Build Day 28

Day 28 of the build of "Alanne".  We drove up to Liverpool to Collingwood Boats fearing the worst. What a relief and a pleasure to see our boat looking fabulous.  My original seating plan had been applied and enhanced, we now have a protective rail around the back of the stern seat. The binnacle which will house the boat controls has been sited next to the seat and is absolutely perfect.  The seating in the enclosed stern area now has hinged metal lids and the space below will house the gas bottles and any tools and equipment for the boat and engine.
Garry is very pleased with the overall look of the boat and they will offer the same stern layout on future boats.  Alan McNaughton was on site and we spoke to him at length on the exact positioning of the windows. and side hatches in the boat.  Now that an agreed layout has been set, the windows will be cut out of the cabin sides and the internal ballast, insulation and flooring will be added.  Alan expects all of this work to be completed mid next week.  We will visit again on Friday the 14th April and with any luck we will be able to walk through the inside of the boat.

               Stern seat with back rail and binnacle to house all engine controls and instrument panel

                  Enclosed seating area at stern.  Note:-  view into engine room, floor/hatch not yet fitted

                       Almost completed bow with the steel fabricator who fashioned the bow.

Build Day 25

Day 25 of the build of "Alanne".  Alarm bells are ringing yet again.  I had a telephone call, today, from Alan McNaughton the owner of Collingwood Boat Builders.  He asked me if I could come to the boatyard tomorrow, (Tuesday), to discuss the layout of the stern of the boat.  It seems a strange time to be asking what we expect the finished stern will look like when its almost completed.  What amazed me most was that Alan wasn't aware I had supplied a fairly detailed plan of the boat and he was asking questions about the seating and controls for the boat, which I believed had already been agreed.  The boat design was based on a boat built by Orchard Marina & Boat Builders in 2012.  This boat named "Mandalay", had been on sale last year and we would have made an offer on this boat, but we were beaten to it by someone else. 
The plan is to visit the boatyard on Wednesday morning to see what's happening.  I only hope they haven't ploughed on with the wrong design.  The completion date was originally set for Jan/Feb 2014.
This date has long since past. Any more setbacks will see the finish date sometime in late April or May.  If there is a major problem we will seriously have to consider if we go on with the boat build.

Build Day 22

Day 22 of the build of "Alanne".  We had a slow drive for the last 10 miles to Liverpool.  Three police cars formed a rolling road block as they escorted an ambulance to Bootle hospital, travelling at almost walking pace, it took 30 minutes to cover those few miles.  I hope that the patient in the ambulance is ok and hope they make a speedy recovery.
"Alanne" is progressing, but still, ever so slowly.  The stern and bow are looking good and almost complete.  The sides and roof are still to be completed.
I decided to check the length and beam of the hull and was pleasantly surprised it was just about spot on, (60' x 6' 10'').  Modern Narrow boats beam must not exceed 6' 10'' or they will not fit into the locks on the narrow canal system.  Canal locks can just accommodate a 7' wide boat, but because locks are showing their age some have developed a slight bow in the lock walls and they can wedge a boat if its the full width of 7'.
Garry was not on site so we are unable to discover when the hull will be finished, but my guess is sometime in the next few working days.

Build Day 15

Day 15 of the build of "Alanne".   We set off on our journey to Liverpool at 9.45.  Anne is driving me today as I have injured my back, not sure how I did it, but it hurts like hell.
Arrived at Collingwoods around 11.35 and set off to find our boat.  True to their word, the infamous boat which we thought was ours has been moved to another unit where they have continued with the fit out.

Back to the important boat from our point of view.  "Alanne" is taking shape, the bow is almost complete and the rear deck looks like it could be the correct size, (as per my plan).. The hull sides are in place and some of the internal ribs have been welded in place.  I spoke to one of the welders about the progress.  He estimated the steelwork would be finished by next Friday.  Slightly longer than Garry estimated, but no problem.
We took some more photos and video before setting off for home again.  We will visit again next Friday and hopefully be able to stand on the stern deck by the tiller.

                                                                  "Alanne". The bow takes shape

                       The stern is looking good.  The deck length from the bulkhead will be 9 feet

Build Day 8

Day 8 of the build of "Alanne", (should be day 21, but hey ho!!).  Hopefully this is the real Mc Coy and this really is our boat.  The boat is still in its early stages.  The base plate has been laid and the hull sides are lying on the base plate.  Garry was on site so we were able to talk the plan over. The hull metal work should be complete by Wednesday 26th February and then the internal fit out can get started.  Garry was very apologetic about the complete hash with the other boat as it has also affected their program as they now have carpenters and fitters waiting for our completed hull. I took a few photos, but not much to see, the only boat in the shed which is now almost complete is the first attempt for our boat, which is not to our specification.

This is the narrow boat we thought was ours and have been following its build

The base plate and sides of the new Alanne on the floor next to the "other" boat

Build Day 14

Day 14 of the build of "Alanne".   I thought things couldn't get any worse after the loss of Lucy.
How wrong can you be!!!  We drove up to Liverpool to see how the build was progressing.  I had a worry that the stern dimensions didn't look right when we visited last time.  I was right to worry and was shocked to see our boat with a cruiser stern, standard internal layout, (bedroom at the stern end) and a build length of 57 feet instead of the 60 feet ordered.  We met Garry who was red faced and apologetic, he told us that the wrong drawings had been issued to the build team and the error had not been realised until Wednesday this week.  We were not impressed as he could have saved us a 160 mile round trip with a simple phone call.  Four wasted trips and a waste of time and fuel to complete 640 miles to see the progress of a boat which was not ours!!! My faith in Garry has been shaken and although he has assured me a new start was underway, I am not sure I want to do it all again.

Build Day 10

Day 10 of the build of "Alanne".  The excitement of seeing our boat being built has been overshadowed  with the loss of our Beautiful Great Dane on Sunday morning.  Without any warning our healthy 2 1/2 year old baby woke up in the middle of the night unable to stand up. We rushed her to our 24 hour vet practice were they diagnosed internal bleeding around her spine. Her condition continued to worsen and we had to make the heart breaking decision to end her suffering.

The visit to see Our boat was without joy.  The boat continues to make good progress and it looks as if the Steelwork will be completed before the weekend.