All about the Boat

Some 3 years ago I first researched this boat as a possibility to build my own boat,
Having been away from the sea for years, the need to be back on the water didnt go away.
I was lucky to have grown up on boats and skippered angling boats for most of my summer holidays.
Now, with 3 boys of my own, I want to enjoy it again and share with my boys as my Dad did with me.
The Euro 14 will be a perfect boat for us all and we will enjoy it for years to come.

The steel Kit will arrive late October 2007 and a projected launch in May 2009.
Having dealt with Bruce himself I was then passed on to the Holland base where the kit is being cut.
Dealing with Edgar, the process of making changes, specifying openings and stern gear was so easy to deal with. I thank him very much for all his efforts.


link to Actual boat specs.
http://www.bruceroberts.com/public/HTML/EURO14.htm

Read More..

Launch Day July 20 2011

The launch day and time were set for 7/20/11 at 5:00 pm at Teds house. Ted arranged for the Oakland Press to come with video and do a story on our boat builds...so we were committed. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I had a Board meeting to conduct on the night before and an un-completed boat. I got home about 10:00 pm and Vicky helped me finish up the cleat mountings, hatch installation, fuel tank tie-downs, fire extinquisher mounting and by 12:30 am, it was ready...I hoped.

Ted and friends helped with the launch as I have very little experience in trailer backing etc. So they put me in the cockpit and backed me in the water. It floats...drain plugs were checked more than once! I hadnt run the motor since last summer, so with a fresh tank of fuel, a choke and a few pulls it fired up. So that potential embassment was avoided.

I was idling and waiting for Ted to launch his Zip. After he was in the water and running, I had Vicky climb aboard and we were off for our first boat ride!


I went out in lake and opened her up. It seemed a little reluctant to come up on plane so by standing up and leaning forward it sped up and we were flying. The lake was a bit rough but the boat handled it better than Vicky, and I was smiling. Well have to get some pictures of the boat in motion another time, especially since after a couple of laps around the lake, the forward motion slowed and the motor sped up....not a good sign. I limped in to Teds dock and put it on a small hoist he had put in for me to use if needed. After we all had pizza, Ted and I took off the prop and confirmed that everything looks OK but another quick drive of the boat confirmed that I have a "spun" prop. As the boat started to come up on plane, the slip returned. Apparently the bronze splined bearing inside the prop slips under torque load and needs to be repaired. At least I got a lot of comments from people about how much they liked my boat and the classic motor! So Ted found a place that I can get it repaired while we head up north for a planned weekend and go look at other wooden boats.


Here is a picture of Ted and his wife Lynn in their Glen-L Zip which he completed and launched along with me. With a recent motor change at the end of his build, Ted has a very beautiful and nice running boat.

Read More..

Escape from the Basement The Sequel

Heres the moving crew: my son Bill, fellow boatbuilder Ted, me, friend Rick (who stopped in for a visit from out of town and got roped into this) and my daughters boyfriend Brett.

After numerous inquiries about whether I was sure this boat would be able to be taken out of the basement, I was no longer sure. After some discussions with my friend Ted, the only sure way to know was to take the boat out of the basement. Since I didnt want to move it to the garage yet and lose my garage for the winter, the plan was to bring it up and take it back down. At this stage of the build, the boat does not have decking and is easier to handle and at least 30 pounds lighter than it will be finished. The back of the boat weighs in at 120 lb. and the front 82 lb. for a total of 202 lbs. at this point. The problem area is at the top of the stairs where the kitchen starts about 4 from the door opening. You can see this angled cupboard that is protected by a movers blanket. My mock-up done before I started the boat construction made it out OK, so now it was time for the real thing.

Since I have a buddy in the tape business, I was able to procure a roll of tape used to protect painted surfaces. I covered the sides of the boat with the tape which afforded some protection without any bulk.

It was time to move the boat to the base of the stairwell. This went fairly easily, but it does take a bit of muscle power to get the boat on its side and ready for the launch up the stairwell.

Then it was up into the stairway keeping the transom low to avoid hitting the ceiling as the boat started the journey up.

The boat emerged out of the top of the stairs and made it into the kitchen! Just like I planned it....never a doubt.

Then just for more enjoyment, the moving crew reversed the process and put the boat back into the basement so it can be made heavier and more awkward for the final trip.

Now when someone asks "Will it make it out of the basement?" I can honestly state that it already did.

BTW, this trial also proved that I cannot build a larger boat in my basement - it is rather close to NOT making it out.

Read More..

Down The Tubes

Ive decided to totally replace the flexible rubber sanitary hose because of the smell it was leaching.  I was going to just replace the long run in the saloon and kitchen but decided in for a penny etc.

Initially I thought this would be a complete nightmare, but a bit of thinking about it and a plan came together.  

The worst part was drilling a new 2" hole in the rear bulkhead.  This of course was in a very awkward position and took about an hour as I had to keep resting because of the horrible position I had to get in made me all hurty.  I lost a bit of knuckle skin in the process of course.  I wasnt able to use the original hole as I wanted to maintain the current system until I was ready to chop it out as I had no idea how it would go and I wouldnt be able to re-fit the flexible one.

A week or 2 ago I removed a bathroom cabinet and a section of wall to gain access to part of the system. Link here.

One of the main problems was going to be turning the corner to the right about 4" above where the vertical tube disappears.  I was going to simply draw the tube back and wrap it in aluminum tape to add another barrier which was suggested on the canal forum, then connect either side, Instead as I drew it back and forth I realised I could get a new piece of plastic sanitary hose round the bend.  I already had a piece of this in the system near the toilet and this hadnt developed any smell.  Indeed even when this 9" bit was removed after the previous tube purging of a dozen or so fresh water only flushes there was no smell even from the inside of the tube.

I also had to cut a 6" hole in the electric cabinet in kitchen to get my hand in to guide the the new plastic tube through the bulkhead and its onward journey.  In doing so I shorted the Cat5 cable to the inverter against a mains wire and have damaged my inverter network bus, PC/USB interface unit and the remote panel, 1 Cat5 cable and 3 mains cables.  The cables were easily repaired as all of them were only slightly nicked, but just enough to short across the cutter :-(

Similar to this 

The new pipe was easily installed from the toilet all the way to the tank.  The whole system was replace in about 4 hours. Its also now easy to inspect, remove and service and only has about 2 of flexible plastic pipe throughout.

This is the only photo I took

I withdrew the old "No Smell" tube which stunk and put it outside.  To my surprise there was a lot of fine bits of lime scale grit about the size of large tea leaves inside the tube which were brown like teas leaves when wet but curiously almost white when dry.  These didnt smell at all when dry.

Next morning I noticed the smell in the saloon had completely gone and the back canopy area was where the pipe passes under the floor was also smell free.  Long may it remain.

Total cost of the replacement tube and fittings cost about £70, damage to the inverter and accessories?  Ill let you know.  

Read More..

Whats the Point

After getting the rub strips on the splash rails, I had some short pieces of rub strip that I could experiment with bending to fit the bow of the boat. I traced the bow of the boat onto a 2x6 and then made the curve a bit more acute and cut it out on the band-saw. I sawed a shallow groove into the middle of the edge to align the rub strip, screwed one side down and then bent it around the corner. It bent OK, but with the spring back, it didnt fit the boat at all.

So I went to newly concocted Plan B, which was using a 90 degree corner form with a radius to match the bow point. With this set up, the rub strip was bent a bit too much, but with a pipe clamp turned into a pusher, I pushed the sucker into place. Then marked the screw holes with an awl, drilled pilot holes and screwed it in place. Then rest of the side rub strips followed....albeit it slowly...one hole at a time. Each side was done with two 6 pieces as I was too cheap to pay the ridiculous shipping costs of 12 pieces. In the end, it all worked out as it would have been nearly impossible to handle 12 pieces and do the finesse work at the ends.

The end at the transom was finished with a formed end like the splash rails. I think I may add another screw hole about an inch from the aft end as there about 3" of rub strip past the last screw and it might be subject to getting caught up on something and bent. I couldnt be happier with the look of the rub strips. All my worry beads about the look at the bow, the joint fits, and end treatment have been taken care of.

Read More..

Fundamentals of Model Boat Building Should be on Your Holiday Shopping List

Do you have a tinkerer? Someone that wants to make that model in the closet, but theyve become frustrated? Do you have a child with artistic promise who could use something to help them focus their abilities? Do you wonder how a soon-to-be retiree is going to manage without going to work every day? Do you know a fantastic model maker who is looking for quality books that have information that they can really use? Do you know a boater that needs something to do this winter? Are you looking for a good book to read? Would you like to fill out that shopping list with something inexpensive?

 

You ought to take a serious look at “Fundamentals of Model Boat Building” by master model makers John Into and Nancy Price. Here are some reasons why...

Do you have a tinkerer? Making a model of the “Annie Buck”, a real Chesapeake Bay workboat is sure to make them very happy. Especially because the photographic instructions are clear and easy to follow.

Someone that wants to make that model in the closet, but theyve become frustrated? “Fundamentals of Model Boat Building” provides all of the information necessary to beat that frustration and make model kit building enjoyable again.

Do you have a child with artistic promise who could use something to help them focus their abilities?“Fundamentals of Model Boat Building” not only teaches techniques, theories, how to see a thing and make a 3D replica of it, but how to collect information, organize it, come up with a plan of action and how to turn that plan into reality. It is a book that will continue to provide interest as they grow.

 

Do you wonder how a soon-to-be retiree is going to manage without going to work every day?

 “Fundamentals of Model Boat Building” teaches the art of “scratch-building”. Its readers learn how to see something that they choose and turn it into a model. Scratch-building has no limits. Easy to read and understand, the book is also thorough and thought provoking, leading to an avocation that is both challenging and fulfilling.

Do you know a fantastic model maker who is looking for quality books that have information that they can really use? Professional and experienced amateur model makers have praised this book for covering information that model makers usually learn the hard way, sometimes incompletely, by trial and error. Although the book is clear enough to be understood by a novice, it is presented in logical sequence and provides advanced information about materials, tools, special measuring tools and techniques, substitute materials, how to carve wood, how to draw basic plans, how to work with lines drawings, understanding offsets tables, how to measure a boat, understanding different types of construction design and much more.

Do you know a boater that needs something to do this winter? Boat lovers will find lots of information about boat design, including information about displacement hulls and planing hulls. A boater can use the 5 categories for differentiating boats from one another and test their knowledge regarding structural and measuring design features that can be applied to any boat. For example: “What is deadrise?”

Are you looking for a really good book to read? This is a “coffee table quality” book. There are stories about boats, the people that use them, what they do, how they do it, where they do it and how these elements are important to why a boat looks and performs that way that it does. What models are, how they are used in every area of life, some history of model-making, how models differ in construction methods and display types – these are some of the things covered in surprising detail. Several people with no previous interest in either boats or model making have been happily surprised at having found a unique book that is not only informative, but entertaining.

Fundamentals of Model Boat Building(ISBN-9780764331053) is a hard-cover book published by Schiffer Books, LTD. List price $34.99. It has160 pages with 264 photos and 94 drawings, all in high color, on fine paper. It has received numerous excellent reviews from magazines, blogs and readers. Available world-wide -It is not currently available for e-books.

To see some reviews and to find out where you can get your copy, please go to

 

http://intothings.com/fundamentals.html

 

For an extra special gift, you can also get a copy of Fundamentals of Model Boat Building

personally autographed by authors John Into and Nancy Price

please call 410-745-5954.

Read More..

Ceiling Lighting

This week so far has been about putting up the ceiling and installing and connecting the lighting.

You need to remember here that as I said way back, "I dont do wood".  I previously used laminate flooring to do the roof and walls of my narrowboat.  Armed with the success of this I decided early on that I would again use laminate flooring for the ceiling.  In my previous NB I used it crosswise.

Like this

But the design I want to use on the widebeam is like this.

With the use of a very realistic textured oak effect laminate this is how its turned out.

It looks very real

Of course flooring laminate isnt designed to be fixed to a ceiling.  The main problem is getting it to stay in place and getting it all to click together so it has to be done one strip at a time waiting for the adhesive to go off before the next strip can be put up.  Here is a bit of time lapse of the process.

 

Double click for full screen

The lighting used is 12v 60 LED warm white GU10 equivalents.  These bulbs really are as effective as the 50w halogen originals, but with less than 1/16th of the current consumption.  The lounge area is lit by 12 lights which means the whole area is lit for less power than 1 x 240v 50w halogen bulb.

Tomorrow is going to be a big tidy up day.  :-(     but mum is coming round so I think she will be deployed on the broom :-)

Read More..