22 January 2011

Roof fully battened, ready for the slates.

Are we in the home straight? The roof is fully battened on white sarking, which I'm pleased about. It will lighten the whole interior. With luck the doors, glazing and slates will go on next week. The electrics are still in the future, but I can live without them for a while. But it will be nice to have them. My builder wants to line and insulate the whole thing, but not now. In the future if I decide to build myself a boat over a winter, then maybe, but it would be a luxury right now. One I can't afford anyway.

I got in the boat for a couple of hours and had made a few minor additions, which I might get completed tomorrow. I can't do the major change I have planned until I get the the West Midlands Boat jumble in a fortnight and restock with stainless steel screws and U bolts. It is a big jumble and I regard it as the start of the sailing season. With luck I can get the paint I need half price in dented tins. Plus endless miles of rope. Last year I opened my own car boot and sold off a lot of sailing junk. I actually made a profit. Most things were bought by dealers before the paying customers came in. I was amazed at the odd things people bought. But not my big collection of Classic Boat magazines, which didn't raise a flicker of interest. They are still blocking up half a room. I don't even like Classic Boat that much. I prefer Watercraft and Wooden Boat. Both of them are bi-monthly, which I think helps keep up the quality of the content. The monthly magazines become dull very rapidly.

2 comments:

  1. Looking amazing Julian, love to see some close-ups showing the construction as I would love to build one myself or find a carpenter who would do the same.

    Regards,

    Andy

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  2. The construction couldn't be much simpler. All the timbers are 50X100 planed and pressure treated. They are all at 450mm centrelines, which is probably closer than necessary. 600 is usual, but this is what my builder is used to. All joints are through screwed, rather than nailed, which makes it much stiffer. The roof joists and rafter ends are screwed initially, an then through bolted. The boarding is just standard 9mm shiplap nailed to the studs. And that is about it. The doors will be vertical boarded. The builder wanted to do them horizontal, but I think the contrast will look better. Slates are artificial. Natural slates were about four times as expensive.

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