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October 2005
Archive News
Did I say what I love about England? Oh yes, that's right - NOTHING! When oh when will it stop frickin raining. Why is it that whenever you want to do something, it bloody rains. In between the downpours work progresses on the superstructure. Have a look at the latest pictures and see how it's coming together. We've had some comments from people down here about how well-built and strong it is. We took some pictures from another pontoon further away to give an idea of how it's coming together.
Justin's been jumping between Atlantis and another boat called Auldyn River. She's a container ship, about 170 ft long and he's been working for the owner, removing the steel combings so that a wooden structure could be built on top and laying a floor. Once that was done, she moved across the river to Gillingham Pier where she had a pre-constructed house put on top of her. The structure was built by Schroeder House. These guys are unbelievable. They had eight men working for three days building the house on the boat.
I notice earlier in the year I said we thought we'd have the structure finished by the end of September. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that's not so! We're aiming for the end of December now. It feels more realistic, when you take the weather and workload into account.
September 2005
Work is going well on the new structure. There are some new pictures to look at showing the walls and some of the roof starting to appear (yes, I'm afraid there are some pictures of Lexie in there too, I just can't help myself). Lifting the first piece of steel onto the new roof of the superstructure was hair-raising but it seems to be fairly stable on there.
Justin is juggling work between Atlantis and three or four other projects he's working on. Work is pouring in, so much so, we've started up a small shipwright company - The Tiny Shipyard Limited. There'll be another website up and running soon showing a gallery of the work he's been doing on other boats. This is turning into a right old busman's holiday for both of us!
August 2005
So, great - the wettest month in England and we decide to build the back structure. Timing eh? Never mind, we wouldn't be English if we didn't complain about the weather. All the steel has been delivered barring a few last sheets. We've now got just over 10 tons on the back of Atlantis, which was all craned aboard using the trusty hiab (crane). Looking back, there's no way we would have been able to do this without the crane, and we did think about it.
Each steel sheet weighs in at a mere 400kg, just under half a ton and there are 20 of them. We will lift each one into place using the crane where they will be tack-welded and when the superstructure is complete, seam-welded. Before that can happen, we needed to put in all the supports and you can see the pictures as we start to build the frame for the new structure.
The more discerning visitor will have noticed a photo or two containing dog! Yes, we have a new pet - Lexie. She's a border terrier, about 9 months old and is the sweetest little dog. She's got her nose into everything and hates the crane. She barks ferociously at the crane and even bares here teeth in Alien style!
We're hoping the new structure will be in place by the end of September so watch out for more pictures of it's construction with little Lexie pictures thrown in for all you dog lovers out there.
July 2005
The wooden deck has been removed, the hatches and bombings have been cut off and our steel is waiting to be delivered. The company we're using for the steel are bending the deck beams for us. These should be with us in the next few days.
We recently went out for the day. Yes, we left Port Werburgh for a brief period and it wasn't to go to B&Q, Homebase or Machine Mart. It was, of course, boat related and turned out to be great fun. We were invited to watch the annual Thames Barge Driving Race. The event is a great test of skill and stamina, with crews of watermen and lightermen rowing 30 tonne barges, without the use of an engine, on a seven mile course from Greenwich to the finishing point under Westminster bridge. It was especially enjoyable as Grace, the blue barge from Port Werburgh, won the race for the third year in a row.
It was a great day out with lots of tugs, barges and all other types of vessels enjoying the event up and down the Thames. We were aboard the Princess Pocahontas which we picked up in Gravesend, named after the princess who died there.
May-June 2005
We've started work on pulling up the wooden deck so that the new structure can be welded into place. We should have all the deck pulled up by the end of June. Someone at Port Werburgh is going to have a lot of wood to burn this winter! We're eventually going to put down a new deck - probably a system called Tek-Dek.
The generator is in place, the hydraulic pack is installed and working so the crane is fully functioning. Having the crane working makes life so much easier. It also means we're able to move big sheets of steel around without too much trouble.
April 2005
We've finally got the crane up off the deck and welded into place. This isn't its final resting place; that will be on the roof of the new super-structure. We bought a hydraulic pack to enable us to run the crane. That's also got to be installed in the engine room, and the hydraulics run along the roof in the engine room and bedrooms (fish-hold). Phew!
Of course, none of this will work until we've got the generator in place and up and running. We've been working on cutting out the old generator bed and welding in the new one. There are fire risks to consider here as well. There is tank full of oil underneath the bed. It will be a case of filling up the empty space with gas from the fire extinguisher and standing by with the hose!
We reckon we'll have it all up and running by the end of this month. Another benefit is that we'll be able to give the engine a good run too.
It never ceases to amaze me how much there is to think about and consider. Things on the cards for next month include a rethink of how we approach the painting. Justin's been working on a re-circulating sand-blasting tool so that I don't end up with arms like Popeye from all that chip chip chipping! Watch this space for more updates soon - on the chipping not the arms obviously!
March 2005
Things are moving on nicely. We've got the old generator and compressor out of the engine room and moved to the new ones into place. A little paint, some cleaning and new parts and we should have a fully functional generator. All done with two chain hoists and a lot of thinking and flexing of muscles.
Next, we're working on getting the crane up and running. The old equipment that's come out of the engine room needs to be craned off onto a friend's boat to be taken to the scrap yard. Justin's started work on the bed for the crane and we hope to have that up and running by the end of the month.
We've had some snow - nothing too bad - you can see the pictures we took from the Bow and some other goings on around Port Werburgh and Hoo.
January/February 2005
My god, is it February already? The observant may think that we haven't been doing anything and you'd be right! Here's an update on what we have (and haven't) done:
Bedroom - well we're not in it - but all our stuff is. We spent Christmas moving all our gear from the fish-hold into the bedroom. So as you can surmise from that, the bedroom has come to a halt so we could work on the ........ fish-hold!
Fish-hold - we've cleared the fish-hold and it's stripped back to the hull. We haven't quite got around to chipping and painting yet. The fish-hold has come to a halt so we could work on the ....... generator!
Generator - what generator, I hear you ask! Ah well you see, you know that old adage, never look a gift horse in the mouth? Well we didn't and found ourselves offered a brand new generator to replace our old one. Why? The current generator isn't able to handle three-phase power I'm reliably informed by Justin.
Three-phase power? When we're at sea, the generator will need to run everything - and the new one can do all that and more. Shame it can't make dinner and do the washing up as well!So, what are doing now? We're removing the old generator ready for the new one. But hang on, we can't get the old generator any further than outside the engine room door. It's just stuck there. The generator exchange has come to a halt so we could work on the ...... crane!
Crane?! Yes a lovely big crane. She's (why's everything a she when speaking about boats!) going to be pivotal in helping us to build the back structure of the boat.
Justin's now pulling up parts of the deck so he can mount the crane there. He can then use the crane to remove the old generator and move the new one into the engine room. Once that's done work can continue on the back of the boat. It probably all sounds very convoluted but there is a reason behind doing things the way we do them.