Further and better particulars

Things to think about

It's been a while since I posted here, mainly because we've been boating about, and just keeping up with the every other day pattern of the Living in Sanity posts has been enough, but I thought I should add something this week.

There are a number of minor bits we will need to talk to Peter about sometime over the summer, in addition to the things I mentioned last time. This is a good example of why it's important not to rush the design, and to leave loads of opportunities for second and further thoughts.

Shower Outlet

One of the minor irritations in Sanity (more for others than for ourselves, as you'll see) is that the shower outlet through the hull side comes out above the full length guard (the "rubbing strake"). This means that in a lot of places, it's above the level of the towpath, and when you pump out the shower, a stream of soapy water makes a pool on the path alongside.

If the outlet was below the guard, this would happen a lot less often, and when showering with the boat tied that way round, you wouldn't feel guilty at what you might be doing to the passers-by.

Houdini hatches

We'd already specified a Houdini hatch over the fixed double, as we have on Sanity. Some comments by Elanor after sleeping on board recently made us think about ventilation in the study bedroom. It will be further from the side hatches in Sanity Again than it is in Sanity, and it could get quite stuffy, especially with two young lads in there.

A second Houdini in the galley would both improve the lighting in a busy work area, and make it possible to supply more fresh air to the study bedroom.

Shoreline connectors

Charley Johnson (he of Felonious Mongoose) commented to us after Crick that one thing he regretted not asking for was a second shoreline connector at the bow, so that running a supply from a marina or bankside genny would be easier when the boat was tied bows in to the bank.

This seems to us to be one of those obvious ideas. The extra cost will be quite low when fitted from new, and for our lifestyle, when we are often part of a pack of workers boats tied at a festival, it has the potential to be very useful indeed.

Waste tank vents

Maintaining good conditions in the waste tank is dependent on an adequate flow of fresh air through it. Most tanks have just one breather, at the end nearest the pump out exit, but adding a second one near the entry from the toilet will make it much easier to keep an aerobic fermentation going in the tank, which is the secret of keeping it sweet.

Wine cellar

At a Crick Show the other year, the prize for daft remark of the show went to someone looking round one of the other boats. It was raining at the time, and so the side hatches were shut. Pointing at the decorated doors, she said "that's a handy place to put a cupboard!"

In the same way, we thought that a wine cellar under the cabin floor would be good.

Actually, it's been done before, and we quite fancy the idea. There's just enough space between the floor and the hull plate to store some bottles of wine or cans of beer, and of course it keeps quite cool down there in the summer.

It's just a question of leaving a gap in the stacks of paving slab ballast, and fitting a hatch in the floor over it.

Well, we know Peter likes a design challenge.

VHF

Finally, coming down the Trent last week, I was impressed by the marine VHF rig on one of the boats sharing some of the locks with us. My handheld unit is OK, but had trouble reaching the London VTS base on the Thames last year. A properly mounted rig would be better, as it would have a deck mounted antenna, the most critical element on achieving coverage.

A simple on board unit like the iCom IC-M401 would be waterproof, not too expensive, and could be mounted on the right of the slide, in the mirror position to where the ticket drawer would be in a traditional boatman's cabin.

That's all for this time, but I'm sure there'll be other stuff to talk about before we actually agree the final shell drawing.