So this is Alice, I am aware that I haven't really shown much of the
interior of the boat yet, but living on a boat while fitting it out, is quite a
challenge. And there was stuff everywhere, and to be completely honest, she was a
bit of a mess! I wanted a reverse flow layout meaning the galley kitchen's at
the stern, and the bedroom is at the bow. I didn't want the thought of friends and
family having to go through my bedroom to get to the interior. I've decided to
have two lines of cupboards in the galley, with nothing jutting out in the
middle. This I felt made the boat feel bigger, as you can clearly see right down
its centre.
To the port side, closest to the stern, I'll have a 60cm wide
standard cupboard. The boat's main power comes into the cabin through the
bulkhead, right at this point. So the first cupboard will house my
Victron inverter, galvanic isolator, RCD and MCB breakers. Basically everything
related to AC power. Directly above it, and above the work surface,
there'll be an extra deep, and extra tall wall cupboard. This will have everything
related to DC power, and include a secondary isolation switch, and terminals
for DC wiring throughout the boat. On the front of the wall cupboard, they'll be
the engines control panel, battery and fuel monitors, and a 10-way circuit
breaker panel. The next cupboard down the boat will be a 40cm width, then
two 60cm cupboards. Above the second one, this black composite sink
will be fitted. It’s already plumbed into the hull. Then the last item on this side
is a normal domestic washing machine. Over on the starboard side of the galley,
there's a 75 litre hot water calorifier. As you can see, the pipe works in a bit
of a mess, but that was done in a rush, so I could get my boiler up and running
back in February. Similar to the port side, there'll be a 40cm
cupboard, with a small amount of pipe work at the back of it.
With isolation taps, and an expansion vessel for the hot water.
Next is the cooker, this has already been installed, and you can see that in
Episode 7. {Thank you Alan} To the left of that is a standard 60cm
wide cupboard, with a cutlery drawer above it. Then on the end is the
fridge. All the cupboard doors are solid oak, and available to order from B&Q.
I chose these handles, as they didn't have anything to catch clothing
on, as I walk past, and are relatively unobtrusive, should I bump into them. I
wanted to gain as much width in the galley as possible, so I didn't fit the
cupboards within the boat lining. All there is, is the hull, insulation and then
a batten down the length of the boat. The back of the cupboard will fix to the
batten gaining precious centimetres, either side. Above the worktop on the
starboard side of the galley is the side hatch, once this has been lined and bolts
connected, this will be a nice feature whilst cooking. Both sides of the galley
kitchen will be around 2.8 metres in length, and will have a black matt
worktop.
I wanted to keep the living area of the boat as open as possible, and only wanted
freestanding furniture. I wanted a simple table and benches. This will allow me to
move the furniture around, if and when I get bored with its layout. Between these
two radiators, I'll have a flat-screen TV and Sky box. At the far end of the saloon
is the Morso stove. The main living area will be around 5 metres long.
I didn't want a corridor down the side of a bathroom, so to make best use of space,
I decided to have a walk-through bathroom. It'll have doors within each
bulkhead, at opposite sides of the boat. The corner quadrant shower forms one
half of the room. The toilet is a standard water-fed Thetford cassette
type. I have two cassettes, and with me living aboard in the depths of winter, I
still wanted the ability to empty the cassettes, even when there are troubles
moving the boat. The toilet is pretty much in the right position. To the right
of it will be a vanity basin, which will be housed in a cupboard that goes right
down to the floor. The toilet cassette can't be removed at the rear into the
saloon, as the fires in the way. So instead, I'll make it so it can be pulled
out into the bottom of the vanity unit. And there will be a small towel rail
below the gunnel. The bathroom is just under 2.2 metres in length.
Going through the final bulkhead door is the bedroom. The bed is a small double
size, and is fixed in place. It's raised quite high off the floor. There’s 81cm
of height under the bed. This gives a large storage area. To the far
starboard side there'll be a wardrobe, and below the bow door there will be two
wide steps. Within them there’ll be the water pumps and expansion vessel, which
have already been installed. To the port-side, there'll be a small side table.
There were six large escape windows in the galley and living area. They're all
made by Caldwells. There are two catches at the top of the window, which allow the
glass to slant inwards which then sit on hoppers. If required, I can simply lift
the glass up, and out altogether. In the bathroom and bedroom there are four 15
inch portholes. These have a single catch at the top, and again the glass can be
fully removed. The glass in the bathroom is frosted. In the heatwave last week, it
was great being able to fully remove the glass from the shaded side of the boat,
allowing lots of fresh cool air in. Talking of heat, the fact I hadn't lined
my stern hatch, stern doors, or side hatch, caused unwanted heat inside. The metal
got to some crazy high temperatures from the sun. You could feel the heat
radiating off them, just like a radiator. So well insulated doors, aren't just for
wintertime, they can help keep the interior, cool in the summer too. There
are a number of ways you can insulate the main cabin of a boat.
There’s expanded polystyrene. Polystyrene does cause issues with PVC electrical
wiring however. If cabling is not within conduit, the chemical reaction between
the polystyrene and the cable, can make the cables outer PVC go brittle. You
could use Thinsulate material. This is closed cell, and doesn't soak up water.
There's Rockwool, that is provided in rolls. This doesn't have as good a
thermal value, and care needs to be taken as it can act
like a wick, and soak up moisture. My boat was sprayed with Polyurethane Foam. This
is said to be the best way to insulate a boat. It is closed cell, so water or
moisture can't soak into it. It has no thermal breaks, meaning no condensation,
and is fire resistant. Saxon and Emma over on Narrowboat Zero Gravity, also have
spray foam, and there's has been applied with care. Their battens are not covered,
and there's minimal bubbling of the foam. It's made their life a lot easier, and
with an end of August move-aboard date, they've been really busy. They have a fab
YouTube channel, and I’ve included a link in the description. If I were to buy a Collingwood boat again, I would
definitely tell them not to spray foam it. Instead, I'd pay someone myself to do
it, and make sure I was there on the day of spraying, to keep an eye on things. To
be honest, there's been zero care or attention, to how it's been applied on my
boat. There've been no battens fitted below the gunnels at all,
there are several gaps in the insulation, and I'll need to ensure all of them are
filled with expanding foam, before I line the boat out. Even a small area like this,
can cause thermal break in the winter. With the warm air of the cabin,
condensing on the cold metal, creating endless condensation drips, and woodwork
staining. Instead of the foam being applied evenly,
there are huge bulges throughout. Although more foam is better than not
enough, I'm not happy with how it's been done,
and it's added weeks to my fit-out.
I've tried several methods to tackle the
excess foam. I've tried using a knife, this is okay for working around bits,
but very difficult to achieve a flat surface on long stretches. I tried a saw
blade, but this just created a lot of very fine, small foam fragments. When
living aboard at the same time, the last thing I want
was millions of bits everywhere. Poor Molly,
would look like a foam sheep by the end of it! It's too thick and solid to scrape off
by hand. So I've used a DeWALT multi-tool instead. It has an attachment at the
front that swivels back and forth. You can use it to saw, cut tiles, or act like
a scraper. I found this small scraper in a set of
different attachments, and it's proved very good at cutting a clean slice
behind the foam. I then angle the multi-tool, which pops the foam off.
Although I have lots of foam chunks to throw away, it's way better than millions
of very small bits. I'll need to remove all the foam from
the battens across the gunnels, and wooden cross straps, throughout the entire
ceiling. I've done it in the galley and the bathroom areas already, and it took
ages. I'll need wooden battens below the
gunnels to fix the lining. All the way down the boat there are welded angled
steel up-rights like this. Instead of removing foam from all of them, and
adding vertical battens, I'll remove a section, and batten
horizontally at specific levels. Before I put the battens on, I'll use insulation,
usually used on floors, to form a thermal break between the cold steel, and
the wood. I measured the depth of the angle, as I didn't want the risk of drilling
through the hull. I purchased two by one battens. These are normally roofing
battens, and measure one inch by two inches. I wanted to countersink the screw
heads into the batten slightly, so it provided a smooth surface for the lining.
I purchased these self drilling wing tip screws. They're 5cm long, and
have a counter head.
On the tip of the screw are two cutting angles, just like a drill. These cut and
drill into the steel. Above these are wings, these help to power through the
wood, making the hole in the wood slightly wider. Above is a normal screw
thread that will help to grip the screw, and cause a firm hold. You need to use a
power-tool to screw these in, and I used a DeWALT impact driver, as it has that
additional torque of power.
As I'm living aboard at the same time as fitting the boat out, it does take that
little bit longer, as you're constantly moving things out of the way. There is
lots to do, but I want to take my time, and not rush things.
Next time I carry on north of Worcester, on the River Severn, and head into Stourport
on Severn basin. Don't forget to click Subscribe if you want to follow my
journey, it doesn't cost anything, and it simply informs you, of new episodes. Click
the thumbs up if you like this episode, and until next time, see you later.