not from the UK

Permanent moorings aren't free, but if you're constantly on the move, with no fixed mooring home, then it's free, but you can only stop in one spot for a couple of days (usually).

14 days max. in one spot... being on the move creates some logistical problems in terms on transporting material etc. But I’m hoping a cargo bike and 18v tools can mitigate most of these.

There's also meant to be monitoring so you don't take the piss e.g. you and a mate swap places very couple of weeks. Don't know how well that is done. Also, central Ldn is a mission to find places, particularly in the summer when loads of boats migrate south. You have double parking through most of the central waterways. I never had the time to be able to consider continuous cruising, so just got a marina spot.

Yeah London is going to be a bit too hectic I think until the bulk of the work is done. I’ll be having a quiet life out in Hertfordshire for the summer. Handily a lot of transport in/out of London and as I’m currently working evenings will be travelling off peak so no bicycle related problems.

Depends on the site, some of the more popular/desirable/picturesque are 48hrs max (up here anyway, Cheshire). I was moored on the offside, on private farmland, electric hook up and water, £100/month.
Got a pal who's up at Stansted Abbots, lovely spot.