Hi there. So I'm just returning from a walk with Molly, along the Gloucester and
Sharpness Canal. I'm about half way down, south of Gloucester.
I'm absolutely staggered by the amount of subscribers and comments I'm getting
and what is it, just over a week? And one of those comments was from a guy called
John Carr, I think that was in the first episode, and he wanted me to talk all
about the stern of the boat, and what I liked, and what I didn't like, so I
thought let's discuss that today. So it's a semi cruiser stern, as you can see, it's
got masses of space at the back. A bit unusual, because normally, a semi-trad, has
sides up here, and its normally level with the roof. But I've got four lockers,
two each side. Obviously I would stand at the back using the tiller and steer the
boat, but it's got lots of space either side, so Molly sort of nips behind me
looks out at one side, and then nips behind me on the other side and looks
out the other side and she's just constantly doing that, and she stands on
the back, and looks at the back and she stands on the side and goes back and
forth all day long, making herself absolutely exhausted.
So why on earth this style of stern? The first thing is, is it was virtually in
the build stage anyway so I didn't really have very much choice. But I liked
the fact that it was nice and open, and Molly had the freedom to sort of move
about. And secondly, whenever I have friends over, it's nice for them to be
with me, sat on the stern as we all go along. The overall length from the rear
cabin bulkhead to the back of the stern is 2.7 meters, and the width from behind
the lockers to the sides, is 1.9 meters. To the port side is the control column with
a Vetus throttle lever, switches for horn, light, bilge pump and bow thruster. The
width between the lockers is 85 centimeters, and the black flooring can be
lifted in three separate stages, to gain access to the weed hatch, or engine bay.
I like the fact that the engine with all its oil and diesel
smells, are outside of the main cabin. I'm not so happy about the open side space on
top of the lockers though, I often place maps, cups of tea or my phone on these, to
use whilst navigating. All it would take is a Molly tail, or a bump, and stuff
could fall into the water. You're also wide opening to the elements,
it's okay when traveling on warm summer days, but when it's windy, wet, or cold, you
do feel it. I have two 72 centimeter deep lockers and as I've decided to have my
galley kitchen at the stern, it means I can use the starboard locker, to store my
gas bottles in, for my cooker. Liquefied petroleum gas, is pressurised as liquid
form, in a bottle. The standard size of bottles across the canal and river
network, is usually 13 kilograms. They're around 58 centimeters high, and my
stern lockers have been built so that they can be used as gas lockers. I've had my
cooker on board for around about two months now, but until last week I've
really struggled to actually get someone to do the install. Boats and gas, there's a
little bit of a grey area I'm finding. Lots of people will help, lots of other
boaters, marinas, boat yards, chandleries are all willing to help, and help me do the
install, but when you check the Gas Safety Register, They're either not qualified
at all, or they might be qualified for natural gas, instead of LPG gas. Now
apparently, there's quite a number of extra qualifications you need for LPG.
It's not just about the qualifications though, it's about the safety aspect.
Molly and I are living on-board Alice full-time, and can you imagine if I went
out for the day left Molly fast asleep on the floor,
remembering gas goes to the floor when it leaks, imagine coming home and
something happening to her, I'd be absolutely mortified. To prevent buildup
in the stern locker, should there be leaking gas, there are
two drain outlet holes built into its base. These need to be above the
waterline and they allow leaking gas to escape overboard.
The cooker I chose is made by Newworld. It's a middle of the price-range cooker,
and has four gas rings, a gas grill and gas oven.
This cooker is an LPG cooker and not an natural mains gas one. There are
significant differences between the gas from natural mains, and LPG. Pressure and
burning characteristics are different, and the cooker must be correctly
configured, or it could be quite dangerous.
The first things the engineers did, was to calculate the required thickness of
piping. You're allowed a maximum of two and a half millibar pressure drop across the
line, from the regulator to the appliance. My cooker has an output of
12.8 Kilowatts and after calculating distance, connectors, and the fact that I
have a bubble tester, the guys fitted 10 millimeter pipework.
They then drilled a hole in the cabin bulkhead into the gas locker, and fitted a connector.
The pipe was fitted using fixing clips and these should be no more than 150
millimeters from a joint connection. I'll be installing a further beam of wood to
support the vertical pipe, so a clip was attached for me to do that. As the cooker
is freestanding, it was ok for a shutoff valve to be fitted behind it.
Engineer: [Thank you Alan] Inside the locker the engineers installed a regulator, with a
flexible hose to connect to the bottle. The connection is a reverse thread, so
you need to go anti clockwise to tighten. The regulator has an overpressure
shutoff device, if there's an overpressure event, the button can be
pushed to reset it.
[Engineer:] Why am I in the locker? Just because, once I'm in and my mate Alan's
passing me, bits and pieces. Its just a bit easier, rather than having to work upside down.
And I, can get to the bulkhead a bit easier. We've got the internal pipework done, and
we've got, we're up to the bulkhead at the minute and we've just got to put your
Alde bubble tester in between the regulator and the bulkhead. Make a nice
job of the pipework, and then we're, ready to go, get the cooker fired up.
[Jono} I decided to include the Alde bubble tester, in the install. It provides a
rapid check of the system downstream of the tester. Inside the small visible
chamber is an amount of glycol liquid. A leak in the system, is positively indicated
by bubbles appearing in the glass chamber. To protect the LPG cylinders, I
had four chain loops cut and welded into the frame, inside the locker. To the outer
loops I've attached a long chain using D shackles. The middle two have loops with
hook and eye adjusters. Once the bottles are positioned into the locker,
the chains hold them in place, and the adjusters are tightened, securing them from
unintentional movement. The system was connected up and pressure tested, and at
last I could cook again. Next time I up the game a little and leave the River
Avon and travel down the tidal River Severn. Plus it's finally time for my
mother to see the boat for the first time. After having the greatest fears for
my new way of life afloat, what will she think? Don't forget to click the
Subscribe button to follow my journey. See you next time