Photos of Harbour

It was amazingly beautiful crisp cold night and our new 'back yard' looked so lovely. Click the pics to see them bigger.

Preparing for Christmas

We are spending Christmas on the boat somewhere quiet on the river Avon as planned a long time ago. Obviously we did not think the interiors would be as spartan as they happen to be, but ho-ho, it's Christmas, we'll keep our spirits up.

We bought a secondhand cooker (pictured) from another boater via a forum. A gas man will come to install it tomorrow. This means no cold turkey sandwiches for Christmas, but a proper warm dinner! We will be warm as well as fed: Iain bought a nice stove which he's been fitting into position today. I opted out from having running hot water as the piece of equipment for generating it (calorifier) costs around £400. We'll buy it some time after Christmas. Running cold water we already have (No, not the river! A tap!). We will have 12 volt internal lighting fitted so that we can see each other on Christmas eve without running the engine... (we can have 240 volt stuff on but it drains the batteries quickly). Iain rang me at work to say that he's spotted some recessed ceiling spotlights on reduced price - £2 for three - and would I like them? I first said no because they were the wrong colour (brass) but being so cheap we bought them anyway. We can always change them to ones we like more. Gumtree found us an old stinky portable toilet (well, I do not know if it's stinky, may not be) within a day which was great. We'll take two collapsible chairs with us and handy Iain has already made us a table of a piece of ply. Internal walls should go up on Monday.

We'll make the boat really cosy with rugs, decorations and a Christmas tree, bring our laptops and some films, lots of food and drink, good mood and music, and I am sure we will have a great Christmas!

Cooker, stove & floor in brief

Been a little problem lately which I will go into detail later, but has caused another 3 week delay to work. The spending spree continues, we have just bought a New World lpg gas safe cooker, a Franco Belge Belmont multifuel stove and have found a nice floor, which we both agree on (which is out of stock but will be here in New Year). The cooker will be fitted on friday and I will start installing our 3000w inverter charger this week.

Bathroom waterproofing

I am trying to figure out what needs be done in the bathroom to prevent any problems with moisture. I am coming from the Finnish point of view of waterproofing it altogether ie. "tanking" it. Here is a three-minute guide on tanking:


Having thought about it, we could get away with only waterproofing the corner where the shower is, using similar technique as presented in the video. Moisture protected plaster board would be attached to the walls and the waterproofing stuff applied on that, and then tiles on top. Using plasterboard would minimise any movement and prevent cracks on the tiling. The corner would have silicon seal allowing some movement.

Options for the floor

A. No waterproofing
The floor would still be vulnerable. We could just use a bathroom mat which we would hang to dry. Some weak points would still remain: the join between the shower tray and the wall, the corners of the shower tray and the floor and any corners of the walls and the floor. Water getting under the shower tray would be problematic and water on the floor near the walls could climb up.

B. Waterproofed with lino
We could of course waterproof the floor as well (this is a must in Finland). The trouble is that we will have a nice floor throughout the boat, which we would not like to ruin by applying the waterproofing stuff (hmmm.. why? In case the next owner(?) wants a wooden floor in the bathroom). A snugly fitting piece of lino could be laid over the floor, waterproofing applied on top of that, and then tiled or lino fitted on the top.

C. Lino over the top
I am slightly worried about laying lino over the floor without any waterproofing underneath, because if moisture gets under the lino somehow (through a tear/bad weld) it cannot really get out, and will then damage the floorboards and so on... and we would know nothing!

We'll see! I am still researching!

Bought equipment - water & heating etc

Just a very quick note to say that we've spent a lot of money lately, and have a stack of boxes with new equipment. Inverter (it's large!), water pump, shower pump etc. The work will carry on next week after a family oriented weekend. More news then!

Bought a shower

We bought a shower enclosure yesterday! It is lovely!

How did we get there? After some thinking we decided against having a bath: we are not really bath people and a bath takes a lot of water and we could not get a very big one (small baths are not nice). We wanted a nice big shower. A lot of showers that we have seen feel cheap, their doors are noisy and don't slide well and not even close, the crome plating looks like it's going to fall off and the glass (or plastic) enclosure walls are thin.

We'd been visiting B&Q several times to look at showers along other things. They had this lovely sturdy, quiet, elegant, big shower enclosure on display. The doors slided smoothly and quietly and sealed perfectly making it watertight, it was so big that we could both get in at the same time to wash each others' backs, and all materials were very good quality. But it cost almost £1,000.

Here it is. Deluvio Off-set Quadrant Shower Enclosure

Then one day... we got so lucky! All the showers were 1/3 off - we went to see it, inspected it all over and came back home to do some thinking and comparing prices on the internet. Some days later we returned. Panic! All the 1/3 off signs had been removed!

A helpful member of staff checked the offer on the computer and told us that today was the last day of the offer and they had already removed the signs as it was close to the closing time. So we bought it straight away! We also had a discount voucher that gave 15% off and we could use that too on the transaction. The voucher offer started that day. The timing was so perfect! We got our dream shower nearly half of the original price. *Big smile*

Which floor?

I have added a little poll to the page, let's see how it works! We are still trying to decide which floor we ae putting in. Vote for what you think is the best! A voting box is in the right column and will stay there for a week or two. (6 Nov - I changed the poll provider, hopefully this one works better!)

Iain likes the idea of a solid wood floor. It sounds better, it is more classic, it is real and has character, it can be sanded and re-treated. It would last, but could warp when the atmosphere changes.

Engineered floor boards would have the same look as solid wood floor, but less character ie. knots and other faults. Being made of layers, engineered floor would be less 'lively' than solid wood; there would be less expansion. The top layer is real wood and it is a few millimetres thick. It could be sanded but less aggressively than solid wood.

Then there are the others: carpet, lino, laminate, vinyl, cork and so on. We do not like dust-gathering smelly carpets and think that lino, laminate and vinyl could look cheap (although there seem to be good looking ones available nowadays) and cork.. do not know where that came from!

I like solid floor too, but if engineered floor would look the same, why not go with that. I think it might be 'safer' option. Our choice of species will likely be oak, but we have looked at bamboo (environmentally friendly) and spruce aka whitewood (traditional where I come from, Finland). Both species may feel a little alien here, so most likely oak it will be.

Fitting the ceiling boards

I had Friday off work and helped Iain to fit the ceiling boards. The job was very satisfying and we like the result a lot. The less sprayfoam we see, the better!

Iain cut the window holes very neatly. Some of the sprayfoam insulation can also be seen in the picture.



We propped the boards up with a broom wrapped in an old towel so that the boards would not get damaged. Then we screwed the lower edge to the batten.



Then we fed the electric wires through the small holes Iain had drilled on the boards. The texture, grain of the wood, shows through the paint on the boards. This was the idea and we like the look of it.



Next we pushed the boards to shape, using another wider broom, and screwed them to the battens.



The end result! Very white! Wooden floorwooden internal walls and wooden lower parts of the wall will help to give it a softer look.

Cutting window holes

Iain has been cutting holes to the now-painted boards. I have not seen them yet, but from what I have heard, it's gone well. They are in the right place and the right size! I could not have done it myself, too frightening, as once a hole is made, it cannot be undone.

All painting is done now (well, apart from couple of small strips). I like the finish we achieved and it looks exactly what we wanted it to look like.

I have taken photos with Iain's phone but he's been unable to upload them. We will post some photos Soon I promise. In the meantime, have a look at this swan trying to eat our boat. He was nibbling away the deck. Then he decided to eat the leaf behind him. How yummy.

Underfloor heating

I spent long researching this possibility, but I am sad to say that we decided not to do it (with this boat ;-) but maybe the next). Here is a summary of my thoughts and findings. I crossed out electric systems early on because they use a lot of electricity (30-40% more than water systems). This brings running costs up and also, being on a boat, we would not necessarily be hooked up to an electricity point all times. Would be crazy to run it off the batteries!

Why I like it

• Less heat goes to waste. Hot air rises from the floor level towards the ceiling warming you up on the way. Feels nicer. Radiators heat the ceiling space first.
• Less clutter and corners that gather dust. Easier to arrange furniture.
• Cheaper to run. Uses much cooler water (50°C) than radiators (75°C) and so less energy is needed to heat the water. Can be up to 50% more efficient than radiators.
  
• Said to be easy to install.
  

Things not so great

• Costs more first. Here is one pack from Screwfix, costing over £700. A bit cheaper from Plumbline, depending whether one (£540) or two circuits are needed.
• Adds to the floor thickness. This is a problem only in places where every centimetre counts, like our boat... Two centimetres (or even less) is nothing, but it is still one of the reasons why we decided not to choose underfloor heating.
• Can affect solid wooden floor. With wood products it is very important to climatise them. Turning the heating on under newly laid floor may warp the boards. Increasing the temperature is recommended to be done over some time to allow the wood to adjust.
• If rugs are used over the floor, the floor can get too hot under them causing problems. Technical documentation is available from www.uhma.org.uk

Discussion
Some say why to heat the fish? No heat will escape to the fish underneath if the insulation is how it should be. No cold should come through either. What if it breaks and you need to rip the floor off? This is highly unlikely to happen. The pipe is continuous and flexible and been in use for years.

Links
Channel 4 - How to Heat Your Home
Heating Advice for a boater (a bit useless I think)
Nu-Heat (supplier)
Uponor (supplier)
Continental (supplier)
Diypaintbox.com - Water underfloor heating
Warmup (supplier)

Boats with Underfloor Heating (found on the web)
Clifton Cruisers' Ted n' Den (hire boat)
2002 Liverpool boat (for sale)
Motor sailer (for sale)
Great Escape (boat builders)
Houseboat (for sale)

Painting the lining

OK, now I have actually started painting.

We bought an electric spray gun, Bosch PFS 55 Fine Spray System from Screwfix. I was convinced it would do the job fine after seeing this wonderful (italian) demonstration on Youtube and seen it on The Independent's 50 Best Power Tools List.

For primer we used Dulux Trade Quick Dying MDF Primer. It was only when we were in the shop when we made the final decision which top coat to use. At the end we went for Dulux Trade Diamond Quick Drying Eggshell. Both paints are water based (and therefore are better for the environment with less VOC's and will not toxify the atmosphere when we are onboard) . The water based paint sprays better than gloss (we sprayed the backs of the boards with gloss to protect them from any humidity). The backs of the boards can be seen in the picture (we used them as practice boards as the finish does not need to be presentable!).



We started with the ceiling boards.

I had not used an electric sprayer before, but it seemed to function more or less the same way as an air one. We decided between me and Iain that I would do the painting (spraying as Tuisku had a lot more experience having studied set design at college). Tuisku adds here that: I have studied cabinet making (1 yr), set design (3 yrs) and worked in a workshop restoring furniture which all involved preparing surfaces and applying laquers and paints using a sprayer, so I was quite happy to go & spray!

First I prepared the boards by wiping off any dust (did not bother sanding at this stage). Then I put one coat of primer on. The paint is really quick to dry, so when I got to the last board, I could almost straight away start sanding the first one. The first coat of paint had raised all the grain and so I sanded them lightly, with 240 grade disc using an oscillating sander and then lightly by hand with 320 grade paper. First coat of primer pictured below.



Then I wiped the boards with a damp cloth and sprayed the second coat. I sprayed both coats horizontally; however I will do the next set horizontal, then vertical to avoid any stripes. They should not be visible anyway as next the boards will be painted with at least two coats of the eggshell.

After Iain sanded the boards, I put the first coat of the eggshell on today. The boards look really good and I was quite impressed with myself getting such a good finish. The grain still shows nicely through which was the idea. Tomorrow I will apply the second coat and then we can start working on the wall boards.

Choosing paint and a sprayer

Me and Iain are getting different advice regarding paints and their application methods, which has not been making the choice easy.

Our local Dulux Decorator Centre recommended me Dulux trade quick drying MDF primer (water based) and Dulux trade eggshell (solvent based). They could be applied with a paint brush. The eggshell paint self-levels and so gives a better finish than an emulsion paint. The MDF primer would not fill the grain on the ply as wood primer would do and so it would give a finer surface.

We are now hunting a sprayer to apply the paints. It would make the job so much quicker and give a good finish. We cannot seem to find a suitable (and not too expensive) sprayer. Would be a shame to waste good paint with splattering spray work... We may end up hiring a spray kit that comes with a compressor. The other option is to get an electric sprayer. I do not have experience with an electric (airless) one, but have done plenty of spraying with a conventional one. Anyway, by the end of the week we will have this done.