On Schedule !

Week 10

Sunday

2006 ended without a further trip to the boat. Much of the morning was spent catching up on things that hadn't been done in recent days because of visits to the boat and also in writing up the web page - a task that is normally done in the evening but was postponed yesterday because we were out socialising. The only other boat related task for the day was to work on the template for cutting the holes in the ceiling panels for the lights.

Monday

New Year's Day and what better way to welcome in the New Year than with a trip to the boat. Even though we'd seen the New Year in and not gotten home until just before 1am, we still woke up around 6.30am. We managed to stay in bed until eight o'clock but then decided to get some breakfast and get on with the day. Eventual arrival at the boat was just after 9.30am.

Another good way to start the New Year is to make a cup of tea as soon as you arrive! The vertically challenged fitter's mate - VCFM - had other commitments, so the fitter was there on his own, with no one to see how many times the kettle was put on.

The area was generally peaceful as it was New Year's Day, so quiet jobs were the order of the day to start with. With car unloaded and heater alight, the fitter busied himself on removing the throttle control panel to get access to the port side rear cabin wall. This is the temporary control panel that was fitted for the trip from the builders and is still used when the boat is moved around the boatyard. The throttle control and associated electrical panel will be fitted more permanently as part of the work in the engine room.

With the way now free to measure up - and remove the excesses of foam that couldn't easily have been removed before because the panel was in the way. it was a reasonably easy job to mark up the plywood for cutting. Even so, by the time that all measurements had been checked, it was still nearly an hour after arrival before we were in a position to start using the power tools. However, the place was still very quiet, so power tool work was postponed for a little while longer. Instead, the fitter turned his attention to the area under the fore deck.

The area under the fore deck will need a false floor between the front edge of the cabin floor and the rear face of the water tank. This floor should help to limit the movement of the tank in the event that the boat makes violent contact with anything like a lock gate. The floor will also provide some additional storage space that will be accessible by removing the step up from the cabin floor to the fore deck. In addition to providing general storage, the area behind the stove will be the home for the water pump and accumulator when we eventually get round to installing the plumbing.

Measuring up here wasn't a five minute job because all the items under the fore deck - mostly paint - had to be removed so that some accurate measurements could be taken. There isn't a great deal of space in this area and it isn't easy trying to read a tape measure through varifocal glasses when there is only just space to hold the tape measure. After several attempts the job was done and the measurements noted. The plan is to purchase some 18mm plywood for the false floor from a local DIY shop and get some suitable lengths of timber that will support the plywood at the same time. The timber will need to be cut to the right length and depth and this is best done at home. Hopefully the false floor will be installed by the end of the week.

By now it was late morning and judged to be late enough to start using power tools without waking too many people. Consequently, attention was turned to the rear wall panel and this was cut to approximate size and offered up for fit. Over the next thirty or so minutes the panel was gradually trimmed to size, something that is far easier to achieve by making an approximate cut and then trimming the various small areas to get a good fit. Once the panel was in place we were able to add the batten in the corner that would provide support to the rear most panel on the cabin side. All that now remained to be done was to produce and fit the aforesaid side panel.

This side panel needed to be cut from a full sheet as we hadn't any offcuts big enough. Although a full sheet is just about liftable by one person, there is a risk that the face will get damaged as it is placed on the sawhorses. Consequently, the fitter needed to summon some assistance to help move the sheet. But before he could get that far he had realised that the last but one panel on the cabin side needed to be lifted slightly at its back edge because the gap between the top of the panel and the underside of the roof looked like being too great for the normal trim to cover. Raising the back edge would leave a tapered gap between the front edge of the panel and the rear edge of the previous panel. We didn't want this, so the panel had to be removed and the front edge adjusted.

As if by magic, the area started to come to life at just this time so the fitter was able to call upon one of the other boaters to help remove the panel, wait while the panel was trimmed, help re-fit it and then help move the full sheet from which the back panel was to be cut. With the panel now re-fitted, the rear porthole cut-out needed to be adjusted. This is just possible with the panel in situ provided that only the screws at the top of the panel are fitted, allowing the bottom of the panel to hang slightly away from the cabin wall.

The panel was then fully re-secured after the aperture size had been adjusted and, with the time now after 1pm, lunch was taken. The afternoon was spent fitting the rear panel to the cabin side. The fitting was the easy part but it had to be marked up and cut first. The cabin roof slopes upward at the rear and the cabin side curves inward. Trying to work out a way to get accurate measurements took ages. Eventually the fitter realised that, because the rear cabin wall is vertical, the framing square and a steel ruler could be used to create a known datum point from which all measurements could be taken. From thereon the rest was reasonably straight forward and the panel was soon fitted.

One little job that had escaped our attention on Saturday was fixing the front starboard side panel to the batten that had been fixed to the front wall panel. We discovered that the batten was too far back when we came to fasten the panel to the batten, so the edge of the panel was marked on the front wall panel, the side panel was then removed and the batten re-located and, finally, the side panel re-fitted and secured to the batten.

It was now approaching four o'clock and time for another cup of tea. There was little else that could be achieved in the remaining time - we usually finish around 5pm if we're going home, so the workforce, all one of him, cleaned up while the tea brewed and loaded the car in between sips of tea. The fitter departed just before 4.30pm to attempt to fit a plug to a radio antenna that someone had lent him. At least now he should be able to have music while he works.

Tuesday

This was largely a non event. The work schedule had been planned around only one person being available for half a day due to a subsequent commitment. There was no point in dragging any of the fitter's mates over for such a short spell, and there was just about enough work for one person to do during the morning.

The first job was to call in at B & Q to purchase the plywood and supporting timber for the false floor under the fore deck. The opportunity was also taken to purchase a few of the cheaper tools that could then be left on the boat, rather than be brought home each night and returned the following visit. They're only a cheap hard point saw, a frame square and a steel metre rule. They will keep the pair of clamps that were recently purchased from Screwfix company overnight and save one journey between boat and car at the start and end of the day.

The car was unloaded on arrival at the boatyard and a little while was spent talking to friends who were returning to work after the holiday. With no VCFM to mind the kettle, an early cup of tea was taken before the fitter settled down to work. The first job was to remove everything from under the foredeck and see how much the water tank could be moved around. With no weather strips on the front door yet, the recent rain had got in and one of the boxes under the deck was soaking wet.

One of the jobs that needs to be done is to run the wiring for the bow thruster battery, even if we don't plan to fit the bow thruster until later. Once the false floor is fitted and the water tank is plumbed in it will be impossible to get to the wall beneath and between the fore deck and bow thruster locker to drill the relevant holes - the space in the locker isn't enough to get a drill in there. There's just about room now for a slim person to get alongside the water tank! Unfortunately, the fitter thinks he's got mild claustrophobia as he couldn't force himself to go into the space under the fore deck just to make sure that it was actually possible to get a drill and operator in there. Fortunately one or two other people have volunteered to do the drilling so there shouldn't be any problem.

Before we can drill the holes we need to establish the hole size. This is directly related to the cable size and we're not sure what size that should be, although we know that it has to be big! We hope to have ascertained the size by the end of the week.

Although we'd bought the components for the false floor, we couldn't even cut them to size as the bracing timber needs to be reduced in thickness slightly and this is best done at home.

The fitter then turned his attention to the radio and found that the it didn't work any better with the aerial that we'd been given - it's a fairly old radio and probably the external aerial socket is for short wave radio stations only. Nonetheless, he did find a place at the rear where the radio did work without having the doors open!

The next and final task for the day was to draw up a shopping list of the initial plumbing requirements for a shopping expedition to Braunston later in the week. The fitter enlisted the services of the site engineer for this purpose as the fitter had no idea of how narrowboat plumbing goes together. The fitter was given a quick session on plumbing fittings and the order in which they need to be fitted so that everything can be changed or serviced, if necessary, without the need to drain the water tank.

A late morning cup of tea, followed by some brief discussions about something not related to On Schedule ! and it was time to head home, in time for lunch. During the afternoon the false floor bracing timber was reduced to size and was now ready to go back to the boat.

Wednesday

A day away from the boat featuring a trip to a local sawmill to collect some Ash that we'll be trying out as trim. The Ash has been cut to a nominal 15mm x 40mm and requires to be planed and thicknessed to the required size, which we've yet to settle on. Each length is more than 2.4m long as there is some damage at one end and this will need to be cut off.

Later on all three family members took a trip to Braunston to purchase the plumbing fittings. Even if we don't get the holes drilled in the boat for the bow thruster charging cables, we can start to fit some of the plumbing fittings and, when that's gone as far as it can, there's still two ceiling panels to put up. Hopefully, by then, we'll have the holes drilled and the tank finally located so that the false floor can be fitted.

Thursday

Another early wake up and early breakfast but, amazingly, it wasn't much before nine when the fitter arrived at the boat. The usual selection of tools and all the purchases from the previous day were soon in the boat and the heater lit. With the VCFM absent again, the fitter managed to sneak another early morning cup of tea!

With liquid refreshment consumed, attention turned to the job in hand - marking the approximate position of the lights and vents on the ceiling panels. Our friend Dick was expected and, with two of us available, the plan was to cut and fit the remaining two ceiling panels and then return to all the other panels, one at a time and cut the relevant apertures. Dick's arrival coincided with the completion of the marking out of the previously fitted ceiling panels.

Both new panels had to be cut from full sheets, the last two that we had in stock. The first one was soon marked and cut to length. Then the position of the lights and the vent were marked. The holes for the lights were cut using a router, guide bush and a template. The lights that we're using have the wiring protruding from the side, necessitating a small recess being cut with a chisel in the circumference of the hole in the panel. Each hole was modified in this way and a light test fitted.

Attention was then turned to the vent. On reflection we probably should have offered the panel up and marked the position of the cut out - the join between the two panels bisects the position of the vent. Instead, we measured the position of the vent as accurately as we could and worked to those measurements. Unfortunately, we were a little adrift and had to adjust the hole size slightly once the panel had been fitted in place.

The second panel was measured, the light positions and the location of the other half of the vent hole marked and all cut. We were slightly concerned that the centre roof batten ended about 40cms before the rear hatchway. In addition, the middle battens on each side ended at the same place. However, each of these middle battens was replaced by a further batten positioned slightly nearer the outside edge of the roof. We didn't fancy the idea of fitting a centre batten extension and opted to see what happened when the panel was fitted in place. We also needed to trim back yet more foam so that our wiring did not stop the ceiling panel from fitting properly.

Regular readers will recall that we'd made a bit of a mess of one of the starboard cabin side panels and had been forced to replace it. We'd also had to replace a few other smaller panels for various reasons. Consequently, it came as a pleasant surprise when we realised that we still had enough panels to complete the cabin sides and ceiling panels without ordering any more sheets. Unfortunately, this euphoria didn't quite last because we made a complete mess of the last ceiling panel.

As indicated above, each of the light holes required a small recess, with that recess being made with a chisel. Because our second ceiling panel of the day had been cut to length using the circular saw, which is used with the panel face down to avoid the veneer being damaged, we cut all the light holes face down and added the recesses whilst the panel was still face down. Even though we were supporting the panel on the sawhorses and had a piece of scrap wood under the hole, the chisel managed to damage the veneer on each hole, something it hadn't done on the first panel of the day. Most of the damage would be covered by the light fitting fixing flange but some damage would still be visible. Blast!

The fitter wasn't too pleased about the damage but decided to live with it as there weren't any full sheets left to cut a replacement panel from. And then we offered the panel up. Disaster No. 2 struck, a much bigger disaster than the other one. The panel was too short - by about eight inches! We'd measured the space twice and made a note of the measurement - 2205mm. We'd transferred the measurement to the sheet and then adjusted it to give the position for securing the straight edge, against which the circular saw would run when cutting the sheet. Alas, the measurement that we transferred was 2005, rather than 2205mm! Even bigger blast!

We considered all the options and decided that if we attempted to use the panel as cut and then added a short strip to fill the gap, we'd need two pieces of trim in quick succession. This would look wrong. We had no option but to plan to replace the offending panel. In the meantime, we decided to continue with the defective panel to make sure that we could secure the panel satisfactorily without the centre batten to support it. With a bit of persuasion from us, a couple of extra fixing screws and the props, we got the desired contour for the panel and made the panel secure.

It is said that things happen in threes, and so it proved with this panel. If we were going to muck up a panel, we'd might as well make a proper mess of it! We mentioned earlier that the position of the battens at the back of the boat changed. We'd failed to take this into account when we marked and subsequently cut the hole positions for the lights. As a result, the rear two holes were positioned over the two moved battens, which meant that the light fittings wouldn't fit - unless we removed part of the battens. We didn't think it a wise idea to do this. Slightly less big blast! At least we'vd made all the mistakes on one sheet and each mistake made the others seem less severe.

Our final task for the day was to remove the third ceiling panel from the rear and mark this up accurately for holes for lights and for the vent that will be in the shower compartment. We checked and double checked all these measurements against the plan and the marks that we'd made originally on the ceiling, long before we'd started fitting the panels. We were working with the panel face up to make sure that we didn't damage the veneer when we used the chisel. With the time now very close to 5pm we decided to make a dash for home. We even left the sweeping up for the next visit.

Friday

Another trip to the boat without the VCFM but Dick was due to render a helping hand or two. As per usual, the fitter unloaded the car, putting everything onto the foredeck, before unlocking the boat and lighting the heater. On the way through the boat, entry to which is currently gained at the rear, the lights are plugged in and turned off. However, today the power went off within a few minutes of turning the lights on and stayed off for about two hours. It was then restored for a short while and then went off again for several minutes before it came back on again for the rest of the day. The problem wasn't just limited to the boatyard, the local area was also affected.

It was quite a while before the fitter awoke to the fact that he had a portable gas burner on the boat and could sneak an extra cup of tea, something that he often doesn't do when the VCFM is present. The fitter and Dick busied themselves while the power was off, trying to see if he could locate any Ash veneered plywood to avoid the need to order the replacement sheet - the boatyard have a few odd sheets of various materials. Unfortunately his quest was unsuccessful. With the exploration complete, they were just on the verge of packing up and going home when the power came back on.

We spent all the time when we had power working on the ceiling panels, using the router to cut the holes for the lights and the jigsaw to cut the holes for the vents. We measured and then checked the measurements at each stage and got the vent holes spot on. We think we achieved the same with the holes for the lights as well because we had wires to draw through the holes. However, and there's always something that doesn't quite go as planned, we made a bit of a hash of the Houdini hatch aperture.

In our usual manner, we deliberated and contemplated a number of options with regard to the size of the aperture based on different plans for fitting the trim. After much discussion we arrived at a plan and worked out all the relevant measurements. We then spent an equal amount of time trying to ensure that we got the positioning right, cross checking as we went along. We drew the outline on the panel and measured to the edges of the panel and checked these against the roof of the boat. Everything seemed to add up (or so we thought). We cut the light holes in the panel first and then cut the hatch aperture.

We then tempted fate by turning the cut-out piece through ninety degrees and found that it was too large in one direction and too short in the other. We still don't know how it happened, but we'd managed to cut one side of the opening 10mm too near the edge of the board. The air went blue and that had nothing to do with the temperature!

We spent the next ten minutes or so considering our options, one of which was to add another panel to the order when we had our next delivery. In the end we decided that we could disguise the error with trim and that's the way things were left.

We finished five panels and have another three to do, plus the one that we cut too short and which must await the arrival of our next order.

Saturday

All three family members and Dick went to the boat - in the rain. We mention this because most of our external fittings are still not properly seated, pending the external paint job. As a consequence there are a number of leaks from the roof area in the vicinity of the vents and the Houdini hatch. At times we wondered whether someone had taken the roof off.

Today's jobs were for the fitter and Dick to finish off cutting the holes in the remaining ceiling panels and for other two to fit the remaining supporting battens for the under the gunwhale service duct. Apart from seeming to get into each other's way a few times, the two teams worked well and had their respective tasks complete by mid afternoon. There were no more problems with holes in wrong places but the fitter didn't help things when he advised the other members of the family of the incorrect way to fit the initial service trough support batten. These battens have one edge chamfered, with the chamfered face going against the cabin side panel. One of the sides adjacent to the chamfered face is wider than the opposite side and the narrow face should face downwards. Unfortunately, the fitter initially said that the wider face should face downwards. Luckily, only one batten was put up the wrong way before the error was noticed.

There isn't a lot that can be said about either of today's tasks that hasn't already been said. The ceiling panels were finished a little before the last of the battens had been fitted so Dick and the fitter experimented with making one of the covers for the service duct. They used one of the offcuts from the full size 9mm sheets and cut it to size with a mix of both circular saw and jigsaw. Surprisingly, because he hadn't thought about it, the fitter discovered that the hull side and cabin side panels were not in fact parallel throughout their length. As a result, the plywood strip had to be shaped slightly to fit.

We had a slight break from our labours as we considered the location of the stove. We were hoping to be able to cut the hole for the flue while we had the front ceiling panel down and thus avoid the need to take the panel down again. The stove itself is currently at home, sitting on a landing halfway up the stairs. We talked over several placement options but decided that we really need the stove on the boat to get the position right. We also learnt that the roof mounted chimney flange needs to be bolted down and this is best done with the ceiling panel down, otherwise the hole in the ceiling panel needs to be enlarged to permit access to the fixing nuts and bolts.

We did have a further interlude. It will be remembered that we made a mess of the Houdini hatch aperture on Friday. This still riled the fitter who continued to keep looking at the opening. Eventually he took the square and found that the problem was worse than he originally thought. Besides being too large, the hole was too far over to one side. This was probably caused when the panel was turned over to be marked out prior to cutting. We re-measured the position of the aperture edges relative to the panel sides and without going into the mathematics of it all, decided to try turning the panel round. To our surprise, apart from having to re-locate the fixing holes, the aperture now lined up much better with the hatch - thank goodness.

The rain eased sufficiently when most of the planned work was complete for the fitter, who hadn't brought any waterproofs with him, to decide to move the boat under cover and out of the rain. The engine started first time (when the fitter remembered to use the heaters) and the boat was soon under cover. The last few yards coinciding with a return to heavy rain. This return to soggier conditions dampened the enthusiasm for any further work so the tools were packed up, the car loaded, the boat swept and locked and everyone went on their way home.

After a fairly hectic week of visits to the boat, next week promises to be a lot quieter, with no more than two visits due to a number of other commitments, one of which involves work on the domestic central heating and is liable to mean three January days without heat! If only the boat was fit to be lived on, we could have stayed on the boat and visited the house!

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