End of the year and the reason for buying a houseboat

We have come to the end of the year, all in all we have achieved a lot this year, a word of advice to anybody thinking of taking on a project like Tino, think it through, it is a journey in all ways, mentally physically and emotionally, weigh it up carefully, you will have to stand strong in your decision no matter what life or the project throws at you, if possible don't live on the boat whilst you rip it apart, get an area finished with all amenities before you even consider living onboard.

Tino is almost there, the whole project has admittedly taken longer than first envisaged however the end result is more than could have been hoped for budget and styling wise.

All in all we have converted a 72ft Danish fishing trawler that at the time of purchase needed a lot of work for less than the price of a one bed flat, I bought the boat in it's then current state not for any personal pleasure or gain but simply due to the rise of house prices in this country, I knew I would have to do something different with the money I had at that time if Finley was to have the life previously talked about, Finley was nine months old at the time of purchase and from the day Finley was born I found myself in a dilemna, banks were reluctant to lend money to anybody especially people like myself and many others that don't fit in their category for lending, your choices are to rent and watch money drain away or stand strong and do something different with the money you have.

 The dilemna being how do you put a roof over you and your child's head and create a future whilst getting a good footing on the housing ladder in 2013 without a mortgage, renting or borrowing.

 I am confident that in the long run the money has been invested wisely,  the end result is a two Bed houseboat with open plan contemporary living coupled with a one bed self contained unit in the wheel house

only time will tell.............

New Year new start, get her moved.....

Moving Tino to a new mooring

We have spoken to a skipper who will be moving Tino to a new mooring, Andy has been to check the engines and is coming on Friday with an engineer to start the engines and get her ready to move.

Andy and the engineer spent the day working out the configuration of the engine, thankfully we were able to contact Myles the original owner who spent a considerable amount of time effort and money in the engine room, who was able to give us a full rundown, we have fuel pressure, we now understand the starter system, our old batteries just don't have the power needed to start the engine, we need new batteries, the fuel system is fine and the fuel clean. 

All positive.....

More info and pictures to follow........

Front room upstand

Captain's Cabin flooring

As per our previous post we are using the Oak strip flooring we still have with the Mahogany floor tiles we bought on eBay.

Master Finley Yardley and I have dry laid the floors this weekend and we have both decided it works well, the wheelhouse is the brightest room the oak compliments it, well that is what we think.

Heat at last Fatso burns again

After a good clean and a coat of Vactan, we have managed to instal the flue for our 15kw Fatso wood/coal burning stove.

We double skinned the flue using the existing flue with our new thicker flue that we inherited with the boat.

Finley's Walkway and step down

As per our previous post we decided to chequer plate the step down to Finley's bedroom.

Just needs to be screwed down this week.

Electrics complete rewire

When we bought the boat we inherited what can only be described as spaghetti junction in regards to the wiring of the electrics, as previously stated we are rewiring the whole boat following the same route the original boat builder used to wire the 24v system.

Iwe have a fuse box in the engine room, another in the front room and a further box in the wheelhouse.

We have changed the halogen lights for 1 watt leds and are doing the same in Finley's corridor the hall way and kitchen. There will be a feed to the boat fom the pontoon, a link in the engine room to the new electrics. from there there will be one 6mm feed via the the boat builder's rpute to the kitchen where there will be an old electrics box containing the 24v fuse box and the 240v fuse box, All the electrics will run back via the boat builders route to the bedrooms, kitchen, hallway and upstairs into the frontroom and a 240v feed to the wheelhopuse, one doublesocket. the rest of the wheelhouse runs from the 24v system.

More pictures to follow

Ramsgate Harbour

Both Finley and myself have been on a bit of a road trip, we have spoken to various London moorings who have either put us on a waiting list or we are still waiting to see if they have space for Tino, the beauty of a boat is it moves, we have other options and one that has kept coming back is Ramsgate Harbour.

We spoke to the Marina office and have made an application, Finley approves and there is a good atmosphere surrounding the Harbour as well as a bit of night life if wanted

Adaptable box 1 watt led lights

As per our previous post we are copying the lighting boxes in the front room in Finley's corridor and the kitchen, the boxes are made and in place ready for our sparky to wire them up.

Final push..........

Floors are laid and sanded back, as per our previous post we will be using hard wax oil to finish, the plumbing is in, the boiler is in the engine room ready to be connected to our pipework, we are at that stage where we are now reliant on the expertise of tradesmen.

Know your limitations, the fuel feed for the boiler and the flue are being fitted by a commercial heating engineer, the electrics are as previously stated all going to be run in galvanised conduit which are all specialist jobs that require specialist experience.

From our part the last remaining jobs for us to do are finish the polished concrete work surface to allow a plumber to fit the sink and taps and put the feed for the gas hob, put up the spiral staircase, the footplate will be made from wood which will be made by our carpenter, the hand rail as previously stated will be made by our local welder using pipe and a pipe bender.

Life on a boat for a two year old - Finley William Yardley

By Ashley Clarke Yardley