Hopper 11 Conversion

These pictures show the recent progress with...

2011-10-25T15:27:00.001-07:00

These pictures show the recent progress with Hopper 11 - the dumb barge being turned into a home...

The sand blasting happened about a month ago and we've been battling the elements to get a couple of layers of zinc covering the entire thing. It took me a whole weekend to sweep and shovel all the 1.5 tonnes of sand out of it. Great exercise!

Battling the tarpaulin at night and in high winds has to be one of the stressiest things I've done!!! Coming back the morning after to see it ripped off and full of water was a bit disheartening, but a mop and bucket cleared it and we got back to wire brushing, sweeping, hoovering, and finally painting! It's now secured with over 200 meters of rope and all the sand bags have been reused to hold it down!
Rachel's folks popped over to help last weekend and we managed to paint a second coat over the entire outside, and about half the inside. Many hands definitely make light work and those Nor-folk have a natural affinity for hard work ;)

Drawings are done for the timber cabin frame, and it's time to check the calculations for the living roof to make sure it's not going to cave in on us! A light layer of sedum matting should be OK and allow people to walk on it... It'll be our garden after all.

And I found this video on Youtube which is an inspiration for my rocket stove design: Permaculture Our Urban Design Part 7 - Rocket Oven Pt1

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A New Temporary Home

2011-03-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well since the last post, Hopper 11 has now got a diesel tank, keel cooler, prop shaft and flexi coupling...

Just need some gland packing and grease to get her ready for the water.

It's been ages since I blogged any progress - mainly due to the industrial estate that was her home, became the possession of a not so friendly company who wanted us out!! Being unable to sand blast and paint, I had to arrange a new home that would allow sand blasting, and a crane and lorry big enough to get her to the new site. This took months to arrange, after all the local marinas refused to take her due to size and weight!

In the end Allsops Cranes came to the rescue with a decent value crane, and a spot on their site by the Trent - just a few miles up the road. Andy at British Drilling & Freezing organised the road transport and escort which was really professional and went like clockwork.

Here are some of the pics of the move... The roof frame has really transformed her! Thanks to Steve King and the guys from I & N Site Servicing & Fabrications.

Bags packed and ready to go:-

Turns out she is only 22 tons! She was over 30 when craned out...

First time I'd seen the base plate!

The crane started beeping at this point... safety feature, apparently!

Literally ground breaking!!!

Steady....

Ready to hit the road...

Both lanes please...

Never mind the red lights!!

The gate post had to be ground off to fit the thing through!

Almost there...

Safe and sound and ready for sand blasting.

Next is to get the engine going and some controls installed.

Then the cabin frame needs cladding in timber, so at least she'll be water tight when she's lifted in the water.

Found a beautiful mooring opposite a nature reserve! It's over 100ft by 50ft, so plenty of space for doing some permaculture design - which I'm doing a course in Leicester on: https://sites.google.com/site/shirespermaculture/

Some pics of the mooring:-

Planting seed this weekend, so we'll see what comes up!

Engine and Rudder in...

2010-07-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Well the engine is now bolted down and the felxible coupling in place. Just need to wire it up to some control cables, then plum the water and diesl up...

It actually looks a bit small now it's in the boat!

The rudder stock and swan neck are all now in place. Just need a nice long tiller so I can turn the thing when it's under thrust! Had a good angle put on it so it will right itself naturally.

Weed hatch and swim ;)

2010-03-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Progress over the last few weeks has been great! The weather has been on side, and steel arrived on time. The swim plate was cut, with the remains making the shelf.

Checkout the custom weed hatch! ;)

Been a while!

2010-02-11T10:59:00.001-08:00

Rob finally emerged from his hibernation this week! The whole stern has been cut out and it's ready for the next stage.

Looking from the inside towards the stern...

From the outside end view...

And a side view showing the length of the swim!

The steel was all cut out in a day, and I've been instructed to order a load of steel plate ready for next week.

Also been working on the timber frame designs. Have a meeting planned with Harlow Brothers timber frame guys next week, and they're going to do the whole thing, minus windows and doors, and should only take them 6-8 weeks from order to completion. So this time next year Rodney! ;)

Bow stitched up!

2009-09-11T04:39:00.001-07:00

Replating the bow was completed yesterday! First Rob had to weld the large 6mm plates together on the floor, then holes were cut through the existing bow plate:-

We then attached luggs and chain hoists and pulled it all up VERY slowly!

Rob controlled the outer hoists above while I cowered inside and did the centre one:-

It was no mean feat but we managed it in just a day!

Rob has been there with Mel to get the overplating finished for the sides, so the whole front and bottom sections are tied in together:-

So this leaves us just the stern to work on - Any ideas on how to cut a swim into a mud hopper? Answers on a postard please ;)

Oh and my engine and gearbox arrived and are a true bargain!

It's now being stored until it's ready to be dropped onto the bearers, which naturally need the swim and stern gear sorted in order to position correctley...

Sunshine at last!

2009-08-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since any work's been done on Hopper11 and I think she was feeling very neglected :{ But the rain has finally given us a break! Rob luckily chose to go on holiday while it rained (In fact everyone seems to be on holiday at the moment!) Now he's back and working like a trooper as ever - even Saturdays while the sun shines!

The welding is just about done on the inside (until work starts on the stern). Gussets are now in and providing a bit more support to stop the sides moving:-

I did my first burning on Saturday, which was a bit touch and go but I finally managed to get the hang of it. Edges are looking a lot cleaner now the excess has been cut out:-

And although I had a good value Lister HRW6 earmarked, I may have found a real bargain (assuming the inspection back positive...)

This BMC 3.8Ltr with TMP 2:1 hydraulic gearbox could be the beast for me:-

Just need to get a marine engineer to give it a once over to make sure I won't be replacing it within a year!

I'm dying to see the swim started but we need to get the bow sealed up first. Then the real fun begins.... watch this space...

Sides plated.

2009-06-26T10:15:00.001-07:00

Been a hot week, but plenty of plates have been chopped, tacked, re-tacked, whacked, and then re-tacked! The sides are as wobbly as you like, but it just adds character if you ask me ;)

I'm chuffed the weight markers were plated around:-

Rob has a week of welding ahead, making sure it's all water tight and straight.

And I may've found my gearbox - an old Lister Blackstone off a HRW6. Haggling on the price at the moment but it might be a bargain ;)

LISTER HRW6M MARINE DIESEL ENGINE AND GEARBOX

Structure In!

2009-06-22T06:26:00.000-07:00

The first structure went in, while BW were pouring 13 lorries full of concrete!

The lock development is coming on - hopefully they will keep hold of the blue brick halves they'll have spare, so I can use these for my ballast...

The girders look like they'll hold the sides straight. Just need to add some triangular supports to the angle sections so we get even more strength.

Now almost all the base has been sorted. Just the final plate to go in once we know where we are cutting back to for the swim (It needs to be a deep swim for a barge this size and shape!). You can see Nick burning out the holes from the inside...

The plating of the sides has already started, although Rob has insisted we do it right by cutting square holes down the side to weld the new plates from the inside. This is needed for survey and also to increase the bond between the layers. Without this extra bond, any knocks to the steel plating would stress the welds round the edges of the steel. It's extra time and money, but well worth the peace of mind.

Soon we'll be thinking about the stern in more detail. A 30" prop has been advised, so it'll be a challenge making it work for the inland waterways!

Still looking for that illusive PRM500 gearbox at a bargain price...

First New Steel

2009-06-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

The steel finally arrived this morning and after some kurfuffle around a fork lift driver (As Jason was getting his sweet and sour oats!), we managed to get the 4.5m x 2m 10mm plates unloaded and then the grinding began on the first edges to create a V weld...

Once the first plate was ground down, it was manouvered into place by Nick and Rob using the forklift and many tricks of the trade. Lots of scraping and grinding of teeth, and it was under the barge. Then Rob set about tacking it to the second plate, followed by an intial seam weld along the V.

Rob said he didn't want to end up on any blog. Sorry mate - Let me know if I owe you some royalties ;) Nick's face is convieniently hidden behind the girder, so no royalties for him.

We finally managed to get the two plates alligned, and the first two welds to the exterior made sure it didn't move.

Feels great to see the first new steel go in!!

My nickname on the industrial estate is Noha, as you can see by the cheeky grafiti last night by Martin the shot blaster...

I'll let him off, as he did blast until dark last night so we could have a clean surface to weld to. And at least when sea levels rise, I'll be laughing. Not sure how I'll fit two of everything on the barge. Might just start with a mouse, snake, cat and dog and see how they get on with eachother ;)

More grinding, shifting and welding tomorrow...

Bottom Gone - after much hastle.

2009-06-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

They've all been complaining about the blasting (They being anyone within a 2 mile radius!). Hopefully I can get it completed in the evenings (after everyone has gone home!).

The rent has doubled over night, and been back dated two months! Then someone rather unkindly offered me their electricity for £30 per day! I just want to be on that river and away from this car park!

The bottom is out... Should've had this done 6 months ago, but we live and learn.

after 3 days of hammering, burning, sweeping, and man handling steel secitons, we had £260 worth of scrap ;)

Progress feels good. Tony Dunkley showed up on Friday and confirmed he's got a Lister HRw6 for me. This also has a 3 phase alternator attached, so I will be able to run all sorts of tools, once I have them ;) Looking for a PRM500 second hand if anyone hears of one?

Midnight blasting tonight - have borrowed an industrial vacum from a good mate to clean up afterwards, so nobody will even know ;)

The First Blast!

2009-05-29T06:26:00.001-07:00

It was a bit windy, but at least it was blowing over the Forest football ground and not the neighbors!

Martin the master blaster got his gear on and started getting back to good metal.

Meanwhile I was fending off complaints and driving to Hinkley to get the paint.

Managed to summon up Tom to help me get the first coat on before night fall...

...and we managed it only 3 hours later!

Back today for some needle work on the inside. Blaster will be back the weekend after this, as we need to keep the noise to outside working hours (People were loosing customers yesterday cos they were being deafened by the white noise of Hopper 11!).

The tent is up!

2009-05-26T03:39:00.000-07:00

So I've contact Mel Davies and his son in law, Rob. They are going to weld the base plate and re-shape the stern, while also installing the stern gear. Work is scheduled to start next week!

It was a hot day on Sunday, but we (Me and Swiss Baby) got a medievil timber and rope structure together...

Then managed to get it covered with a huge 20m x 12m tarp...

Bit sunburnt, but got there in the end.

Ready for the shot blasting to start on Thursday!

Only Just Getting Started...

2009-05-20T08:08:00.001-07:00

I started work on Hopper 11 last year, by lifting it out of the River Trent onto hard standing.

Clearing out the rubbish and cutting commenced at a liesurely pace and within a few months the hopper was gone, and doors were removed.

The bulckheads were cut for stairs and door cavities, and to provide better access.

Gunwhales were also cut back to 5" and rails will be fitted to the timber frame conversion.

I now need to replate the base, adding additional bracing to keep the sides straight, and I also need to design the stern set up. One end of the barge has been replated underneath so this will remain as is and be the bow. The other end will be re-shaped to feed and protect the stern gear.

I was thinking of using a similair stern system to "Harvest" ([url]http://www.justcanals.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=2468[/url]) as this seems like an excellent eco solution. Mel Davis seems to really know what he's doing and Mansfield isn't too far from Nottingham!

If anyone can help me I would be grateful of any contacts or advice!