Build Update 7

I've been a bit lax in the update department, it's been a good few weeks since the last update and a lot has happened, plus things are really starting to progress quite quickly now.

Right, where were we? Oh yes, the boat was still in the steel work unit and the builders were sat on it in their Christmas hats.

Ok, Piper had their Christmas shut down so I didn't hassle them for an update until the 12th January. As you can see we're no longer in the steel work unit, we've been shifted next door and have been squeezed into the fit out unit which makes it a bit difficult to fit the whole boat into the picture.

Anyway, here she is, second week of January, primed and rubbed down ready for undercoat:

One of the first meaningful internal shots. The first fix plumbing and wiring have been done and the base floor is mostly in. The spray foam insulation is being done the following day so all the preparation is in readiness for this:

Another shot looking in to the cabin from the wheel house:

The following week, Friday 20th January, we do the 350 mile round trip to the Piper Factory at Biddulph, a few miles North of Stoke on Trent, it's an early start but probably the most exciting visit to date.

The first two pictures show the boat now resplendent in grey undercoat and being rubbed down to be ready for topcoat. The topcoat is being done this very evening and has the weekend to dry without any dust etc from work to the other boats spoiling the finish:

The wheel house to be:

Two pictures of the inside, now spray foam insulated, a wonderful (lilac?) colour. Cabin sides and roof battened ready for the fixing of the lining panels:

And taped to the cabin side the plan:

It's good to visit, during this one we notice a couple of things:

We wanted some low level lights at the stern, there's no sign of them. they're only decorative in reality and not really important, but we wanted them, we just hope it's not too late to do anything about it.

We also specified 'light oak' for the finish in the wheel house, it's been started in sapele. We have a bit of a discussion about this and decide to stay with the sapele, as long as we get a light oak table. It seems that it would have been quite a bit of work to change this at this stage, Piper owe us a favour.

It also seems that our chosen washer dryer may not fit where we want it, so there's quite a bit of discussion as to what to do. The 3D CAD system is quite impressive as it shows the back of the washer clashing with one of the ribs. I'm tasked with taking a picture of the side of the machine when I get home and putting all the necessary dimensions on it to confirm whether or not we have a problem. It's the first time they've put a machine where we want ours so it's a bit of a learning exercise. After checking again using my measurements, it seems it may be ok. It'll soon be time to take the machine up there, so we'll find out for certain then!


Also during this week I've started on the things to do list:

1. Arrange for the ship's radio licence with Ofcom, this is done on-line and is fairly easy to do, I'd done it before for the VHF set on the narrowboat. Piper needed my MMSI and ATIS numbers which are programmed by the supplier prior to delivery. I already have an operator's licence.

2, Register the boat on the Small Ship's Register. This is required for us to cruise in Europe, a bit more difficult this one, I found the website a bit odd (what else would you expect from the MCA?) and after paying the £25 registration fee I get an email with a form to fill in, sign, scan and return. Despite all this, when we get our registration, the names are wrong so it's been returned for correction. Our number is SSR166852

3. We're going to licence with the Canal and River Trust. If we licence with the Environment Agency we have to have a unique name, there is already a 'Deep Thought' on their register. CRT don't have this requirement so we'll take a gold licence with them for our time in the UK, there's virtually no price difference and we can use Limehouse lock for free should we require.

The licence application requires an insurance policy number, so before we can arrange the licence we need to get insurance in place. I had a few quotes already and followed up with GJW, after a bit of tooing and froing mainly over the definition of what constitutes contents, we accept their quote and will put the policy in place ahead of time so we can get the licence organised.

This weeks offering shows progress in the cabin, the pictures aren't great as it's quite dark inside due to the ports being covered:

Looking through the 'guest cabin' window towards the bow:

Looking back towards the guest cabin:
You can see our tall larder cupboard and the steps to the wheel house.

Looking forwards towards our cabin:

Our cabin wardrobe:

Of course all this progress signalled the arrival of the invoice for our 3rd stage payment, better go look in the piggy bank!

We're going back to the factory on Friday 3rd February so expect a further progress update a few days after then!!

Happy New Year

Not posted for a few weeks, so here is the latest, oh and a Happy New Year to you all, I somehow feel that ours is going to be a really happy one!!

 Here's a picture from the second week of December, unfortunately the light on the wheelhouse spoils it a bit. You can see that the portholes have been cut and some of the stainless steel has been attached (handrails & bollards):

Here's one from the third week, you can see now that all of the stainless steel is fitted. The windows have been sealed and the 'thing' on the roof by the dogbox is an extract fan as they've just painted the interior steel:

And here is our Christmas card from Piper Boats, I'm not too sure that they all look as if they want to be there?

So as I said above, with our launch scheduled for sometime in March, we're both really looking forward to the coming year. Our next visit to Piper is scheduled for 20th January when we expect the insulation and lining out to be nearing completion, this will mean a further stage payment (ouch!).

We expect to visit much more frequently after this, probably every two weeks as we understand that the internal fit out starts to move really quickly. Can't wait.