My new project... MFV Elizmor

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Yes of course maintenance is going to be ongoing and something I haven't considered lightly. She'll hopefully be my home for the next couple of decades of my life so I'm happy to see this as a commitment which is worthwhile.

I'm not intending to permanently cruise around on her at this stage so yes, she'll be a great house boat, and she is more than capable of going to sea to get her down to where I want to keep her permanently.She's a boat, a massively built boat. It's a delivery trip, which will be very well prepared for and lots of trials before we set off. I'm not particularly looking forward to the manoeuvring, but what's the point in only doing things which are nice and easy? Visibility is being given consideration to, potentially mirrors/cameras, lots of crew on hand, etc.

She's had a good survey (and is now comprehensively insured) in which we looked at the garboard and everything else that needs considering for the trip, which has given me a great base to work from in our preparations.

It's a bit like what my dad said - he'd never have bought her himself, too scared! But in the same sentence he was telling me this, he said I had no choice but to go for it - I'm young and a project like this is just what I need, what a great adventure, and we can all work on her together. It's only been a week of ownership so far, but it's probably been the best week of my life.

Of course things are likely to go wrong, don't think I've ever been to sea when we haven't had to use our initiative to solve something and that's the fun of it all. Do the best preparation and sea trials as we can, kit the boat out, then take it easy in lots of legs if we have to to get good weather windows. Lots of friends to help out on the trip down, most of whom are professional sailors themselves, some on similarly large wooden ships!
 
clyst said:
As a house boat it's ideal as a cruising boat it's a nightmare
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Chris, had he bought her, had something approaching houseboatism in mind. He wanted her to remain mobile, and thought perhaps he might chug somewhere else a couple of times a year by way of a holiday, but otherwise he was going to be based more or less permanently on the Itchen.

I know Ellie lives on her current boat, so perhaps her plans are similar?

clyst said:
look at the visibility,small wheelhouse windows,no rear vision and only limited side vision close quarter manoevering will be a nightmare.
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Well, she looks like a little ship, so perhaps the thing to do is treat her that way? Berthing William and Stavros, the captain used to climb onto the chartroom roof for a good all-round view, and call manoeuvring orders down to the bridge - rudder orders to the helmsman and engine / thruster orders to the engineer. No thought required from either of them (good, cos the first time I ever experienced arrival in those ships I was the helmsman!), just like having a voice-controlled autopilot.

Pete
 
The voice controlled autopilot is spiffing as long as one has a trustworthy crew spare to do it !

I once skippered a 54' twin screw heavy wooden motorsailor, I had visions of Jack Hawkins as I ordered ' slow ahead port, slow astern starboard ' etc getting into a tight berth...

I'm glad to hear JellyEllie has lots of proficient crew for the delivery trip, all I can suggest is to take plenty of buckets and cameras, in that order of priority !

Have Fun JellyEllie.
 
She looks like a great little ship - takes me back to my own youth, when my Dad hankered after an MFV conversion - to the extent of looking at many MFVs with a view to conversion. Some still smelt of fish! I do recall one wonderful part conversion with an engine room you could walk around with no less than three diesels in it - a main engine with cylinders a foot across (maybe I exaggerate - but not by much!) and two wing engines. It never happened - it would never have been practical for us to do the conversion, and I think that Dad realised that the upkeep of such a vessel would be too much for us.

The boats we were looking at, in the late 60s, were probably much the same vintage as Elizmore. Most of them were end-of-life for fishing; that's why they were available for conversion. Some of the conversions were very good; others showed cheap wood and poor design and construction. But you have to remember that a commercial vessel is built for a price, a purpose and with a definite life-span in mind. A commercial vessel has to earn back it's cost over a specified period, and make a profit doing so. So, commercial vessels are often built using techniques that will last for the expected commercial life, but not necessarily much longer - for example, iron fastenings instead of copper. And during their commercial life, they will have been worked hard, without regard to preserving the boat for another generation. Repairs will have been done to a "good enough" standard, not to a "good as new" standard. They aren't like boats built for leisure, where a more-or-less indefinite lifespan is envisaged. So, I'd be worried about things like fastenings starting to fail, and being faced with a massive project to refasten the boat - because once one fastening goes, it shows they are probably all about to go!

You've got a good survey, and I'm sure the surveyor will have found all the immediate concerns. But you need to keep a weather eye open for trouble so that you can get on top of it as soon as it appears. Good luck!
 
Oh to be young enough to take on such a project. I can imagine just how exciting life is for you with Elizmor in it. Hope you have many happy times onboard her.
As regards close manouvering it would be great to bark commands down a voice tube to the helm. You may also be able to rig up some type of remote joystick steering - after all she is a ship !
 
Hello Eleanor, so glad to see that progress is being made with Elizmor - I guess you are back in Brighton now? I hope your friend PRV doesn't think it was us who turned him back from viewing the boat - that must have been Mick Woods about a year ago. Looking forward to more posts, all the very best to you all, Polly x
 
PollyM said:
I hope your friend PRV doesn't think it was us who turned him back from viewing the boat - that must have been Mick Woods about a year ago.
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No worries, it would indeed have been about a year ago and the name Mick rings a bell. To be clear, it wasn't me wanting to buy the boat but my friend Chris; he roped me in to look round as a second critical pair of eyes and spot things that his boat-love-struck gaze might have passed over :)

I'll admit I still wish he'd managed to buy her, but best of luck to Ellie anyway :)

Pete
 
My first restless night aboard - now she really feels like my boat!

It was pretty gusty at midnight and kept me awake as I'm not used to all of her noises yet. It's actually quite good fun lying in bed trying to work out what all the noises were. My dad got up to turn the wind genny off as it kept braking itself and making massive clunking noises which vibrated through the whole boat, then me and Jonny realised we'd left the cover off the foredeck and it was flapping around. The forecast was set to get worse by 5am so we hauled ourselves out of bed into the bitterly cold wind and rain to tie the foredeck cover back down. Back aboard, there was nothing better than warming up by the roaring Rayburn fire and then diving back into bed under my new feather & down duvet! Ah the little things!

Yesterday was a productive day; completed the first full coat of antifoul on the hull, took the masking tape off, new boot top looks great but I doubt she'll actually sit on it! (We followed an old line.) She looks like a proper boat now with antifoul and boot top, a couple of guys in the yard complimented her ship-like looks.

The replacement paddlewheel for the Nasa log impeller arrived and dad showed me how to fit it. The previous owners said the log didn't work/wasn't connected up, but the transducer connection does run back to the instruments in the wheelhouse, so we were hoping it would work with a new paddlewheel. It didn't, but dad went up and fiddled around with the instruments in the wheelhouse, and managed to get it all working - the depth and log instruments had been plugged into each other's connections! Swapped them around and they work fine. Just need a new bracket to mount them again - ordered some perforated metal strips off the internet.

Last night Jonny cooked an amazing roast on the Rayburn - it was the first time we managed to get it up to the 'HOT' temperature, and it was roaring! We have just used the normal gas cooker in the upstairs kitchen for cooking so far, so we thought we'd try the Rayburn out for its intended purpose. The first roast cooked aboard Elizmor was a great success.

Right! Best get on with things - hopefully a few more things will arrive in the post today that we need to get on with a few jobs.
 
Well, one's a kitchen and one's a galley :) Upstairs kitchen has fridge/freezer, domestic gas cooker, washing machine, etc. and the downstairs galley is a cosy corner with the Rayburn, a sink, and a few galley cupboards. Also two saloons - one is the upper saloon, one is the downstairs snug.

There are also two sleeping cabins which is another first for me, woohoo, I have space :D

Think I should do that video tour!
 
We have more space on our newish (to us) boat and it makes life on board so much more pleasant. It is not on the scale of yours and i would like to see what the interior of a 53' boat looks like.
 
Hello Ellie. My how time has flown by.

I get the feeling you have been hankering for such a boat like this since you sailed on Queen Galadriel :D

Lots of work ahead that's for sure. We wish you the v best of luck.

Where are you going to berth her once on the S Coast ?

Sandy & Lizzie.
 
Hello Ellie,

Congratulations on the boat. I hope she's everything you want her to be.

Pedant mode on: I think that whatever mod cons the upper 'kitchen' has its still another GALLEY!

Kitchens on boats indeed! Bah humbug!

Pedant mode off.

As others have said, boat handling will be very different. No more putting an arm or boot out to push off from things or prevent last minute collisions. Big fenders and learn to use springs and warps to move her with the engine not any pushing at all! Stopped with the engine means stopped, not just nearly stationery. Plan and plan and have some fallback plans!
 
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jellyellie said:
Well, one's a kitchen and one's a galley :) Upstairs kitchen has fridge/freezer, domestic gas cooker, washing machine, etc. and the downstairs galley is a cosy corner with the Rayburn, a sink, and a few galley cupboards. Also two saloons - one is the upper saloon, one is the downstairs snug.

There are also two sleeping cabins which is another first for me, woohoo, I have space :D

Think I should do that video tour!
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Pics (at least), PLEASE!

Enjoy, its all good and part of living an interesting life.

Even, if the worst happens, it was only built by man and can be put right!

Regards

Carl
 
john_morris_uk said:
I think that whatever mod cons the upper 'kitchen' has its still another GALLEY!
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You haven't seen the pictures. From the ones I saw you wouldn't know it was in a boat, it looks just like the typical kitchen in a two-bed Victorian terrace, complete with back door out into the yard :)

Pete
 
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