THE CHALLENGE OF THREE By Barrie and Carole Grant One collective owner(s) 3 boats 3 designs 3 three metals 3 coatings 3 purposes 3 conclusions THE THREE BOATS We have managed to end up with three metal boats. Actually we didn't mean to, it just happened that way but we did decide to own two at once. Our first steel boat is a 45 foot Phil Rhodes custom steel cutter, designed and built to cross oceans. The second one is a 42 X 6'10" beam narrow boat built specifically to ply the narrow canals of England. The third and newest one is a 99 year old Dutch Barge, a tjalk, 72' x 14', originally sail powered, designed and built especially to haul tulip bulbs and potatoes on the canals and rivers of the Netherlands. It is our new project and within the next year we will transform this definite "Pig's Ear" into a finely tuned comfortable floating home and a "SilkPurse" for journeying through the canals, rivers and some coastal areas of Europe. THREE DESIGNS The design for 45 foot steel sail boat was taken from Phil Rhodes' successful "Gouden Draak" (see the book, "A Proper Yacht," by Arthur Beiser) and modified to be a cutter rig rather than a ketch and have a modified fin for a keel instead of a centreboard. Phil Rhodes advised the owner that commissioning a new design was far too costly when the design he had already built was perfect for the application. The welding is done beautifully on the inside. We often have folks knocking on the hull to see if she is fibreglass as the hull is so fair. Her clipper bow ensures a dry deck and a buoyant entry and her stern is designed to never take a wave, brilliant for passages in lumpy seas. We have never taken water either over the bow or from the stern. " Minerva's" waterline is 34 feet but when she is sailing at a comfortable heel it extends to 42 feet. We don't sail much over 8 knots but we always have the most comfortable ride of any design. The interior has in the most convenient layout for ocean passage making. One can be on watch wearing the obligatory harness and tether, go down the companionway and access the galley, the head and the navigation station without detaching the tether. With a approx. 6 ft tether it is possible to go anywhere in the cockpit necessary as well as make a cup of tea and record the log in ultimate safety. The narrowboat named "Mañana," is a long narrow box, the shape of a train car. She has an absolutely flat bottom except for the shaped bow and stern sections, called the "swim". Since the canals are narrow as well, often not more than 40 feet wide, "sailability" isn't too much of a consideration. The maximum beam to pass through the narrow locks is 6 feet 10 inches as the narrow locks are 7 feet wide. The narrowboat we own is a Tug style with a long bow and front deck. The traditional narrowboat tug has a vintage engine often in its own engine room. Ours happens to be a slow reving enormous powerful Gardner 4L2 situated just aft of the centre of the boat in its own "throne room." Less traditional narrowboats use conventional motors under the rear deck. The interior has all the comforts, conveniences and amenities one can expect in a boat including inverters, washer and dryers, dishwashers and satellite TV's. The Dutch barge at 72 feet long with a 14 feet beam has an almost flat bottom with a slight keel and a draft of a mere 36 inches, an amazingly shallow draft seeing she would have been heavily loaded with tulip bulbs or potatoes. Her bow is nearly plumb and her stern is also nearly flat with an enormous "barn door" rudder beyond. The propeller sits in a half tunnel as it is close to the surface. We found her moored behind a auto wrecker's yard. She had been virtually abandoned as the previous owner had run out of money and the Wrecker's were considering her as just salvage. She definitely was and still looks like a "Pig's Ear" with 99 years of experience showing everywhere. We benevolently refer to her as the future "SilkPurse," whose history is unknown, except that she was registered initially in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and started life as a sailing vessel with a mast and sails and huge lea boards. These are long gone but the evidence is still there where the steel is overlaid with an extra piece for strength where these would have been attached. We can only assume what she would have been like on deck in her previous life. New side decks have been welded on and a coach roof made from wood panels for removal and access to the hold. They are made from three boards each and there are 22 on each side. There is a very long stout unsupported centre beam 45 feet long where these are laid. Each panel has rafters between them that are also removable for loading. Currently there is an engine room at the stern with a non connected 6 cylinder 100 hp Ford motor. The rest of the boat is currently a hollow empty space. THE THREE METALS The original owner of "Minerva" who had her built was a personal friend and colleague of Phil Rhodes. He had her built out of Corten steel, a mixture of 1020 steel with a higher chromium content making the steel less susceptible to rust while increasing the strength. He was very particular during the 2 year build dictating when welding should take place, only between the hours of 10am and 2 pm. If he found out that welding was done outside of those dry hours he would make the workers remove the weld and do it again as he specified. The thickness of Minerva's hull begins with ½ inch steel for the keel above the lead shoe, then gradually decreases to 1/8 inch under the teak cap rails. We use zinc anodes for protection, mounted on welded on bolts for ease of changing. The narrow boat, "Mañana," built at 42 feet long and just 6 feet 10 inches wide was built using normal carbon steel for the whole body of the boat. As these boats generally live in fresh water the parameters are different and the normal conditions of fresh water make it an easy decision to use less specific metals. The thickness of the steel for the narrowboat is classed as 10-6-4. This translates to 10 milimetresl on the flat bottom, hull sides of 6 millimetres and the cabin of 4 mil. Her draft is about 29 inches, necessary because most of the English canals are only 36 inches deep. We use magnesium anodes for protection as she is only in fresh water. The Dutch Barge was built in 1908 from cast iron and the panels are overlapped and riveted together rather than being welded. Riveting was the common method of joining sheets of iron in that part of the last century. In her previous life the "SilkPurse" would have been both on fresh and salt water just because of the way Holland is located. We are just guessing and the original thickness of the hull, but the ultrasound at the current survey had the thickness varying from 10.1 millimetres near the bottom to 6.6 near the gunwales, amazing for a 99 year old vessel. The interior of the hull has substantial beams across varying at about 12 inch intervals. At the bow the beams gradually become closer together for strength. There is no sign of anodes of any kind used in the past. THREE PURPOSES "Minerva" was designed to do long comfortable safe ocean passages. Phil Rhodes was a master of those designs. Building her out of Corten steel was another safety measure adding to the design. Besides the entryway companionway and hatch she has only three ports and two opening hatches, another safety feature with no openings for seawater to get inside. The mast was made from the longest aluminum extrusion available in Australia when she was built and is keel stepped. That eliminates any joints which would be weak spots. Rigging is oversized with runners. The original narrowboats had a long narrow hold and a single accommodation room at the rear where whole families with several children lived as they delivered their goods throughout the country. The canals were the road system during the industrial revolution and carried goods and people to their destinations stretching from London to Liverpool and beyond. Travel by boat wasn't hampered by weather unless the canals froze, there were no muddy roads to consider and adverse weather wasn't an issue. They were originally made of wood and pulled by horses on the tow paths beside the canals. Eventually steel was introduced as were motors. These boats were designed specifically for the inland waterways of England to haul every type of freight. The depth of the canals is about 36 inches so shallow draft vessels were important. The current boats instead of having a hold have a completely modern living area including every conceivable convenience. The Canals were initially owned privately so the locks for going up and down hills weren't a standard length, although somehow the width of 7 feet for narrow locks and 14 feet for wide locks was established. Present day narrowboats are purely leisure so if one wants to travel the whole 3000 miles of navigable waterways of England a length of less than 70 feet and a beam of no more than 6 feet 10 inches is standard. The Dutch tjalk's purpose was to transport goods through the many miles of canals in Holland. She was a large empty shell with removable top panels for loading and perhaps an enclosed pilothouse on the stern deck. The blunt bow and stern create maximum efficient usable space. The 44 roof panels are all about 24 inches wide for convenience and easy removal for loading and unloading goods. The "air draft" as it is called here in England (the distance between the water and the highest point on the boat) can't be more than approximately 10 feet because of the multitude of low fixed bridges throughout Europe. "SilkPurse" is approximately 8 feet off the water at the highest point. The pilothouse at the rear when we construct it will be either removable, collapsible or low for those same reasons. THREE COATINGS "Minerva's" underwater hull is always coated with the best quality marine antifouling available with an epoxy barrier coat between the steel and the coating. As she is presently in warm tropical water we have the hull cleaned every 6 weeks to remove the growth and prevent more permanent growth from taking hold. Our coating of choice has been from Hempel and we find it stands up well to the conditions we find our boat in. Above the waterline we have used marine grade enamel and the deck is coated in a latex product called "Deckcote." It has been OK and gives a good nonskid surface. The canals in England are all fresh water so the coatings on the underwater hulls of narrowboats are generally a simple black bitumen compound. We generally haul the boat out every two years to pressure wash and recoat with the gummy black stuff. Because of the absence of salt in the water our anodes are magnesium rather than zinc. The flat bottoms of the narrowboats have no coatings of any type. They scrape along the bottom of the canals frequently so any coating wouldn't survive. Bitumen is used because it is a flexible finish. In recent years some boat owners are using more sophisticated and complicated coatings but they aren't necessarily an advantage. Legend says that a combination of tar and pitch were used on the exterior underwater hull of Dutch tjalks in the past although it looks like a bitumen coating. The interior hull floor has been coated with a traditional sticky grease. She's just another good steel boat with dry but sticky bilges and no rust! The upper exterior hull and decks were traditionally coated with a combination 1/2 boiled linseed oil and 1/2 Owatrol and not paint. This combination gives a lovely steely grey coloured finish and is non skid and protective so keeps any rust from taking hold. It is an easy fix if there are scratches and a bit of the concoction painted on the problem cures it immediately. The wood roof panels would have been covered in a type of canvas fabric. Newly refitted and newly built barges tend to have their bottoms coated with epoxy tar. Many barge owners use specific marine paint for the rest of the exterior and some just use garage door paint. Either seem to last about the same length of time. THREE CONCLUSIONS We can't imagine going to sea in any other sail boat. The security of steel is a major factor in our choice. With container ships regularly losing their cargo we feel confident that a dent would possibly be the only consequence of a collision with one. She does very well in all sea conditions. On her maiden voyage from Australia she was in one of the worst storms the Tasman Sea has ever had. The crew praised her comfort and security as she raced along under bare poles. "She's my best friend," one told us, "She saved our lives!!" Large waves looming from astern would pass under, lifting the boat and never entered the cockpit. Living on "Minerva" in the tropics was another experience. The airflow seems to be from the stern towards the bow. At anchor or at the dock we would leave both hatches open and would have a wonderful cool breeze across the bed in the aft cabin. We bought our first narrowboat nine years ago as a diversion from the very hot weather, life and work in Mexico. We would spend from 3 to 4 months drifting at 4 mph down the "cut" as the canals are traditionally known. The destinations include all the major cities including downtown London. The scenery is always green and changing and delightful, the locks to go up and down hills add variety and the frequent pub moorings make for pleasant evenings and mooring points over nights. No destination is very far from the previous one in England and scenery changes from one mile to the next. Our favourite journey is on the River Thames from Oxford to London but all canals have their own charm and history. In these 9 years we have traveled almost every canal there is in the country, some many times over. Our long term goal has always been to journey the 10,000 miles of navigable waterways of all of Europe on a barge of our own. We have recently managed a few weeks on friends' barges in France and are thoroughly hooked on this as our next adventure. We have spent lots of time researching the market for the right barge. We knew that and old experienced one was what we wanted but it had to be handsome with nice lines. We decided on one less than 78 feet because of the restrictions of the European Union regulations of barges over that length. We have learned that the locks on the rivers and canals of Europe will generally accept a boat of 15 feet beam, but not much wider especially on the more remote canals. We searched in France, Belgium and in Holland and found the selection impressive and hard to narrow down to our criteria. We were fortunate to find our "SilkPurse" here in England through the recommendation of a marine surveyor. Purchasing the barge involved the most frustrating convoluted exercise in banking that we have ever experienced but after several frustrating months everything has been completed. Several of us in the Dutch Barge Association are planning a journey beginning in May 2008 at Mainz, Germany, and going down the River Danube to the Black Sea. We expect to complete this part of the adventure by September so wintering over in Turkey or Romania, preferably somewhere warm is then next decision. We were hoping to return to the Western part of the Continent through a northerly route but places like Chernoble are still a menacing factor and so far there is no safe clear way through that part of the world. The only thing these three boats have in common is the enamel paint and the fact that we own all three of them. They can be compared to our children. We love them all for their individuality!! PS: Our sailing yacht, Minerva is actively for sale. As she is already in the tropics she is perfect for someone interested in sailing through the South Pacific, avoiding the Atlantic and Panama journeys. Our narrowboat has just been sold. We aren't ready to sell the barge, but that's negotiable!! Further information: www.barges.org www.waterways.org.uk www.metalboatsociety.org -- Barrie & Carole Grant Comment on this article Tell us your story