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This
page shows the fit-out of our barge Elessina. Elessina was built
by Piper Boats at Stoke on Trent to a sailaway plus level, we
completed the fit-out on our mooring at Port Medway
Marina on
the River Medway in Kent. Elessina is 60 ft long x
12'-6" wide has a 12mm thick 5ft wide flat bottom with
8/10mm thick angled side chines.
Steel
construction photos the initial
fit-out at Piper Boats and
some
cruising /
external photos
plus
latest photos
are now on separate pages.
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Week 1
- Thursday
15th July 2004
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Our 1st
day of ownership
was mainly 'sea trial' and refinements. Extra ballast was
installed, and now with 5mm double glazed toughened glass installed in wheelhouse (replacing the 4mm) Elessina's screen
and roof raised and lowered perfectly (see video clip below). She
Manoeuvres
very well, turns in about a boat and a three-quarter
length (without bow thruster), and reached 9.1 knots (over land
speed on the gps) with a little tide assistance but in only
around 1.5m deep water. I think she will probably do 9 Knots
with no wind, no tide with deeper water. 
When
we placed an order 18 months ago with Simon Piper, he promised
us he would build us a good boat. Elessina has surpassed
anything we had ever imagined we would get. For us she is
absolutely perfect. Beautiful lines, well built, handles well,
very spacious inside for her size, etc etc. Many thanks to
Simon, Vinny and the rest of the team at Piper Boats. A
beautiful 'little ship'. 
..........
and now the start of the hard work for us fitting out the
galley, saloon, main bathroom, main bedroom and water /
electrics etc.
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Lowering / Raising the wheelhouse roof (and front screen), at
the touch of a button.
Lowering
takes
around 30 seconds. Lifting around 90
seconds.
Window
sides and rear also have to be removed / lowered to get down
to around 6'-10" air draft (+/- 3" depending on the
amount of fluid ballast - water, diesel, toilet waste - held
in tanks). So if we have a 6'-6" bridge we may just
'scrape' through if all our tanks are full!!
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Roof
and front screen
in
the
half
way down position
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Inside
the wheelhouse
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Week 9 (Sep-2004)
Some of
the 'galley' base units in place, together with the
main electrical cabinet (just visible on the left side at
bottom of stairs) and main (large diameter) cables. Four
95mm2 cables have been run to the bow thruster, plus 60mm2
cables to inverter and 20mm2 to main 24v distribution panels.
Cables take a lot of time
to install, especially when large holes have to be drilled
through steel bulkheads, and then the cables pulled through.
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Week 13 (October
2004) |
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The
traction batteries (12 x 2v x 920ahr) have been filled with
acid. Over 100 litres in total! Not a particularly nice job (rubber
apron, long rubber gloves, eye glasses and rubber boots) but
job has to be done before batteries can be charged. They were 'cooking'
for nearly 3 days with frequent topping up of water. The Victron
Multiplus
Combi was restricted to 50amp (24v) on advice from supplier for
1st charge. 1st impression of the Multiplus is very
good, nice being able to connect the laptop to it to see
voltage / amp inputs / outputs etc. The Multiplus is run it through a Victron Isolation transformer with auto transfer of power
between shore and Electrolux generator..... It this stage it
is not not tested /
wired up Electrolux. But everything else has worked 1st
time with no problems. We purchased the Victron Multiplus (and
other equipment) from Energy Solutions, and they came along to
check over the installation prior to battery charge. Good service,
advice and price from Energy Solutions, if you are fitting out
around the London area it would be well worth talking over
your requirements with them.
Around 60% of the electrical cables
are now run. 100%
(hopefully) between dc distribution board and rear cabin /
wheelhouse as this area is difficult to get to now all the
batteries and calorifier are installed. I do not know how many
large holes have been drilled through bulkhead etc. Must be
nearly 50, between 20mm and 50mm dia. The hole-saw set from
screwfix at around £35 has been great, do not know what I
would have done without it. I also bought a large crimping
tool (up to 130mm2), and have found this invaluable. Leigh
made up all the battery connecting cables, 48 (40mm2) crimps
alone,
and we have run 2 x 2 x 95mm2 cables to the bow thruster.
The
one piece gas pipe from front locker storage to cooker is installed
(that must have taken us 2 days to feed it through, but job
done) and I particularly wanted it run in one piece. All the
kitchen base units are installed (B&Q Birch wood Veneer
- 50% off in sale!!). We need to sort out
worktops, sink cooker or hob / oven type etc soon.
When
floating, Elessina currently lists to Starboard by around 1
degree. Probably because all the batteries (nearly 1 ton) are
on the starboard side. I have tried balancing the boat using
around 1.5 ton paving slabs so far, all middle to Port side -
slightly towards the stern. We still have the washing machine,
fridge and freezer to install on the Port side, so this will
help even things up, but I think we will need another half ton
of ballast on the Port side, making 2 ton in total. The barge
is also high at the bow, but then we have not installed
anything up front yet (master bedroom and bathroom). The
theoretical ballast calculation was 1 ton towards the bow - we
do not have any ballast forward of the centre of the boat!!!.
We do have around 350 gal water on board at the bow and 1,000
litre of diesel (middle), but then toilet (1,000ltr) and grey
(1,000ltr) tanks are empty, both of which are towards the bow,
so this sort of balances out.
Annoyingly,
when we are sitting on the mud we list to Port by around 1
degree. So depending upon the state of tide we list to one
side or the other, making cupboard installation that bit more
of a challenge!!!
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Traction
Batteries in place, 12 x 2v x 910 amp hr. They are now filled
with acid, over 100 litres !! (20 gallons) and charged for
36hrs.
With 40%
usable energy, 8.8Kw is available - from a normal '90% fully
charged' battery bank (assuming 50% charge is flat).
The
Victron Multiplus combi (24-3000-70) in place (blue box). Now
wired up to mains and ready to go. Above the Combi is the 230v
mains distribution panel.
On the
left side are the 4 x dc distribution panels:-
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Week 15 (October
2004) |
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Luxury,
we now have running water!!!. With the help of a
pump strainer, Whale high capacity pressure pump (18
l/min) a 12 litre accumulation tank and 'Speedfit'
plastic 15mm pipe, the rear wash-hand basin is now connected
to the fresh water tank. It works well. No hunting, even when
the tap is just open a little, although to achieve this I had
to reduce the 3 bar pressure of the accumulator tank. Our
previous (smaller) Whale pump with 2 litre accumulation tank
always hunted with a tap partly on.
The
1st ceiling lights (5 - in the back cabin) are now connected
and working. They are gold flush mounted 24v halogen
down-lighters , each with it's own built-in switch. 3 are
connected to a light switch by the door, the other 2 in the
bathroom are independently switched. We purchased individual
lights so that we can turn on 'banks', but choose to turn then
off individually, especially so when on battery power. We
have 30 of these down-lighters in total.
We
are finding that it is best to have at least 2, if not 3
different jobs on the go at one time. This way, if one we can
not continue working on one job, normally because we need an
extra component / fitting, we can just switch to another. The
alternative is to get the extra fittings, but even though the
nearest B&Q and Chandlery store is only around 15 mins
drive away, each trip normally takes around one hour, which
can be around 20% of a days work wasted!!. Better to get these
parts during the week and finish off the following weekend.
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Elessina
on her mooring at Port Medway Marina in Kent.
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Week 17 (Nov-04)
The
Sanimarin toilet is installed in the back cabin. Works well,
via a 3 way valve to sea or tank. All the ceiling downlighters
are now working. It's nice to be able to have decent lighting
to work with instead of work lights.
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Week 27 (January
2005) |
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It's now 6
months since we took delivery of Elessina. Very little was
done in the first 4 weeks because of work commitments and
nothing was done during November because we took time out to
visit my parents and brother in Australia.
Taking this into
account, we are on schedule for the fit-out. Probably about
half way fitting out the galley, half way fitting out the main
bathroom and a quarter of the way fitting out the main
bedroom. Overall around 40% complete. We are finding that we
tend concentrate on one area at a time until something stops
us (eg not having the oven / hob, or other equipment), then we
move on to another area, hence overall we have done bits here
and bits there.
Whenever possible
we are working on the galley, but although we now have the
oven and hob delivered, we are waiting to have the worktops
mitred. I contemplated doing this myself, but with Richard
(who is moored next to us) being a carpenter with access to a
worktop jig 'volunteering' to do the work, I decided to take
the easy route. Hopefully the worktops will be mitred by the
end of January, then there is nothing to stop us finishing off
the galley, as everything else is (hopefully) purchased /
planned / sorted.
We then
put a screen across the boat separating the galley & boat
stern from the 'work' area, to try to limit dust and damage to
completed areas. We are averaging around 20 hours
work per week, around 450 work hours total to date (probably
around 600 hours in total when 'homework' and 'shopping' is
taken into account. I initially calculated 2,000 work hours,
but this was for a normal sailaway, Elessina is a sailaway-plus,
probably saving us around 750 hour's work. At this point the
plan is to
be around 75% complete by June, sufficient for us to start
cruising / using her.
Biggest problem
encountered so far...... Trying to foresee what materials /
equipment is required for the weekend ahead, and having them
purchased / on board prior to a weekends work. We are only
working weekends and holidays and try to organise all
purchases during the week, after our 'normal' work. We are
around 95% successful at this, but not having even the
smallest 'required' component can curtail specific tasks from
being completed. When this occurs, we move onto another task.
We try very hard not to 'shop' during the weekend (to go
shopping), but
sometimes find we have to.
To date, all the equipment installed and tested worked 1st time
and has continued to work without any problems, and we are
very please with our choices. But none of the equipment has
seen any heavy use as we are not living on board all of the
time. The Victron Multiplus combi continues to amaze. The marina
had a power outage the other weekend, only for a short period
of time, but our only knowledge of it was a few 'relay clicks'
within the combi, and a change of indicator lights on the
front panel. We continued using all the 240v power in use at
the time, it's just that the boat battery was now supplying
the power. When the shore power resumed it automatically
charged up the battery.
Our mooring is
bank side, chosen because we can drive right up alongside the
boat to offload heavy items. Our long term plan was to try to
get an outer pontoon mooring around May 2005, when most of the
bulky heavy materials would be on board, and Elessina was
fitted out to a 'usable' level. Outer mooring infrequently
become available, so when we were advised a week ago that one
was available we decided to go for it, so as soon as the tides
were right (high) we moved (same marina, just
different location). The outer pontoon mooring that we moved to
were great, almost directly opposite to the Rochester
Queen, overlooking the river and lovely open fields on the
other side. We are afloat all the time.
The only
disadvantage (apart from the slightly extra cost) is that we
will have a longer walk from the car. We had a delivery of 12 x 8ft
x 4ft ply boards over the weekend, which will (hopefully) conclude
most of the 'heavy / bulky material required. We will still
have some heavy items (washing machine, fridge, freezer etc),
but these can be trolley'd down to the boat, and in some ways
will be easier to get on board as we will be alongside a
floating pontoon, whereas we currently have to use a gang
plank, to bridge the gap between boat and angled bank side.
Bathroom vanity
unit. The basin will be fitted to the left side unit, toilet
will be installed in the space on the right.
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This unit will
house the hob and oven.
Stair newel post now installed.
Main bathroom
shower tray in place. The waste outlet fell directly over a
steel cross frame, so the whole unit and already installed
side panel had to be moved back towards the stern by 2".
Timber and pipe
storage rack. A temporary measure to help with finding
required lengths. This arrangement worked well and helped
store / sort long lengths of materials
Master bedroom bed
frame
Wheelhouse
Instrument Panel, now with bowthruster control and a few other
instruments added.
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Week 28 (January 2005)
Hob and Oven are now in place, but not connected. Hopefully we
will have the galley and bathroom work tops mitred this
weekend, then the sink and basin can be fitted. Bathroom
vanity units also now installed. We took delivery of 12 sheets
of plywood over the weekend, which hopefully is the last of
the ' building bulky' stuff to be carried on board.
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Week 30 (February
2005)
Galley and
bathroom worktop now mitred and in place, ready for us to
install the sink and basin next weekend. We purchased a second
'stair' newel which we 'quartered' for installation in the
bedroom at the wardrobe corner (photo shows bottom part
installed against corner of bedroom wardrobe. A stair handrail
and 3 spindles will be fitted, making a feature of the
wardrobe side. 3 of the final 7 8x4 ply sheets have been
installed under the gunnels in the saloon area. |
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Galley, with hob,
oven and work tops. The back splash matches the worktops (B&Q,
Ebony granite gloss). The temporary curtain to the right has
been installed to try to stop dust (sawdust!) getting into the
rear cabin and engine room
Main bedroom door.
It will be teak varnished and have curtains behind the glass.
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Main bathroom, with
vanity units, work top and shower tray in place. The basin
will be installed on the left side. Toilet on the right.
Lower part of
quartered newel post against bedroom wardrobe corner.
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Week 32 (February
2005)
Elessina
has been moved to her new pontoon mooring at Port Medway
Marina. She is now permanently afloat regardless of
tides, which means when the weather improves we can take her
for a cruise any time we like.
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Kitchen
sink unit with sink cut out and worktop mitred ready for
joining. Inside the unit is the 3 stage filter unit
(left) and sink waste through hull in the centre.
Galley
area from saloon a couple of weeks ago.
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Kitchen
sink now installed and worktops and matching splash backs in
place. Neither sink or hob are plumbed in yet.
Galley
area, from saloon. February 05
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Bathroom
vanity units in place, with basin cut out ready for basin to
be fitted |
Bathroom,
now with baisn and Sanimarine toilet in place. Neither basin
or loo are connected yet. |
Week 34 (March 2005)
We now
have cold running water to the galley sink. Most of the hot
water system is also in place, but not connected yet to the
rear cabin bathroom basin / shower or main bathroom basin and
shower.
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Elessina
on her mooring at Port Medway Marina on the
River
Medway in Kent, in the snow. |
With the
(5Kw) Bubbles diesel stove on it's lowest setting (no1) the
inside temperature dropped to 8 deg C, whilst the outside was
-2 deg. The foam insulation kept snow on the roof until
around about the same time as the snow on the pontoons also
melted. The 'snow pattern' on the roof is the steel
reinforcing. Turning up the stove had the inside temperature
up to around 18 deg within a few hours. 21 deg could easily
have been achieved.
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Roll-front
cabinet end panel shown with back cut out around pipes and
barge side. This enables maximum space to be utilised, with
the unit flush to the front of the gunnels..
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The same
Roll-front cabinet now finished / installed under the gunnels
(left of the galley unit). The roll-front doors still have
their blue plastic protection covering, they are in fact
aluminium doors. The other roll-top cabinet on the right side
houses the electrical distribution / controls, including the
Victron multiplus inverter. |
Week 38 (April 2005) |
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The galley
is now nearly finished. We still need to get the gas connected
to the oven / hob, install fridge, freezer and washer/dryer,
and lay floor covering.
The main
bathroom is also nearly complete. We need to install a shower
drain pump out (the drain is below sea level), and connect the
toilet to tank / sea via 3-way valve, and lay floor covering
We have
now started on the main bedroom. All the wardrobe / cupboard
doors have been ordered (from Ikea, solid beech frames, 27
doors in total), and are due for delivery mid April. They are
all standard size 'kitchen' doors. 27 seems a lot, I had not
counted them until just now!!, but that is how many we need -
. We have 18 doors in the kitchen. I think this number
reflects the emphasis we have put on creating as much storage
space as possible. We will have more cupboard space on board
than in in our house, but then we have a garage loft and
shed!!. We are currently building / installing the wardrobe
and cupboard carcase frames, some are from Ikea 'wall' units,
others from scratch using plywood.
The lounge
/ saloon was completed last. We found that we spend
most of our 'relaxing' time - not much of that!! - in
the wheelhouse, so getting the saloon ready was a low
priority, it is also the workshop and main material storage
department!!!. Even in the middle of winter, when outside
temperatures were zero degrees, we still found ourselves
sitting in the wheelhouse. The wheelhouse is double glazed all
round, but currently has no heater, although heat from the
main cabin below naturally rises into the wheelhouse, and the
sun warms it up very quickly, even in winter. In March we had
28 deg in the wheelhouse, when outside temperature was around
14 deg, and inside temp around 20 deg. In summer we have a
number of options to keep the wheelhouse cool, we can slide
the wheelhouse roof forward, or open the top half of the doors
or fold down the rear screen. We found last year that the
sliding roof worked best most of the time, with the doors
open.
We want to
start doing a little cruising in June, a few jobs remain
before we can do this. The horn, navigation lights, mast spot
light and VHF radio need to be wired up, plus the bow thruster
live cable needs to be connected to the battery, via a 'large'
isolator switch. I have the switch, but it needs to be
installed and cables run to-from it.... not quite so easy when
the cables are 75mm2. Also the prop-shaft needs to be covered
in the engine room........
.... still
lots of jobs to be done, but little by little it is all coming
along quite nicely. Leigh would often remind me when we first
start the fit-out that this was our home, and that the quality
of the fitting and installation need to reflect that.... both
the kitchen and bathroom have worked out much nicer than our
home kitchen and bathroom. Both are of an equal comparable
size to that in our 3-bed house. Hopefully we will soon be
able to say the same with the main bedroom.
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View of galley from
saloon with stairs to wheelhouse on left and passageway to
rear cabin and
engine room on right.
Galley, viewed from
stairs
Galley, viewed from
rear cabin / engine passageway.
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The
bathroom takes shape, top left shows 1st two 'tongue and
groove' upvc facia panels in place (black marble effect), then
all panels. Main photos show view from door and from above
toilet. The shower waste needs to be connected to a pump out
system (because the tray is lower than water level) and the
toilet still needs to be connected.. |
Week 40 (April
2005)
Leigh
spent most of the weekend mixing concrete, on board, for
ballast. Around 500Kg was mixed and placed in 25Kg bags under
the front port side floor. This has helped with the list, but
not eliminated it entirely, but it has levelled the barge
front to back (we are now just 1.5" high at the bow and 1"
high at the stern compared to design drawings). We probably
still need around 300Kg on the port side in the centre. Whilst
Leigh was mixing concrete, I was building the master bedroom
cabinets, in between helping Leigh. We now have hanging doors
an all main rooms (rear cabin, bathroom and Master bedroom).
These doors (from Wickes) each have 6 panes of glass, with an
arched top. There will be curtains hanging behind each door,
secured top and bottom, for privacy.
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View from
Saloon into master bedroom, with bathroom door just visible on
the right. Leigh's weekend work is under these floor boards!! |
View from
master bedroom with bedroom door and shallow (Ikea wall
unit) bedroom cupboards |
Master
bedroom bedside cabinets under construction, with bed frame in
between. Because of the bow angles, these take time to build,
and are not Ikea base cupboards, although Ikea cupboards doors
will be installed. |
Week 42 (April 2005)
 
View into
bedroom (left) and from inside the
bedroom
(top), with wardrobe doors on the left
and
shallow cupboards on the right. |
Week 45 (May 2005)
Master
bedroom wardrobes with shallow cupboard left and Newel post
spindle feature on the right |
Week 46 (May 2005) |
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The galley hob
with newly constructed stair handrail and spindles.
A big tidy
up before our 'open day'. Around 50 visitors took a look
around Elessina. It was nice meeting everyone. We got the
impression that everyone visiting also found it of interest.
We are around 75% complete now, but intend to ease off over
June - September. We will take her out cruising a few times
and spend some time relaxing on board, only working on her
during poor weather. The plan is to have the next 'open day'
on Sunday 28th August at Chatham Dock with the DBA Rally.
There
are now separate pages for
Galley fit-out,
Master Bedroom Fit-out,
Master Bathroom
fit-out and
Electrics.
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Week 47 (June 2005)
 Over the
past few weeks we have spent most weekends on board, staying
overnight between 1 and 3 nights at a time. Work time has
reduced and relaxation time increased, which is nice.
Master
bedroom now has 'worktops' on all of the cupboards. The tops
are left over pieces from the galley and bathroom. We put them
in place, they looked good, so we thought we may as well use
them. It was not planned this way!, if fact most of the work
tops have been taken off the boat and were in the garage
waiting to be dumped, when we realised we had sufficient
remaining.
The gas
oven and hob are now fully functional, having been connected
to the gas supply (orange propane bottle) by Ian Britchfield
of Snugglepuss. A 24v 'Pilot Gas monitoring system' has been
installed, which has two remotely mounted detector heads and a
remote gas switch. One of the detector heads has been
installed low down in the bilges, under the oven, the other
directly under the oven on the barge floor. The remote switch
(solenoid valve) is installed adjacent to the gas bottle,
inside the purpose built steel gas locker at the bow of the
boat. The monitoring system panel is installed on the side of
the oven housing, adjacent to the main entry exit doorway. At
the touch of a switch on this monitoring panel we can (and
will) turn on and off the gas supply at the outside gas
locker. So as soon as we have finished cooking, the valve will
be closed ensuring no 'live' supply to the inside of the
barge. The valve also closes by default in there is no (24v)
supply to it. If any one of the two sensors detect gas, the
valve automatically closes. The sensor activating the alarm is
identified by a light on the panel, so if we find that we are
getting false alarms, we can swap the sensors around, or move
the positions a little. A bubble leak tester has also been
installed in the supply pipe, inside the gas locker, enabling
a quick and easy check for soundness of the installation, many
bubbles in the see through glass container when the red button
is pressed indicates there is a leak in the system. The alarm
and solenoid vale monitoring system is around £200, bubbles
tester around £30. Sounds a lot, but a small price to pay for
safety and peace of mind. A separate Carbon Monoxide (CO)
alarm is also installed (£30 from Argos, Tesco etc.), which
ensures there is sufficient oxygen levels on board.
Snugglepuss tested the pipes under pressure with air prior to
filling the system with gas, then metered the pressure loss
ensuring no leaks were present, and issued a test certificate.
Our thanks to Ian at Snugglepuss for doing a great job.
The Bow
Thruster is also now fully operational....... The Vetus 160Kgf
unit (24v 7.7Kw) was mechanically installed by Piper Boats, we
have run the cables and controls. The bow thruster is run off
the main house batteries (we have a large battery bank) which
is a 15m cable run length away. I calculated we needed 150mm2
cable size, but installed 2 x 95mm2 cables (4 cables total, 2
x red, 2 x black, giving 190mm2). Connected through a 355A fuse and a battery
isolation switch (not so easy to do when the cables are so big
and the connections in the engine room are not that
accessible, and all power is isolated, so having to work off
of torch battery lights!!). But job done. Just a touch on the
rocker switch is all that is needed for the bow of the barge
to respond. Very noisy inside at the bow when it operates, but
normally no one will be in the bedroom whilst under way, so no
problem. We ran it on and off a few times just under battery
power only on our mooring (no engine or battery charge), it
worked fine, taking just 1% of the battery availability power.
We have a weed hatch next to the bow thruster, no leaks.
We
purchased a Shoreline Fridge and a Freezer (two separate 'undercounter'
units), for installation along the walkway which connects
galley to rear cabin. They will have 'kitchen doors' on the
fridge and freezer doors, initially we were not sure whether to fix the
doors directly, or use Shorelines door kit. In the end we used
the Shoreline kit, which has proved to be very good. Shorelines own energy usage figures are far better
than any 'A' rated domestic fridges and freezers, better than
even A+++ ratings. I
will be doing a test to see how close it comes to the
suppliers stated figures.
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Week 48 (June 2005)
The
Shoreline Fridge and Freezer are now both installed and
running. Installed side by side in the walkway
connecting galley to rear cabin, they both reached recommended
working temperatures within a few hours of being turned on, on
the hottest day of the year.
As a point
of interest, it was cooler on board inside the barge than it
was inside our 10 year old home....... I can only think that
much of this is down to the spray foam insulation and cream
painted roof and cabin sides (the grey deck / gunnels were so
hot you could not walk bare footed on them, but the cream roof
was not hot). Max temp over the weekend reached inside
Elessina was 28 deg. Outside was 32 deg. inside our house it
was 31 deg....... Making us reconsider whether air
conditioning on board is worth installing.... probably not
based on this..... but will wait for the hotter weather to
come!!!! 3 years later, we still see no need for an air
conditioning unit.
I asked
Shoreline whether a small (computer) fan would help reduce
power consumption of our fridge and freezer. Their reply was
that provided adequate ventilation around the back was
provided an additional fan would not really do much to improve
running times - except maybe in very hot weather!...... and
that small computer fans take very little current but tend to
make more noise than anything. They probably only need to run
when the motor is running and this can be achieved by
connecting across the small + & F terminals (on the rear of
the unit).
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Week 50 (July 2005)
We have
spent the last 10 days on Elessina, neither of us wanted to
leave / return to work. We would like to move on board now,
but there is still work to be done!
We
fitted a VHF radio, wired up the horn and navigation lights
then spent the last 7 days of our vacation cruising up and
down the River Medway / relaxing. Wonderful!!! .
We
moved into the master bedroom last Saturday (25th June). Its
not finished (no carpet, a few wood trims missing, no handles
on cupboard doors) . See photo left.
The bow
thruster is great. Highly recommended. If you wish to do some
cruising on a barge, amongst GRP and wood boats, I would say
it is a must. Our biggest problem is coming back into our
mooring. We have a GRP cruiser in front and a wood cruiser
behind, with around 80 feet of pontoon to get into (we are
60feeet).! First time in, I did a practice run (when the
wind was only force 4) then it blew up and was gusting force
7, with a fairly strong tide.
The
'working' galley (left).
No vase
on board for the flowers, but a plastic measuring jug, which
was used to measure the acid used to fill the batteries worked
well!.
Fridge
and freezer can just be seen in the centre of the photo. There
is room for a washing machine to the left of the freezer. They
will have matching galley doors on them....another job for
later!
No
fit-out work planned on board for the summer months.
Likely paint touch up the outside on a nice day, maybe fit
handles to the bedroom cupboards, but not much more until the
colder weather returns.
|
Week 67 (November 2005)
By the
end of the Autumn cruising season , we had done around 30
cruises, 50 hours. Work resumed inside during October and we
nearly completed the master bathroom, the shower is now fully
operational, with the toilet just needs connecting and testing
and carpet tiles to be laid.
Spent
a weekend on board (Fri-to-Sun) with the outside temperature
-5 deg. With just the small (5Kw) Bubbles stove we were
a cosy 21 deg in the main / forward cabin (including bathroom
and main bedroom). Overnight we turned down the Bubbles stove
to minimum, and it kept up a good temperature. The rear cabin
and it's bathroom does remain cold, and this is
where we have our only toilet and shower at the moment, hence the priority
getting the main bathroom up and running.
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Week 71 (December 2005)
Finishing
off the bathroom and master bedroom took longer than planned.
But now both 99% complete. We have laid carpet tiles in the
bathroom and bedroom, and have found then to be pleasantly
warm under foot, so much so that we have now laid carpet tiles
in the galley area, and will likely lay them in the saloon as
well. Laminate / wood floor seems very cold by comparison, and
the great thing with carpet tiles is that they are very easy
to lift, enabling quick easy access to bilge area storage
under the floor.
We have
now started on the last room, the Saloon (or workshop as it is
now). Main work in the Saloon is the fitted cupboards / TV
unit under the bilges and the installation of another 3/4 ton
of ballast under the port saloon floor (under the fitted
cupboards!!). Using any power tool on board, except drill, is
just about impossible due to the amount of dust created. So
everything is now being cut / planned by hand. The power tool
I miss most is the Black and Decker Scorpion saw, it creates
less dust than a circular saw, but still more than by hand!!!
We have
spent around 1,200 hours working on board Elessina to date
(equivalent to 2 x 10 hour days every week for 14 months). In
practice most weekends we do around 25 hours of work (Friday
pm to Sunday pm), but we have had around 5 months where we did
not do any work (Nov 2004 in Australia and 4 months cruising /
leisure on board Elessina during the summer of 2005) and there
is always the odd day where we can not do any work, offset by
bank holiday work times etc. We have had Elessina now for 17
months. I estimate another 300 hours should be sufficient to say
that she is 99% complete, which will bring us into March 2006.
Which is pretty much according to our timing plans. I do not
think anybody could say their boat is 100% complete, as there
are always a few bits to do / improve. Same as on a house. In
effect I see that we will be 'complete' when 1) the saloon
floor is laid (likely carpet). 2) We have working central
heating (likely Webasto water). 3) We have a washing machine
on-board. Lots of other jobs to complete as well as these 3,
but these are the 3 key final ones.
On top
of the 1,200 hours spent working on Elessina we have done
around 400 hours of homework and shopping eg. Researching and
buying of materials. This takes up quite a considerable amount
of time, especially so when it is our first (and only) barge,
but greatly assisted by the internet, especially google.
|
Week 74 (January 2006)
Over the
Christmas break we installed the final 'trim' ballast under
the saloon floor on the port side. 900Kg of paving slabs and 5
bags of 25Kg sand and cement. We now have a perfectly level
barge, or did have until we moved some of the 'workshop' tools
around, now we have a very slight list to port (we over did
it!!), so may have to remove some of the ballast. But we will
wait until the central heating is installed as this will
predominantly be on the starboard side.
Now
working in the saloon area, the 'workshop' has been reduced in
size. TV corner units nearly done, again they are B&Q doors,
with wall unit carcases.
We spent 8
days on Elessina over the Christmas and New Year holiday. Nice
and warm inside (up to 26 deg C), cold (-5 deg C and 2" of
snow) outside. Apart from the stern cabin, the whole barge
could be heated with just the 5Kw Bubbles stove (diesel drip
feed). Master bathroom is the warmest room on board, the
Bubbles stove backs onto the bathroom, which has 'airing
cupboards' around the fire place.
TV corner unit
taking shape
|
Week 75
(January 2006)
The saloon
(see photo below) is now taking shape, looking less like a
workshop every week. TV corner unit (starboard side) and
shallow cupboards along the port side are now complete. A
total of 18 cupboard doors (awaiting handles!!), 2 remaining
uninstalled. Carpet (tile) laying has started from the bedroom
door into the saloon, will continue to a couple of feet in
front of the fire then stop until the 'workshop' is
'decommissioned'. Next is the 'tidying up' of the walkway
utility area and central heating (will buy at the London Boat
show, probably a Webasto diesel water heater).
|
Week 78 (February
2006)
 We
have moved, onto a new pontoon, but only a few feet down
stream from our previous mooring. We are now on an end
mooring, making it easier to moor, although we have managed ok
before. Port Medway Marina have installed a new pontoon
mooring, so doubling the size of mooring capability.
There are now two separate pontoons, we are on the new one,
downstream of the old. We like it very much. Less walking
distance to car park and nice to be on the end of the pontoon.
Webasto
water heater ordered, should be arriving any time now. Washing
machine ordered (Hotpoint super silent washer dryer), arrives
next week. Utility area in process of being tidied up - wall
lighting now complete, door on fridge and freezer complete.
Big tidy up of workshop tools and materials, will soon look
more like a saloon than workshop!!
|
Week 79 (February 2006)
Cupboard
doors on the fridge and freezer
 Using
Shorelines Integrated door kit, we now have doors on both the
fridge and freezer. The doors are standard 600mm wide (B&Q)
doors. Both the fridge and freezer are on a raised platform
with cupboard space underneath. The fridge and freezer are
just normal Shoreline appliances, not integrated ones. The
washing machine fits in the gap at the end of
the walkway. It is a Hotpoint
Super silent Integrated washer dryer. There is enough width
(600mm), but depth is tight, and I had to make a few dents
into the rear cover for it to fit (not nice making dents into
a brand new machine..... but it had to be done!).
Picture
left shows the Shoreline integrated door kit. Easy to fit.
Only £12 including delivery.
There
is a slider fitting top and bottom connecting appliance door
to wooden kitchen door. Open the outer door and the appliance
door opens and closes with it.
Picture
above right is taken from the rear cabin, looking forward into the
galley. The fridge and freezer are on the left. Entrance to
Engine room on the right (Starboard) side.
Getting
the Washing machine on board was fun!!. through the roof
hatch!! Actually the hardest part was lifting it up onto the
roof, with 2 people it was easy to lower it down through the
roof hatch.
|
Week 85
(March 2006) |
The Saloon
area, now with 2 seater sofa. Still surrounded by workshop
equipment. The 3 seater sofa will be lowered through the roof
hatch next week.
We now
have the washing machine installed and up and running (behind
the last door along the walkway). Super
silent it certainly is. It just fitted into the space at the
side of the freezer. Webasto heater now on board, ready for
installation.
Notice
the Australia theme above the galley door way. We have a few Ausie corners.
|
Week 93 (May
2006) |
|
We are now
around 98% complete. The central heating is working (just in
time for summer!!), but more importantly we can have hot water
without running the engine when off shore power. A few Iroko
wood trims to be installed (all these need trims have be oiled
/ painted, we have done around 50 over the last few weeks,
takes a lot of time!!). Need to install a couple more air
vents (UFO type) as we are a little light on the calculated
requirements, and an extraction fan in the bathroom. Also
replace our temporary curtains and rug in the saloon. We
intend to work until the end of May, then that will be it
until November time.
Overall we
are very pleased how it has turned out. Hard work but
rewarding, in that we
can now
relax a little and enjoy our hard work. Weather permitting we
will moor off Southend over the Bank holiday weekend and watch
the free Southend air show which will be directly above us,
over the Thames.
|
Week 98 (June
2006)
Now around
99% complete, just a few small jobs to finish, which can wait
until much later in the year. All vents and extraction now
done. We did a few hours cruising over the first weekend in June,
down to Stangate Creek where we dropped anchor overnight.
Anchor and windlass worked fine with no problems, although it
was only a force 2 wind.
A quick
count, and we have 105 cupboard doors / hatches on board. It
was always our intention to create as much storage space as
possible, and I thought we must be close to 100 doors, but not
realised it was over.
|
Week 110 (September 2006).
During
August we had 3 week up the Thames. It took around 10 hours
from our Medway mooring to get to Teddington, with around a
Force 4 wind off Southend, but everything went fine.
This photo
was tTaken from
the London Eye as we cruised down the R.Thames back to our
mooring at Port Medway Marina. Many
thanks to
Jon for emailing the photo to me. For more photos of our trip
up the Thames through London
click here
|
December 2006
We now
have a BSS (Boat Safety Scheme) certificate. Although not
necessary as we are a new build sailaway on a tidal
river, all work done has been with BSS compliance in mind, so
I thought it a good idea at this stage to get confirmation
that we are compliant.....and we are. Main job completed over
last few months is the main stairs down from wheelhouse. Piper
Boats fitted a temporary stairway, which we have been using
over the last couple of years.
We now have broadband connection on our mooring, so all web
updates now done from on board Elessina.
Christmas 2006
Moon
rising, on our mooring at Port Medway Marina
|
March 2007 |
 |
|
One of
the last remaining jobs to be done was the main stairs down
from the wheelhouse into the salon / galley. We have had
temporary pine wood stairs from early on, but though
practical, they did not look very good. We wanted to use the
area behind the stairs for storage, but at the same time have
it look tidy. Nearly every barge we have been on over the last
few months we have looked for creative ideas that we could
copy. In the end we decided to simply carpet over the
existing. Photo above left shows 2 stairs carpeted.
Middle photo when all complete, with wicker boxes on shelves under the
three lower stairs. Close up right shows how it was done, with Iroko strips down each side of the stairs covering the side
carpet edge. The middle (dark) carpet is a standard width
carpet tile (B&Q) so can be easily replaced when worn. We are
happy with the end result, and it was a very cheap way of
completing it.
|
March 2007
Saloon
area, now completed.
|
February 2008
Breakfast
bar added.
Fortunately the granite style worktops are still available so
we were able to match existing.
|
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