Jim's bit of fancy

Jim has had to slow down a bit on Derwent6 due to the fact that Fernwood can't get the hull into them for a least another two weeks, but it has given him the time to get all the fancy bits right on the stern deck, roof cutouts and rails.


The port and starboard side doors have now been fitted and the stern rear door bulkhead is in.

Alexander Boat's said this boat would be ready for the end of September, and Jim has delivered.

His Quality has been second to none, and the care you can see on the final touches.



All that is needed now are for the Houdini hatches and the doors to be fitted. There is some final straightening up to do, and then Derwent6 will be blackened and primed for Fernwood.

We are off to Fernwood this week to check on progress and go through the fundamentals with Ken and Julia.

Sides are up !

WoW!!!! Jim has really been getting on with Derwent6 with the cabin sides now up, and the roof on.
You can see from this picture, that Jim has done the design of the curved sides which protect you from the wind when sitting in the cratch. You can also see the cutouts in the roof, which is where the fenders will hang, so you can rake off the leaves on that Autumnal evening.

The cratch lockers are in and gas bottle fixings.

Jim here is showing us how big the portholes are, but this one will end up being a side door in the galley, next time we go up.






The weed hatch and fuel tank have been fitted. The fuel tank has been extended to take 50 gallons (250 litres). You can see the fuel feed and return pipes and this had already been tested.
On the lower right of the picture you can see the engine cooling radiator, which does not have fins due to the fact it will be under the water line and cooled by the swim.




The roof is now on and the roof rails fitted. Jim has got the lines and the arch of the roof just right here. Another set of side doors will go where the roof rail ends on the port side (left) in this picture.


We are both so pleased we chose Alexander boats as you can see from the pictures, the Quality is fantastic.

Back to Back

What we mean is, we went back up to Jim, to see the new stern (the back) on Derwent6

and don't she look wonderful...............

When we got there, Craig was just finishing the welding around the stern (which has to be water tight we must add) and a fine job he made of it.

Jim has really helped out with fitting extra bits and pieces, like he fitted a 10mm steel brace to the engine bay with stabilizer braces to help on the vibration from the engine.

From this shot you can see the radiator is fitted and Jim is going to extend the Diesel tank which will fit around the swim, just above the radiator.

The well deck has been dropped down to as low as it can go, and is now in. Jim has now got to put in the lockers which he had left, because he wanted to confirm with us their final position.

Jim has also rolled over the floor ribs at the bow under the well deck to let us get a bigger stainless steel water tank in. (we will need it)

Here are some other photos taken while we were there.........

We are so pleased with the progress so far, and we know Jim and Craig were too. This gave us a good feeling as we left for the IWA festival at St Ives.

And what a mud bath it was !!!!!!!!!

We ended up taking our shoes off and stomping around in bare feet, nice!!

We didn't feel like buying anything because it would have got so muddy, and we certainly didn't want to stomp around in those poor peoples new boats. You would have thought some straw or matting could have been found earlier.

but, we still enjoyed the day and had a good look at all the boats along the river Ouse, chatting to everyone including Sarah on n.b.Warrior..........Hi Sarah nice to meet you.

This time next year we could be here with Derwent6.....................

Mobile to Blog

Jim at Alexander Boats has not only mastered the camera, but can now send us pictures of the build in progress (well done Jim!)

We are going up to see for ourselves the progress, but its great to see pictures before we go up.

This weekend we're off to the IWA at St Ives, with a list of items we need to buy.... so if anyone else is going let us know and we will meet up for a beer or two.

As for the house, we have been doing some decorating Uuk!, and a bit more sorting for the house contents sale.

We will update more over the coming weekend with the latest pictures.

Going up for a swim!

Derwent6 is now built up to the swim, the swim being the fish tail bit that goes on the stern.

We could not wait to get up to Jim to see the progress and was pleased with the quality of workmanship.

As for the Bow, he has now done the gas locker table and the fancy nose lines. It is all taking shape nicely, but Jim still said he has to straighten her up before the stern floor and cabin sides can be fitted. You can now see the 65 foot length and there is still the stern deck to be added.

As you can see the Bow bulkhead is now up and Jim has added in the extra lip on the bottom of the doors as we are dropping the floor as low as we can get it.

We still can't believe this will be our home, but the good news is it did look long in the workshop.

You can see the shape now coming together.

You won't need to put a spirit level against the bow bulkhead, as you can see it's square by this picture.

This is Al dreaming that Derwent6 was finished.

As for the house we are busy decorating rooms and sorting out solicitors. We will be back up to Alexander Boats, Friday week........ more then !!

Do it, do it now !!!!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover"

Mark Twain

Studying the study

After alot of thought we have decided to incorperate the study into the engine room. and we have now made a decision to turn Derwent6's engine room into the traditional colours, and make it a bit of a den, which will hold the washing machine and tumble drier and also the folding bikes. This will have a drop down table which we will be able to use as a study, with a roses and castle theme. This we feel will be a better use of the 13 feet we have available.We have been back up to see Fernwood and sorted out the port hole pitches for Jim (at Alexander Boats) and also been speaking to Andrew at Beta reference the engine and stern door sizes. It appears that the door sizes will remain standard to ensure Derwent6 fits through those quaint tunnels on the cut.

We have been working on the exterior colours and font sizes for Derwent6, and with the help from Chris on Belle, have used these drawings and played with them on the computer, to get a feel of how the bow will look when finished.

We have not been up to see the hull this week so have no further pictures yet, but Jim is still fighting with the camara we loaned him and taking shots of the build in progress, so we should have some next week.





As for the house, we are still clearing out bits and pieces and have now built the sign to go out when the time comes. If you know anyone interested give us a call.

Well we can't beleive we're nearly into August already.. We will be looking at tiles and carpet for the saloon this month, and Astro turf for the cratch area. The full drawings will follow shortly.

The only way is up !!!!

As you can see Jim and Craig have done well to get the stern sides on up to the gunwale, so Derwent6 is starting to look like a home...(all be it, a small home)

The bow top plate has been fitted and Derwent6 is starting to look a bit neat at the front end now.

As you can see Al is very keen to get at the helm.

and also polishing the outside. lol

Here you get a feel of the 65 foot length with the shot taken from the bow with Del at the stern.

This is a picture taken of the base plate at the end of the swim which will hold the engine and drive train.

Lucky Seven's 07/07/07

God we are so lucky having Jim And Craig putting Derwent6 together..... she is just starting to look so wonderful.

We could both tell that Jim was really proud of how Derwent6 was looking and we were just getting emotional knowing this will be our home.

So far he has fitted the side panels at the bow and the ribs to the side and floor. The sides go up to the gunwales and when looking down the side look as straight as a die.

Del knows a bit about welding, as he is in the car body repair business and he has not seen cutting and welding like this. Just take a look at the welding from the floor to port side panel (there's no way that's going to leak)

We have left Jim a camera so he can take shots at random, but Craig will probably take them as he is the techno wizard. As you can see Derwent6 is only at half it's length at the moment, because we are waiting for the rest of the steel to turn up which should be with Alexander boats on Tuesday.

We will be back up to Jim in two weeks time to see progress (keep up the good work mate!)

Meanwhile, Jim has given us a few tasks to do, like what type of Houdini hatches do we want (as he needs to make up the frames), where we stand with the cratch locker doors and the regulations, and rechecking the porthole pitches.

Derwent6 is Born

What a weekend we have had....

Yahoooooooooooooooo !!! the base plate is laid

We went to see Jim Sparks at Alexander boats, as we were told the steel had arrived for Derwent6. When we got up to him, the workshop looked empty, we asked him when was Derwent6 going to be started and he said " that's her over there"and the base plate had been laid. Wow !!! We both looked at each other and could have cried......

Here you can see the 10mm bow base plate with the two front bow sides over the top. Jim was at the ready with the coffee, but we felt we needed something stronger. We run through all the changes to the hull with Jim, and he felt none of these would be a problem.

We also went to Beta marine to see the engine build process and was met by Andrew Growcoot who took us round the factory showing us the assembly line for the engine going into Derwent6, and all the guys involved.

We saw the painting of the engine being carried out and also the testing where a technician had a engine running on the test bed. What a great bunch of lads... they can build our engine anyday.

Andrew then checked our engine build slot which is in thier books for September !!

All systems go !!!!!!!