Decorateded Boatmans Cabin.

Decorated Boatman's Cabin.

With completion getting ever nearer Keith spent the weekend fitting the last few handles to the galley window doors and the necessary warning labels to meet the safety certificate requirements. I fitted the curtains I made, in the boatman's cabin, and then Keith fitted the numerous lace and ribbon plates he has collected over the years, ready for this very day.
Today Roger is making the removable perspex windows to fit in the galley doors.
The photos below are just more views of the decorated boatman's cabin.

The Stove Area.

I reckon over the coming years there will be many a good casserole cooked in the stove, and curry standing on the top, so if you are cruising past and a waft of curry hits your senses, it is probably coming from our boat LOL.

Stove and Table as Seen from Counter.

My Curtains.

The finished cabin we think looks wonderful and very homely, it is our touch of paradise. I made the curtains from a large piece of material bought from a charity shop for just £1.49, it was an absolute bargin and looks fantastic with the lace. The overall finish is made even better with the roses and castles that Tina painted, everytime I look at those pictures I see something different. Tina has done a wonderful job with the back cabin, so a huge thank you to her for all her hard work.

We Have Moved Onboard

Apologies for the lack of entries lately, things have been a little hectic here. We moved onboard Hadar Thursday last week, and Misty Lady went to her new owner this Tuesday. Despite Hadar being not quite finished we have settled in quite nicely, even Paddy thinks it is great, he has more doors to look out of. Everything works, electrics, hot & cold running water, gas, washing machine and the shower we both christened and it was fabulous compared to the one on Misty Lady, no bathside to have to step up over. Only thing we haven't tested yet is the generator, but we need to take the boat to Stone Boat Builders to fill her up with diesel to be able to do that. When I say fill her up, she takes 150 gallons, 862litres, I hope they have enough for us!!!

Polishing & Stringing

Dressed from the Bow.

As many of you must be aware the weather has not been great, but when the weather held out for long enough I polished all the brass, then helped me Keith fit all the new white strings to the sheeting. Tina was able to touchup some of the paintwork, and gave the boatman's cabin it's final coat of varnish. True to form of late the heavens opened, so rain stopped play.

Dressed from the Stern.

Hadar's Relaunch

Wednesday was quite a day for Keith and I because it was Relaunch day for Hadar. She was getting to see the daylight in her new colours for the first time. The weather was not the best, but it was as good as we were going to get, sunshine and heavy showers were forecast, and that was what we got.

Tina the boat painter had done an amazing job on Hadar's paintwork, and now everyone can see it in its full glory. So a huge thank you to Tina for doing such a wonderful job.

Hadar Ready to Come Out.

Despite the weather yesterday, Roger decided to go ahead with relaunching Hadar. The first stage of her journey begins with rolling her out manually until one strap can be placed around the stern. Then it gets easier as a lift of the stern and the crane drags her out far enough to be able to get the lifting cradle in the right position.

Gently Does It.

At this stage the bow is rolling on rollers inside the shed. It all has to be taken very slowly stopping and checking at regular intervals to make sure everything is going alright.

Halfway Out.

Once she is far enough out of the shed to get the full lifting cradle and both straps on things can move a bit quicker, if a bit precariously. From this point she has to be fully extracted from the shed and then turned through 90° without hitting the main unit, there is not a lot of room for error with a 70' boat.

Full Lift from Now.

With the bow now clear of the unit it is plain sailing from here, everyone back breath again.

Nearly There.

Safely back in the water and hopefully no scratches in the new paintwork. It was a fantastic day, despite the rain. Nothing dampens our spirits. We are now very close to having her finished.

Safely Back in the Water.

Keep watching this space as Hadar is finished. It was an emotional day for us both seeing our new boat go back in the water safely. Thank you Roger for giving her a smooth journey from the paintshed. We are now wearing perminant smiles and will continue to do so for many years to come. We will have more news next week so see you then.

Week Thirty-Six

The Nearly Completed Engine Room Doors.

Well the painting of Hadar is nearly finished. The blue on the inside of the engine room doors has been completed. The doors just need a final touch up tomorrow and she will be ready for craning back into the water, weather depending. The counter deck has received it's 2 coats of red oxide, and the boatman's cabin has had a coat of varnish.

The Completed Counter Deck.

The Finished Engine Room Doors.

Today is now all about waiting. Hadar's paintwork is completed and she is ready to come out of the paintshed. We are just waiting for the weather to settle down. It could be today, but more than likely tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see.

Flywheel Cover.

The Covers in the engine room have been painted and fitted. The red one is to cover the flywheel, and the green one covers the alternators. These should protect both crew and especially Paddy from injury.

Alternator Cover.

The cover over the calorifer has also been fitted. All these covers are easily removable for access and maintenance work.

Calorifier Cover.

Week Thirty-Five

Week Thirty-Five and it has been a week of extreme excitement and hard work on the part of Roger, Tina, Steve with Keith and I helping out.

Boatman's Stove Area Finished.

Work has progressed well inside and outside on Hadar. Roger has finished the area where the range goes in the boatman's cabin. The base is aluminium and the walls are plasterboard. He has also completed fitting the red moulding to the boatman's cabin woodwork. Even young Steve has been working on her, doing various bits and pieces, such as making the fitting for the headlamp to go on the top of the post, the bracket for attaching the klaxon to the slide hatch, and the flywheel and alternator guards for the engine, which are essential to ensure Paddy's tail doesn't get caught in them whilst the engine is running.

Calorifier is Now Boxed In.

The boxing in of the calorifier has now been fitted which will also accept one of the fixings for the alternator guard. Tina has now completed all the signwriting, and it looks really great.

The Completed Signwriting.

Tina finished the signwriting, Hadar looks absolutely amazing. Tina has done such a fabulous job.

Flywheel and Alternator Covers.

With all hands to the pumps, things have been moving along briskly. Many of the smaller fitting and fixtures are being painted, such as the flywheel and alternator covers.

Navigation Lights and Cabin Steps.

All 4 navigation lights have been fitted and the 4 fold down brass steps on the cabin sides. Although not quite traditional I feel that if working boats had carried on in large numbers that boatman would have opted for such luxuries in later life.

Stern Navigation Light and Cabin Step.

The stern navigation light will also act as a deck light as it is independantly switched in the boatman's cabin. This will also mean that it can be used in tunnels without having to have all 4 navigation lights on.

Coal Skuttle, Inner Mast and Boatman's Cabin Floor.

Much of the fittings have started to receive their red oxide and primer coats. For some items such as the coal skuttle innerards and boatman's cabin floor this will be the only coat they will receive. The inner mast will have the upper section painted gloss red, and the lower will remain in red oxide.

Fitted Painted Boatman's Cabin Floor.

It was a good sign that the boatman's cabin was nearing completion when the painted floor goes down. The calorifier box received its coat of primer, and the porthole rings started to be painted. These rings are inserts that fit inside the woodwork, to give a good finish. They are rolled from aluminium sheet. The ones in the boatman's cabin and engine room will be painted red and the remaining ones in the galley and bathroom will be ivory.

Calorifier Box and 1 of the Porthole Rings.

Preparing the Hull for Blacking.

Who let me (Jo) loose with a power tool? We volunteered to black the hull of Hadar as it would be good experience for when we have to do it in the future. I removed the rust, with the sander, that had accumulated whilst she was in the water for 10 months. Whilst I was doing this Keith was masking off the gloss paint areas which meet the blacked area.

Fitted Boatman's Cabin Flooring.

Roger fitted the vinyl flooring to the boatman's cabin floor. We found 2 pieces of this in the corner of the local carpet shop, and got them both for £15. It finishes off the cabin so well, we are both delighted with the look.

Blacking the Hull.

No Keith did not black the whole of the hull with a 1" wide brush! He was filling in the bits that the roller had missed. We rollered the blacking on having seen both this method and brushing it on, and the roller method is definitely easier and quicker.

Final Roses.

As we were blacking the hull this meant that Tina could get on with finishing painting other parts of the boat so that she is ready to come out of the paintshed next week. This included the final set of roses on the boatman's cabin doors, and hopefully the final coat of blue on the inside of the engine room doors.

Completed Blacking from the Bow.

We finished the blacking late in the afternoon. We both were very tired, a 70ft boat takes a lot of blacking. We both slept well that night.

Completed Blacking from the Stern.

Finally for the week Keith finished the blacking by going over the bits that were a bit thin. This was evident on the sections painted over previously unblacked areas, especially where she had been painted in that very light blue holding coat. He also did the sections where the access ladders had been the previous day. Tina finished the roses on the boatman's cabin doors. Jo was busy making the curtains for the back cabin. It was an extremely manic week, but very satisfying to watch and be apart of. Roll on next week when all being well there will be photographs of Hadar coming out of the shed, so watch this space.

Week Thirty-Four.

It has been an extremely busy week in the paint shed for Hadar, and a very exciting week for us as we watched her get her signwriting. It is wonderful to see Hadar actually written on her, she now has her identity. Seeing the signwriting done, makes you appreciate that is is not as easy as it looks. Tina has really done a wonderful job.

Port Side Signwriting.

Just to show that both sides are receiving the same treatment. The bow names were masked off ready for the shadowing.

Bow Name Prepared for Shading.

Port Side Shading Partly Completed.

The start of the shading to all the signwriting at the stern began.

Starboard Bow Name has Received it's Shading.

The start of the shading to all the signwriting has begun with the bow name.

The Completed Grand Union Canal Carrying Co. Signwriting.

The Grand Union Canal Carrying Co. Signwriting was completed except for the shadowing. The lower picture shows it after the masking tape had been removed.

The Masking Tape is Removed.

Engine Room Doors Blue.

The engine room doors received a coat of blue on the inside. The final coat will be the last of the major cabinside paintwork, leaving just the signwriting to be completed. Talking about signwriting this is progressed really well.

Starboard Side Shading at the Stern started.

Starboard Side Shading Partly Completed.

The shading of the signwriting was completed on the starboard side.

Completed Shading of Signwriting on Starboard Side.

The port side is progressing. Note how Tina starts from the right and signwrites to the left, this is because like Keith she is left-handed.

Port Side Shading.

Roger and welder Steve fitted battery boxes below the boatman's cabin floor. You can also see some of the red moulding has been fitted around the various edges of the woodwork in the cabin.

Battery Boxes Fitted.

More of the red moulding can be seen below, along with the raised floor in the engine room which covers the propshaft. This would normally be level with the boatman's cabin floor, but because the flywheel is so large and the engine thus sits very high, it has had to be raised to clear the propshaft.

Engine Room Floor.

Week Thirty-Three.

Week Thirty-Three got off to a flying start, with Tina being very busy in the hold.

Red Oxide on the Hold Bulkhead.

Engine Room Doors Coachline Masked Off.

She also painted the lower section of the hold bulkhead red-oxide to match the inside of the hold.

Black Registration Bar on Cabinside.

Tina painted the black registration bar on the cabinside. This was now ready to receive the signwriting for the BW registration number. She also masked off the coachline on the engine room doors ready to apply the red and blue panels.

Completed Cabin Stern.

The Registration Number in Chalk.

Then some tape is put above and below the writing and then it is a case of painting the letters/numbers in place.

The First Few Letters and Numbers.

Hadars Name on the Bow in Chalk.

Tina started the signwriting today. First she creates the leters/numbers on tracing paper and then covers the other side with chalk powder. This is then held in place and the letters/numbers traced around the outline, leaving the chalk on the boat to create a rough guideline.

The Registration Number and Gauging Number again

Hadars Name on the Bow.

The signwriting is progressing well. Hadar's name is taking shape on the bow. The Reg No is complete along with the gauging number, this is actually her BWB index number. Every narrowboat was given a gauging number so that cargoes could be charged according to their depth as measured with a gauge, hence gauging. The gauging of a narrowboat consisted of measurings its depth below the water level, to ascertain how much cargo was being carried. This gauged depth was then compared against records for the boat using it's gauging number to ascertain how much cargo in weight was being carried and thus how much toll could be charged.

Start of Hadar and Fleet No.

The Registration & Gauging No.s

Hadars Name and Fleet No. Chalked on.

The signwriting progressed really well. Tina chalked Hadar on the cabinside and the fleet number below. She then went onto paint Hadars name and Fleet No. She removed the tape from the Reg & gauging No.s.

Engine Room Doors.

She also painted the red section of the inside of the engine room doors.

Chalked on Grand Union Canal Carrying Co. Details.

Stencils for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co. Details.

More signwriting progressed. Tina attached the stencils for the details of the GUCCCo. Then having traced all the lettering and removed the tracing paper she can tell whether everything is all lined up before starting the painting.