Narrowboat Alacrity

So far with the refit I have fitted eight packs of solid Oak flooring (Twelve Sq metres) using three litres of Evostik PVA adhesive.

Before I get told off Jo did all the matching of lengths so the overlaps and colouring looked right (she’s good at jigsaws).

We had planned to fit the flooring in the Saloon, Galley, Corridor and Bedroom……………………….

but little unforeseen things happen…….I forgot about under the fridge…….how would we get it out if I floored up to it………so we removed the fridge and I fitted the floor into the recess but now the fridge was too tall to fit so I had to replace the wooden battens which support the worksurface with steel angle supports ……..the fridge now fits again.

“John”………err….yes?……………wouldn’t it look nice if we had wood flooring in the bathroom……………..

The bathroom now has a fantastic looking floor. A lot of time was taken cutting and fitting the planks to allow for the expansion gaps which were filled with cork strip and will be conceled with oak scotia strip to finish it off. The other time consuming bit was rehanging the sliding doors in the bathroom and bedroom and adjusting the track so it ran free. At the rear of the bedroom I have fitted a trapdoor to allow me to remove any water that accumilates at the lowest point of the cabin bilge ( there has been non to remove in 19 years ) and to enable me to adjust the trim with more lead ballast.

Where the L shaped part of the dinette was I have fitted a cupboard and bookshelves, which as you see Jo has already started to use. I plan to fit the doors next week and re varnish the saloon sometime in the next few weeks.

Having just read Lesley K’s post about her new washing machine not fitting on Caxton reminded me about when I changed the fridge on Alacrity. The original fridge was an Electrolux RM360 gas, 12 volt and mains which was seriously losing its will to chill.

Taking careful measurements of where the new fridge was to go and of the size of the front door I visited John Lewis in Welwyn Garden City. Tape measure in hand I measured up all their fridges……………(The staff were very helpful to an obvious lunatic muttering and measuring) and yes I found one, a Lec, perfect fit……………………..

Guess what I hadn’t taken into account……….the curvature of the bow, on Alacrity the front door is set to the right and not in the center………………………Oops…….every way we tried to get the fridge through the door the bow curvature caused it to catch on something.!!!! the air turned blue even the ducks blushed………….later after removing the front door, the door frame and some interior trim we got it in. There was only just enough space to tape some paper to protect the paint.

I also nearly came unstuck last week when I was laying the new oak plank floor…… space above fridge 15mm oak plank thickness 18mm. the result was I had to remove two wooden support battens and replace them with angle brackets to keep the ventilation space………….I told Jo that I had calculated for that……and yes, she didn’t believe me either……………someone was looking down on me favourably that day…….

Having had an easy drive up and luckily found a parking place ( as it was the Braunston Historic Boat Rally) Jo and I moved the tools and bits needed to start the flooring over to Alacrity. It still took three trips even with the trolley.

As posted before we had decided to fit a fully floating solid oak floor as this will allow the wood to expand and contract in the varying temperatures and humidity levels found on a narrowboat. So having sorted out the original floor removing the gripper rod and staples and added many more screws to hold it down we laid a thin foam plastic underlay, this is to allow the new floor to move and acts as cushion.

The oak tongue and grove planks are supplied in in varying lengths from 300 mm to 1200 mm so you have to be a bit good at jigsaws to get away without much wastage and to get a decent random effect. Once we had glued and layed the first two rows work went on a pace helped by the use of a pair of ratchet clamps, ( Screwfix £4.99 cheaper than B&Q £12.99) these really pull the boards together far better than just tapping them with a soft faced hammer.

Even with only half the boards laid the effect was stunning. So with my back and knees complaining we decided to stop and give the glue chance to set………ok  ok  a weak excuse but I needed a beer.