the worlds gone mad

we've lost the hope we had

Posted on 11 April 2024   13 min read

Narrowboat: Lessons learnt

the good, the bad and the ugly from the build

At this stage of the build internally there is only really the bedroom, snags and trims (windows, ceiling edges and doors) left to do. I am currently in Australia having a bit of RnR so this is a reflective post to show the build at its present state and go through the things I have learnt along the way. I could plan all I like but as I haven’t lived on a boat before there was always going to be a few wrong design decisions.


Posted on 1 March 2024   28 min read

Electrics and plumbing

and the lord said let there be light

Unless you plan to live by candle light and bathe in the canal you are going to need electrics and hot water. The two main players when it comes to boat electrics are Victron and Mastervolt, I went for victron as their whole eco-system seems a lot more advanced and customisable (are a lot more guides, examples and advise readily available online). In terms of hot water and heating a calorifier is the only real sensible option, for the diesel heater I chose Webasto over Eberspacher as I liked how they how they have incorporated the use of Heatmiser thermostat controllers.


Posted on 26 February 2024   12 min read

Boat build phase - part2

gas, stove & bathroom

You can only live for so long on laughing cow, pot noodles, soup and beans on toast, the boat diet is good for losing weight but not for your wellbeing. I got lucky with the weather as winter was pretty mild up until late October but when it turned you certainly did feel the cold on the boat. You would have to be crazy to try and survive on a boat in winter without a stove or some form of heating.


Posted on 19 February 2024   9 min read

Boat build phase - Part1

tools, bulkheads & kitchen

Now I had a design and a half empty shell it was time to get work. The biggest problem with working on a boat is space, you are forever moving things and constantly tidying up. All the materials had to be orderd to arrive just in time for when they were needed as there is no space on the boat to store them. The remoteness of the marina and not having a car didn’t help, I wasted a lot of hours getting local buses to go hire a van or waiting on deliveries.


Posted on 11 February 2024   9 min read

Boat design phase

demolishing and planning for a new tomorrow

I purposely bought a boat that needed work so that I could customise it to my needs and learn how everything works. The wooden interior was dated and gloomy, it only had 1 DC socket, no working AC (no fuse board or inverter), no hot water (water heater broken) and a rusted up stove with 1 radiator run off it. After 5 months of hardship and an ever decreasing bank balance whether that was a good idea is debatable…..


Posted on 31 January 2024   8 min read

Hull and cabin

blacking the hull and cabin steel work

When it comes to working with steel it is a bit outside my comfort zone so I got the professionals in to do the blacking of the hull and a few different things to the cabin shell.


Posted on 22 December 2023   7 min read

What do I know about boats

The boat buying process

Oh a boat, how do you know it wont sink………..