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THE FITTING OUT OF THE BOAT HAWKESBURY - KEEPING YOU UP TO DATE

This will not be the detailed coverage of the boat building process as was the coverage of Carlton and Measham, and if you wish the full information on the fitting out a narrowboat, please view the pages covering their respective builds.

This is just to keep hirers and potential hirers of the new boat Hawkesbury up to date with the progress of their boat.

16th. November 2009 The bare interior of the shell, with the stainless steel water tank present but not yet to be fitted.	16th. November 2009 Inside the poly-tunnel Hawkesbury is being completely painted up to and including the first top coat. The final top coat and any minor remedial work will take place when the boat has been completely fitted out. The steel of the hull is now totally weather proofed.

19th. November 2009 With the windows still absent the ballast is placed into the hull, I believe approximately eight tonnes. Engineering grade "blue" bricks are used as these bricks will not absorb any water.	19th. November 2009 The ballast (bricks) being tightly placed on the top of bitumastic felt.

21st. November 2009 Now that the convenience of the windows being absent while placing the ballast has past they are quickly installed to make the interior of the boat weather proof. Work can now proceed on the interior of the boat without it being in the poly-tunnel, freeing it up for the painting of the fleet during the Winter period.	1st. December 2009 The stainless steel water tank has been fitted along with the water pump and constant pressure cylinder.

1st. December 2009 The final section of the floor being fitted showing the battening to the floor strengthening steel cross members. The floor panels are then fixed to the wooden batens. All floor battening and the flooring grade ply is treated with "cuprinol" wood preserver.	1st. December 2009 The fitting of the floor panels is finished and the wooden battening of sides and roof of the boat has begun. You will see later that the battening is required to be able to fix the finished side panels, as well as piping, wiring, and other fixtures and fittings. You rarely fix straight into the steel of the boat. The wooden battening is used as an intermediary fixing.

29th. January 2010 All the battening is finished and the shell has been swept out ready for the foam insulation to be applied to the inside of the boat.	30th. January 2010 Here we have a picture of the foam insulation almost, but not quite finished, showing before and after areas of the boat. Below the gunnels on the right hand side is still to be sprayed. The excess foam on top of the wooden battens has already been removed in most areas.

7th. February 2010 The foam insualtion has been completed and all the battening has been exposed and excess foam trimmed back to the height of the battens.	6th. March 2010 The engine, calorifier, prop shaft and other engine room items have been fitted.

6th. March 2010 Close up of the propeller shaft and stern tube greaser, the green "box" to the left is the weed hatch, this is above the actual propeller, for daily inspection purposes.	6th. March 2010 The fixing of the internal cladding has begun.

26th. March 2010 The internal cladding is now well on the way to being completed, on the sides and the ceiling. This image looking to the rear of the boat. Also note evidence of the wiring looms.	26th. March 2010 This image looking to the front of the boat, again with evidence of the fitted wiring.

26th. March 2010 It is only here and there that you can see evidence of the electrical wiring system, but it is already substantially complete, ready for the actual fitting of controls, appliances and lighting, which will not take place until the end of the fitting out process.	7th. April 2010 This will be the last "complete" photograph I will be able to take of the inside of the boat, the bulk heads are going in and that is when taking the photographs becomes somewhat challenging.

April 9th. 2010 A view from the front of the boat through the galley/saloon area to see that the bulk heads have been positioned, but at this time with only "light" fixings, as with some later processes they will need to be removed and replaced before final fixing.	April 9th. 2010 Looking down the passage way to the rear of the boat the respective bulk head position for cabins and bathrooms (two complete bathrooms on Hawkesbury) can be seen

April 9th. 2010 Above is the galley saloon area looking to the front of the boat. Note the boxes to the right of the image, these are the kitchen units ready to be fitted. And look closely through the right hand window, "having a minute" in the plastic chair at the side of the boat is Rob Bryan the man responsible for the fitting out Hawkesbury. As he was for the boats Carlton and Measham.	April 9th. 2010 Photograph of one of the central bedrooms, the plumbing pipe work will all be encased after the radiators have been fitted.

April 9th. 2010 View of the rear cabin looking to the back of the boat.	April 9th. 2010 View of the rear cabin looking to the front of the boat.

April 9th. 2010 View of the bulk head positions looking to the front of the boat from the rear cabin.	April 9th. 2010 View inside one of the two bathrooms, note the laminated facing of the plywood cladding, currently overed with a plastic "film" to protect it.

April 14th. 2010 The cooker, literally, "going in" to the boat.	April 14th. 2010 Rob and Rick admiring their handy work, the cooker fitting perfectly as it should , but you are never absolutely sure until it is "in".

April 14th. 2010 The four ring double oven cooker, there wil also be a microwave.	April 14th. 2010 Work has started on the bunks in the rear cabin. There will be storage under the bottom bunk and you can also see the central heating pipe work being boxed in.

April 14th. 2010 The toilet tank being fitted to the rear bathroom, between the actual batroom and the cental cabin, viewed from the bathroom	April 14th. 2010 The toilet tank being fitted to the rear bathroom, between the actual bathroom and the cental cabin, viewed from the central cabin.

17th. April 2010 The "dynamic duo" Rob Bryan and his son Richard, although some would say one is more "dynamic" than the other, but Richard is learning fast. Along with "Birdman" Rick, seen in the kitchen above, this is the fitting out team. With "Diesel Dave" responsible for the fitting of the engine, engine controls and battery array.

17th. April 2010 Progress on the rear cabin that will have four bunk beds.	17th. April 2010 The rear shower and toilet compartment.

17th. April 2010 One of the central cabins, looking to the front of the boat, showing fitting of the central toilet tank and runners for the drawers that will give underbed storage. The feature alcove is yet to be fitted, and there will also be storage in this space between the two central cabins.

17th. April 2010 One of thr central cabins looking to the rear of the boat.	17th. April 2010 The fitting of the toilet tank in the forward showeroom.

17th. April 2010 The shower tray in the forward shower compartment. Both shower trays are of heavy porcelain construction	17th. April 2010 Looking into the galley and to the front of the boat, showing the progress of the fitting of the kitchen units.

30th. April 2010 The rear cabin looking to the rear of the boat, the bottom bunk on the left is now complete as is the support for the top bunk.	30th. April 2010 The back of the engine control panel which is now fitted, but not connected. Note some hard wood trim is already being fitted.

30th. April 2010 The rear cabin looking to the front of the boat, the bottom bunk is now complete, as is the support for the top bunk.	30th. April 2010 The rear bathroom adjacent to the rear cabin, showing hot and cold water supply to the Mira shower.

30th. April 2010 The rear shower, adjacent to the rear cabin, showing the Mira, mixer, shower head.	30th. April 2010 The rear shower room in the course of being fitted, only top quality fixtures and fittings are used, the hand basin and toilet are of heavy porcelain construction.

30th. April 2010 This is an image of the Alde central heating and hot water boiler positioned but not yet fitted.	30th. April 2010 In this image of the forward cabin you can see the rear of the Alde boiler, in the lower left of the image. The feature alcove has been finished and placed, just needing the hardwood "plugs" to be inserted for the final "finish".

30th. April 2010 Alde boiler vent fixed on the top of the boat.	30th. April 2010 The fixing of the boiler vent viewed from inside the boat.

30th. April 2010 The image above shows the progress in the forward shower room, the Mira shower has also been fitted but not shown here, as it is the same as in the already pictured rear shower room.	30th. April 2010 The cooker has been removed to allow the fitting of the gas supply.

30th. April 2010 The full size sink unit has been fitted in the galley, but not yet plumbed in.	30th. April 2010 A view of the securely fitted engine control unit.

10th. May 2010 The rear cabin, that will provide four bunks if required, is now substantially complete, with rear storage space completed, and hardwood trim fitted. The fixed hard wood supports for the top bunks have been fitted.	10th. May 2010 The rear radiator is fitted, and you can see that the pipes have already been boxed in towards the rear of the rear cabin.

10th. May 2010 Looking down the side corridor towards the back of the boot.	10th. May 2010 The first door of many has been fitted, this being to storage space between cabins.

10th. May 2010 The rear shower room showing fitted radiator with associated pipe work. The green pipe is the pumped drain to the shower tray.	10th. May 2010 The fitted radiator to the forward bathroom, with the pipe work boxed in, but still to "finished".

10th. May 2010 Rob wanted you to see a picture of "his" newly hatched moorhen chicks. They are in a nest in the corner of his polytunnel, even with all the noise and movement associated with fitting out a narrowboat. There are/were five chicks if you look closely.	15th. May 2010 Wiring looms being run in the side roof trunking in preparation for the wall lighting. You will see later how this is capped to provide a traditional decorative hardwood feature, but at the same time allow easy access to the wiring should it be required.

15th. May 2010 The wiring looms on the corridor side of the boat.	15th. May 2010 The forward shower room is now well on to being completed, with just the surround to the window needing fitting, and hardwood plugs being inserted in the hardwood trim. But it will all need a "fine" sanding down, cleaning and "oiling", but that will not be done until the whole interior is ready.

29th. May 2010 The rear cabin that will contain four bunks is now finished except for fitting the port-hole surround, the lights, cleaning and "oiling". Note all the wiring ducting has been capped and trimmed with featured hardwood.	29th. May 2010 The bases to the fixed double beds in the central and forward cabins have been completed.

29th. May 2010 The hardwood trim to the fixed bed bases and the under bed storage has been completed.	29th. May 2010 You can see that there are two large under bed storage draws to the forwards cabin.

29th. May 2010 Most of the wiring ducts have now been capped and trimmed with featured hardwood. In fact most of the hardwood trim has now been fixed, note the completed window surrounds and the hardwood trim around the doorways. The Ashby Boat Company boats are fitted out in a more traditional manner where hardwood decoration plays an important part in the interior appearance. The wood will "come to life" once it has been "oiled".

29th. May 2010 image showing general advanced level of finish, central heating pipes still needing to be enclosed.

29th. May 2010 The Alde central heating boiler is now connected up, and the central heating circulation pump put in line. 18th. June 2010 (addition) The central heating has now been tested and is working, too well on the hot day that it was left running to test it.)	29th. May 2010 The header tank to the central heating boiler, also the flue.

29th. May 2010 The header tank to the central heating boiler showing the filler cap.	29th. May 2010 The forward shower room is now substantially complete with just the toilet, lights and vanity items to be fitted.

29th. May 2010 This is a view looking to the front of the boat from the galley area to the saloon. If it was not for the clutter you could see that this area is well on the way to being finished, with some items being constructed outside of the boat. The sky light surround is still to be fitted.	29th. May 2010 This is a seating and storage unit that will be in the saloon of the boat. It is built to be free standing to allow extra sleeping accommodation to be created in the saloon.

29th. May 2010 The battery array has been fitted. These are charged off two separate alternators.	29th. May 2010 The blue cylinder in the image is the now plumbed in calorifier that can transfer heat from the engine cooling system to heat the water held within the insulated tank to provide hot water for washing and showering.

18th. June 2010 The windows have been removed so that the final coats of paint can be applied to the boat. Note the coarse sand that has been applied to the last but one coat of black paint on the gunnels. This will be painted over with the final coat of black paint, this will provide improved grip to rubber soled footwear as you walk along the gunnels, as you do.	18th. June 2010 This is Joy, the Ashby Boat Company boat painter, trained by Rob who is fitting the boat out. And in reply to the question, "does my bum look big in this", no Joy, your bum does not look big in those shorts.

18th. June 2010 I think this is the final coat of gloss, but I am never sure as they put so many coats on.	18th. June 2010 This highlights my last point, this seemed a perfectly good coat of gloss to me and then it was sanded down again for the final coat.

18th. June 2010 An internal image of the galley with all woodwork finished sanded and oiled.	18th. June 2010 Ignore Rob's pots of paint and look at the practically finished inside of the galley, even the curtain rails are in place.

18th. June 2010 An image showing the fronts to the kitchen units, note the bare floor, soon the laminate flooring will have been laid.	18th. June 2010 The rear cabin with the four bunk beds looking to the rear of the boat, predominantly showing the bottom bunks.

18th. June 2010 Above is an image of of the rear cabin looking to the back of the boat, showing the completed top bunks.	18th. June 2010 Here is a picture of the rear four berth cabin looking to the front of the boat. The porthole surround and the lights remaining to be fixed.

18th. June 2010 The DC/AC converter that will provide a limited amount of AC 240 volt electrical power for "light" use items such as mobile telephone chargers, laptops, personal music items, etc..	18th. June 2010 This is a view of one of the central double berth cabins, still some light still to fix, and the porthole surround, but otherwise complete.

18th. June 2010 A "craft" item here for those who may be interested. Here are the hardwood plugs, missing and waiting to be used, that are used to cap the fixing screws to the hardwood trim throughout the boat. This attention to detail, will take several days of the fitting out time.

18th. June 2010 Here is a close up of the hardwood trim, that is a feature of the fitting out of an Ashby Boat Company narrowboat. And I have not chosen the "best bit" just the bit that was easiest to obtain a good photograph. Click the image to enlarge. You will find that on the top rail of trim there is still a screw recess to plug, and to the left an inserted plug that still needs to be sanded down to match its surround.

21st. June 2010 The final touches of the painting of the boat taking place. Please take notice of Will, who feels he is being left out, who has drawn the short straw to do the "blacking" of the lower part of the boat.	21st. June 2010 The boat painting is now complete, with the exception of removing some masking tape, when the paint has hardened. The windows will also be replaced as soon as the paint is "hard".

21st. June 2010 The laminate floor has been installed by outside specialist contractors. Here you see the floor in the galley looking to the front of the boat, (and Joys legs).	21st. June 2010 The floor of the galley, and a nice tidy galley, looking to the rear of the boat.

21st. June 2010 The gangway looking to the rear of the boat.	21st. June 2010 A view of one of the shower rooms, the other is exactly the same, the protective plastic still needs to removed from the shower cubicle.

26th. June 2010 Hawkesbury has finished being painted and the the windows are now permanently fixed. Rob has now handed the boat over to the boat yard as all actual ftting out is now complete.	26th. June 2010 The engine fitting out is now complete, except I am told, for the thermal lagging of the exhaust pipe. I have a correction to an earlier comment, there is one battery dedicated just to starting the engine, two batteries for the internal 12 volt boat system, and two batteries for the 240 volt inverter system. These three systems charging and discharging independently.

26th. June 2010 The wiring of the control panel has been completed but just needs testing before the front is fixed.	26th. June 2010 The front of the control panel.

26th. June 2010 The ceiling lights have been fixed.	26th. June 2010 Again showing fixing of ceiling lights and curtain rails.

26th. June 2010 Wooden porthole surrounds have been fixed.	26th. June 2010 Showing finished porthole and curtain rails.

26th. June 2010 Both shower rooms are complete but need ancillaries put in place, e.g. the shower curtain hanging.	26th. June 2010 Shower rail still needs to be fitted in this bathroom.

28th. June 2010 The curtains and cushions were made and are being fitted by the ladies of the "Cane and Cushion Shop" of Hinckley.	28th. June 2010 The curtains in the side corridor.

28th. June 2010 An example of the curtains across a porthole.	28th. June 2010 The sprung mattresses for the bunks going on board. The mattresses for the double beds can be seen in the background. They cannot go on board until their are less people working in the boat.

28th. June 2010 The mattresses in place on the lower bunks in the rear cabin. The wrappings left on until everything is finished.	28th. June 2010 The shower rails to the Mira showers have now been fitted, and the shower  curtains hung.

28th. June 2010 A finished shower cubicle, they are the same in both shower rooms.	28th. June 2010 The shower tray is of heavy porcelain construction.

29th. June 2010 The central cabin showing the bunk that can be fitted above it if required. It also shows the curtain "roundels" that are used instead of curtains where there is a top bunk. This provides privacy and insulation.	29th. June 2010 This bunk has been fitted out with a child's duvet for this trip, rather than the "Company" duvet pattern.

29th. June 2010 The central cabin without a bunk option.	29th. June 2010 The cental cabin looking down the bed.

29th. June 2010 The shower room equipped for use, they are both the same.	29th. June 2010 A different view of the shower room, showing the wash habd basin and toilet.

29th. June 2010 Dave insisted on this picture to show that he had lagged the exhaust, and he had even cleaned the engine for its maiden voyage.	29th. June 2010 And finally, "Diesel Dave" filling Hawkesbury up with diesel for it first trip down "The Ashby".

BYE BYE

This is the end of this page, there will be no more Hawkesbury fitting out pictures.
Hawkesbury went out on its maiden voyage on the evening of Tuesday the 29th. of June 2010. It has been taken out by one of the Ashby Boat Company partners and his family for two days.
This will be both a pleasure trip and a "snagging" trip just to iron out any little things that may have been missed. Hawkesbury then returns to be taken out by one of our regular hirers for a week and will then be truly ready for the first actual hirer. I do not think that they will be disappointed.
I hope that you have enjoyed keeping up with the progress of the fitting out, and that it has been of interest. It has been enjoyable doing it, except for the last few days when it has been difficult to keep up.

I am trying to get a complete "team" photograph of all those that have been involved in the fitting out and painting of the boat, but it is difficult to get them all in the same place at the same time, but I will try.