|
This
page shows the building of our barge Elessina, at Piper Boats.
Steel
construction photos are now on a separate page as is the
continuation of the fit-out on our mooring at Port Medway
Marina. Elessina was built
by Piper Boats at Stoke on Trent, to a sailaway plus
specification. She is 60 ft long x
12'-6" wide has a 12mm thick 5ft wide flat bottom with
8/10mm thick angled side chines.
|
|
Saturday
28th February 2004 - After 8 Weeks |
 |
 |
|
Virtually
all fabrication is now complete, window apertures cut and 1st
coat of primer and Comastic type bottom blackening applied.
|
View of bow,
showing bow thruster tube installed.
|
 |
 |
|
View from
rear cabin looking forward, with wheelhouse opening in centre,
ready for collapsible wheelhouse.
|
View of
corner of wheelhouse looking forward. with opening down to front
cabin ready for door installation.
|
 |
 |
|
View of bow
and cabin topsides.
|
View of interior
of front cabin. Cross frames are installed ready for floor to be
laid.
|
Saturday
13th March - Week 10 |
|
|
|
Steel fabrication
is now complete and few more coats of paint applied.
Another
barge has been started (also 60ft but only 10'-6" wide)
|
An anchor
Hawse pipe has been installed on the starboard side, two oil
tanks (1x300gal under floor and 1x40gal adjacent to stove
fire) and an under floor toilet (black) tank installed (fresh
and grey tanks were installed earlier).
|
|
|
|
Bow deck,
with separate gas / anchor locker (open), fresh water tank
inspection cover (closed and anchor hawse pipe tube. |
Front
(bedroom) now batten and spray foamed with roof partially lined,
floor installed and Houdini escape hatch opening. Weed hatch can
be seen on top of bow thruster tube. Bow thruster not yet
installed.
|
 |
 |
|
Lounge area
looking forward. Stove / fire place surround partially installed
(oil tank to right hand side ). Floor, ceiling, spray foam and
roof hatch opening installed.
|
Lounge area
looking towards the stern. Stairs from wheelhouse will be on the
left, walkway to rear cabin is on the right.
|
Saturday
20th March 2004 - Week 11
|
|
|
|
Elessina
now has a blue undercoat paint to the top sides of hull,
and ivory superstructure, plus side windows and
ports. |
Double
glazed, gold anodised Severn Yacht / Wifwerfen windows and
portholes installed. The windows look good, and we are very
pleased with them. Ceiling has a coat of paint, Iroko hard wood
trims will run across the roof and around the roof hatch
opening. |
|
 The rudder. Note the aerodynamic / aerofoil shape. It looks
huge (nearly 4ft high)!!,
but no doubt will 'shrink' when in the water. Waterline is
about 1/4 way down. This type of rudder is often (incorrectly) referred to as
a Schilling type rudder, but closer resembles that of a NACA
profile rudder. It gives greater maneuverability at slow speeds than a standard flat plate rudder. Steering will be hydraulic,
with a 140 degree rudder movement (70-0-70), which is twice as
much as the more common 70 degrees (35-0-35) systems. If you are
familiar with narrowboat rudders then I am sure you will
appreciate the more movement the better. |
View from
the bridge. Standing in the wheelhouse the front bow can be
seen, which greatly assists in steering distance judgments,
helped by the slight step down in the front cabin roof. |
|
|
|
Perkins
M92 engine in
position (to be connected - photo taken just a few hours after
delivery to Piper Boats), viewed from passageway connecting front
and rear cabins. Area to right of vertical steel support is the doorway, area to left will have
a removal partition, allowing good all round access. The
3.5Kw 230v Electrolux travelpower alternator and PRM 500 gearbox
trolling unit (variable propeller speed down to to 1 rpm when
engine runs around tickover speed, improving steerage at low
speed) are both fitted. |
Rear
cabin, now with floor and roof, raised at rear for seating area.
Weed hatch and rudder tube can be seen in the centre, plus
opening escape window.. |
Friday
9th April
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Now with
a name - stern sign writing
|
Vetus
24v bow thruster now installed,
adjacent
to weed hatch, on 250mm tube
|
 |
Left: Drop down
wheelhouse front window during installation.
Look
carefully and you may be able to see a hydraulic cylinder
(centre right under the window frame). You never know, in a
couple of weeks time there may be a one piece, forward sliding
roof, attached to the front screen, enabling quick, easy
lowering of roof!!
|
Saturday
24th April |
|
Some
good news for us, Elessina (and Piper boats 'Ultimate' Class
sailaways) have been given an RCD Cat 'B' conformity assessment
by the official appointed notified body. We had only specified a
RCD Cat 'C' barge, so getting a Cat 'B' barge is a bonus.... Not
that we ever plan to be in any sea in anything like wind force 8
and 4m waves!!!!.....but it will be comforting to know that when
the 'inevitable surprise' rough seas are encountered Elessina
was built to withstand them.
|
|
 |
|
Lounge
area, with roof and side linings down to gunnels, awaiting Iroko
/ teak trims around windows and across roof beams. |
View from
rear cabin looking through walkway into galley and main lounge
area |
|
|
Sunday
2nd May 2004
This
was our 2nd Open day, an opportunity for anyone
interested in new build barges to have a look over the work in
progress of Elessina. It was equally as popular as the 1st one
with another 40 or so visitors, with 5 pints of milk being
used to make the tea and coffee!. It was nice to meet everyone
and both Leigh and I enjoyed the day. Our thanks to all involved,
especially Andrea who kindly supplied all the food etc.
|
 |
 |
|
With
wheelhouse roof
slid forward
|
Now
fully painted externally |
 |
 |
|
Wheelhouse
roof, supported off hydraulically controlled front screen. The
roof slides forward (see above photo) then lowers onto the
front cabin roof, giving 6'- 9" air draft. With roof up
air draft is 9'-9".
|
Wheelhouse
with front screen and roof, plus 5ft x 3ft wide hatch on cabin
roof. Engine and other navigation instruments will be
installed within the central 'sloping' panel. Entrance to
front cabin is on the right.
|
 |
 |
|
Interior
of wheelhouse, showing part of the 3/4 length side door
opening and seating area
|
Interior
with roof linings, fire surround and roof hatch. Master bedroom
and bathroom are behind the fire place.
|
View
from front looking towards the stern. This area will be the
galley, with cooker and hob between the two doorways. Stairs
to left lead to wheelhouse, passageway to right leads to rear
cabin. |
View
of lounge and fire surround from rear cabin. Access to engine
room is through the doorway on the right hand side. |
|
|
Saturday
22nd May
|
|
|
|
Bubbles
5Kw diesel stove, with coal / flame effect kit, fiddle rail
and remote sensing fire valve.
|
Rear cabin
convertible dinette under construction
|
|
|
Saturday
19th June
Progress
has slowed over last few weeks, partly because we asked Piper
Boats to fit-out the rear cabin with narrowboat style convertible
dinette / double bed and bathroom with shower, vanity basin
and electric loo to black storage tank. Delivery now scheduled
for Thursday 1st July to Sheerness docks on the river Medway.
|
|
|
|
Hospital
type (super silent) silencer
in engine room
(It's big!!)
|
Rear
Cabin convertible
dinette (narrowboat style)
|
Saturday
26th June 2004
|
|
Delivery booked for Monday 5th July to Sheerness docks (Sheerness
could not do the 1st, transport truck not available on 2nd, so the 5th
it is). Engine and
Bubbles stove were run for the 1st time today with no
problems.
|
|
|
|
Iroko
window surrounds now fitted around the double glazed Wifwerfen
windows.
|
Bubbles
diesel stove now running, with flames. Gives off nice
background heat and is a nice focal point in the saloon.
|
Saturday
3rd July
|
|
With
Elessina craned on to road trailer and with just couple of jobs being
completed prior to truck delivery to Sheerness on Monday
morning, the main bearing 'hinge' on the hydraulically raising
screen failed, causing all three outer panes of the double glazed
toughened glass to break. Delivery now deferred for a week
whilst new glass is made and the cranked arm modified /
lengthened to relieve the forces on the bearing. Further bad
news was that the final inspection a few days earlier by the
RCD conformity official would only rate Elessina a RCD Cat 'C'
certificate because the wheelhouse glass was 1mm to thin (plus
there was no harness points at the front deck, but this could
easily be provided). The toughened glass must be 5mm thick
(single or double glazed), we had two times 4mm thick (double
glazed) panes. I am sure 4mm double glazed units are a lot
stronger than a single 5mm pane, but evidently not!!.
The
positive outcome from the weekend is that the screen bearing
failed at Pipers and that a stronger / improved solution will
be provided prior to delivery, plus, with the breakage of the
screen we have decided to replace all the wheelhouse glass
with 5x5 double glazed panes (and add harness points at bow)
so that a RCD Cat 'B' certificate can be given. Although disappointing,
in the scheme of things, another week but with a RCD Cat B
rating and a stronger screen raising / lowering mechanism, is
maybe not such a bad thing. We did not original specify RCD
Cat 'B' or a hydraulic screen / roof lowering, so both can be
seen as bonuses really.
Rescheduled
delivery date is dependent on 3 things; 1) Piper Boats
completing the work, 2) Transport truck availability and 3)
Sheerness Dock availability,
|
|
|
|
Elessina,
on her trailer, awaiting final transport to Sheerness dock
|
|
|
|
Rear cabin
bathroom (shower is around corner on the left). Electric loo
plumbed in to black storage tank.
|
Rear cabin
convertible dinette (narrowboat style, but an extra 6"
wider) shown without table and carpet. Storage under and
behind each bench.
|
Saturday
10th July
New
bearing and screen hinge mechanism now fitted. The hinged /
cranked arm is now over twice the length, which means the
force required to lift / lower screen and roof is less than
half what it was before, relieving the forces on the bearing.
Unfortunately the replacement glass had not arrived as
promised (now due Monday), so the operation could only be
tested with the old (single pane) glass, but it raised and
lowered very well. Nice and smoothly, no problems.
|
|
Tuesday
13th July 2004
|
|
We
are in!!!. Despite traffic delays along M25 etc. Elessina was
final launched. Many thanks to Duncan Milner for safely
delivering Elessina from Stoke (tel 07774 627997) and to Dave Redwood, Paul Sands
and the team at Sheerness Dock (01795 - 596566)
who did a great job craning her
in. It was getting close to sun set so we decided to moor up
at Sheerness dock and motor up to our mooring the following
day. Wednesday saw force 4 / 5 winds and white top waves, and
Sheerness is pretty open on the Thames / Medway estuary!!.
Elessina was a little light on ballast so we filled up the
fresh water tanks (1,500 litres) and diesel (1,000 litres) and
set off to our mooring at Cuxton some 15 miles upstream. She
handled beautifully, a very respectable 7.9 knots over land
speed on the gps against tide and wind with no noticeable
engine temperature increase. Cruising very comfortably at 5.5 knots
and 1300rpm. No problems at all, just needs a little more
ballast, which Simon Piper is installing Thursday.
|
|
|
Crane-off
and Crane-in at Sheerness ......... and at Port Medway marina,
Cuxton
|
|
| <<<
Build Fabrication Photos
Home
Next
Page >>>DIY Fit-out on mooring |