On Schedule !

The Build Starts

We made a couple of trips to the builder before we placed the order. We also sent them a number of e-mails and had a few telephone calls with them. However, it was the quality of what we saw when we went to see them that really impressed us. Indeed, on our first visit after placing the order, just eight days after building had started, we found that parts of the hull had already had their first protective coat of blacking. It is also possible to see a used tin of red oxide paint in some of the pictures and there is evidence in several of the pictures that the contents have been used extensively on the metal work. We wonder if this happens everywhere.

	Although we would have liked to have been present when the base plate - if that's the technical term - was laid down, that was not to be and our first visit to see the boat taking shape was eight days after the build had started. And that is when the pictures shown here were taken. The first picture shows the stern of a 2½ day old boat, the position our boat would have been had we visited the previous week.
	The next picture shows our boat from the front with our friend Tony looking inside. The cross supports will be removed before we take delivery - we won't be expecting our visitors to duck underneath as they move about inside the boat. There is another boat just visible to the right of our boat. The roof has been added and this is how our boat should look a week after our initial visit.
	Some people just can't resist having their picture taken! The third picture shows one of the team working on the boat as he posed for the camera. It is also clearly possible to see that the bow is well advanced - we daren't say that it was finished, even if it looked like it to an untrained eye. The tell tale signs of the red oxide primer are also clearly visible.
	We missed lunch time by about fifteen minutes when we visited and this limited the extent of the pictures that we could take - you don't want to be wandering around a building where metal moving, cutting and welding is taking place. Equally we didn't want to ask them to stop work in case that delayed the completion of the boat. Nonetheless we were allowed to take a couple of quick pictures of the stern during a brief pause in the metalworking. This picture is looking over the stern, towards the port side. The diesel tank is out of shot, beneath where the picture was taken from but the skin tank is just visible as is the part used tin of red oxide immediately above it.
	The final interior picture also shows the port side, but is taken looking over the starboard gunwale towards the stern. By this time we were running out of things to take pictures of! There is still some further steel work to be installed within the stern including the cross bracing at floor level.
	Our final picture on this page is a bit of a cheat. It shows the bow area of a completed boat and was taken because we wanted to show someone the fixings for the front button or fender. We also think it shows the quality of the product, which is another reason why we've included it.

We hope to make at least two more visits during the build phase to both see progress and to take some more pictures. Our final visit should be on the day that the boat is loaded onto a lorry for the short journey to the canal. We are hoping to take some still photographs and some video footage of the boat being loaded on to the lorry and then unloaded and placed in the canal. Shortly after, having loaded a few vital items on board and filled up with diesel, we plan to set off on the journey south. But more of that anon.

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