Cruiser restoration and wheelchair adaption

fergal.b

So here she is my next little project she is a Richardson Roving Gem that I hope to convert to take the wheelchair, I'm going to need all the help I can get with this so feel free to offer what you have :rolleyes: I'm going to try and get her moved to Skerries and see if I can pick up a trailer to back her into a driveway as it's too tight to have a crane lift her in. So let me know what you think or any ideas you have. I must be mad







After a bit of a power wash











Inside all stripped out now I have a blank canvas.



This is what she looked like back in the 70's at least the new TV won't take up as much room:)

snowwolf

Best of luck with the restoration you have a job on your hands there how long do you think it will be before she is back to her old self .

HeidiHeidi

And off he goes again

Very best of luck with it - nobody can accuse you of being afraid of a challenge!

Hifive

Best of luck with it Fergal. Plenty of work to do but no better man!
Is that a 4107/8 and is it frozen up or turning?
Hyd drive or shaft?
She'll take a fair sized trailer to get ger into the drive in Skerries. I'll ask around the yard here and see if anybody has one not in use but I think the only ones are yacht cradles on truck axels. Perhaps an old caravan chassis could be procured from the local minority community!! And adapted to fit.

fergal.b

Hifive wrote: »

Best of luck with it Fergal. Plenty of work to do but no better man!
Is that a 4107/8 and is it frozen up or turning?
Hyd drive or shaft?
She'll take a fair sized trailer to get ger into the drive in Skerries. I'll ask around the yard here and see if anybody has one not in use but I think the only ones are yacht cradles on truck axels. Perhaps an old caravan chassis could be procured from the local minority community!! And adapted to fit.

It's a BMC captan I think a 2.4 on a shaft and it's up and running now



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The Black Oil

What happens in situations like this, if something is left abandoned, assuming you were not taking this on? Whose responsibility is it to remove it?

fergal.b

The Black Oil wrote: »

What happens in situations like this, if something is left abandoned, assuming you were not taking this on? Whose responsibility is it to remove it?

As far as I know she was still insured and that paid for the salvage and to get the engine running, not sure if it was the owner or the insurance that then sold it on.




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fergal.b

If anyone has a trailer going cheep that will suit her give me a shout.





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Ferris

As a possible backup there's a storage yard in donabate that people use for trailered boats abs classic cars etc. This would probably be the biggest thing up there however.

fergal.b

Ferris wrote: »

As a possible backup there's a storage yard in donabate that people use for trailered boats abs classic cars etc. This would probably be the biggest thing up there however.

Do they provide a child care service that's why I want to bring it to my feather in-law's



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Ferris

fergal.b wrote: »

Do they provide a child care service that's why I want to bring it to my feather in-law's



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Genius

fergal.b

Basic sort of layout if I can put the ramps in the sides, I would have to put in a lot of structural support in to stop it flexing.





Another option is to build a large swim platform and put double doors or a sliding door at the back, the platform would give access off the back or each side.

snowwolf

I think access from the back would be much better it would give you some room to maneuver the wheelchair . just my opinion .

gctest50

Butcher a truck taillift and make a hydraulic swim platform maybe ?

Removed the swim platform and designed and built this hydraulic lift system for it. It lifts up to 1500#, 37 inches, from approximately 10" under the water to level with the boat deck. It has both wired and wireless controls.

In the video it has yet to be permanently fastened to the boat yet.

copper12

I know it a bit far stretched but what about a small hydraulic hoist
Lift on and off from any height

fergal.b

copper12 wrote: »

I know it a bit far stretched but what about a small hydraulic hoist
Lift on and off from any height

I don't like the idea of a hoist as I think they are a bit degrading having someone hanging in the air I will be using one in the boat to get from the chair to the bed.



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fergal.b

:o:o:o





. https://www.gofundme.com/bqnrrbyk






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HeidiHeidi

Oh noooo....... what???

Came on to post a slightly o/t question (how the feck did it sink in the first place ) but maybe now is not the best time?

Whassup? (please don't say it involves down.....)

fergal.b

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Oh noooo....... what???

Came on to post a slightly o/t question (how the feck did it sink in the first place ) but maybe now is not the best time?

Whassup? (please don't say it involves down.....)

The arrow is just pointing to my signature my wife setup a go fund me boat is still floating



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HeidiHeidi

fergal.b wrote: »

The arrow is just pointing to my signature my wife setup a go fund me boat is still floating



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Phew!

Jaysus, don't be giving me heart attacks like that :eek:

So.... how did she sink in the first place (I feel I can ask that now!

whacker1982

Best of luck with this project fergal, looking forward to seeing it come back to its former glory,

fergal.b

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Phew!

Jaysus, don't be giving me heart attacks like that :eek:

So.... how did she sink in the first place (I feel I can ask that now!

She was abandoned for a long time and it looks like there was a chain rubbing against it that cut a grove in the hull.



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insebayguy

Fergal is at it again. Keith hits "Follow Thread" button Yes!! Life has meaning once more.

Daibheid

fergal.b wrote: »

I don't like the idea of a hoist as I think they are a bit degrading having someone hanging in the air I will be using one in the boat to get from the chair to the bed.



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With you on that but I do think you could cause yourself a world of pain if you compromise the structural integrity. Breaching the sun for your rear platform is likely to be a lot less disruptive than cutting the side. However much depends on where the boat derives that integrity from. It may be that where the hull and deck join is where most of the strength comes from and cutting into the sides above that line to install a ramp may make no significant difference to the rigidity of the hull. You can probably see where the strength is built in.

If you wanted to avoid cutting anything like that it should be possible to. Develop a platform lift that could lift off the deck and cantilever over the gunwale on to shore. Look at an Anglepoise lamp for inspiration!

fergal.b

I think I will go with a 4 foot wide swimplarform like on some of the super yachts:) then cut across from where my left foot is and down to floor level, then reinforce the transom with sheets of plywood glassed to the inside with the doorway cut out sort of like an outboard transom.




I might also remove the two back windows and move the doorway back to give a bit more outside space with double doors or a sliding door.





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snowwolf

I think that is the best way to go fergal .

Ferris

Your idea will work great for stern to mooring at low level jetties etc. but what about mooring alongside a higher quay? - all too common on the Shannon navigation (as I'm sure you know). Most of the public harbours like banagher, hodson bay etc. will present this issue. I would do the wide platform just to gain deckspace however.

Also saw this system which is interesting:

http://www.rollaramp.co.uk/roll-a-ramp/

I remember that the seamaster 30 hull does not steer in reverse at all, which will make constant stern to mooring a challenge. Otherwise it'll turn in its own length and is very easy to drive however.

fergal.b

I have a solid ramp like that for the car, with the swim platform I can unload on either side or straight out the back I guess like a lot of places we go to if it's not wheelchair friendly then we wont be going there were well used to that

I also intend on fitting a bow thruster as I will be doing all the docking on my own.



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JamesM

I think that a flat platform within the main hull, that can only be used for wheelchair access, would be a waste of boat space.
Apart from the sliding roof, you do not have any open space for sitting out on a lovely warm summer evening .
If I was doing it I would cut away the back part of the cabin and have a shorter saloon and make an open cockpit. It would probably have a seat across the back, not along the sides. That would make an open space in the centre of the cockpit for the wheelchair and whatever mechanism you can use to bring it onboard (Maybe Daibheid’s suggestion: Develop a platform lift that could lift off the deck and cantilever over the gunwale on to shore. Look at an Anglepoise lamp for inspiration!)
I would also have wide doors into the saloon from the cockpit. In wet weather you would have the connected saloon and cockpit sitting space, with the cockpit covered by a canopy, as seen in the attached photo (a 38’ boat, but just for reference).
At most marina and harbour berths along the river and lakes you come along side, not stern to, so I would have the wheelchair access from the sides into the cockpit.
But then it’s not my boat

JamesM

You could be looking aft at this :

fergal.b

Yep that's sort of what I'm thinking the swim platform will be off the back of the boat something like this with a railing.




Then cut the back off and put the door like this

fergal.b

Got a bit of work done on her yesterday, removing the panels was a real pain as they are held in by the window frames so they all have to be loosened off.



I put in a few braces getting ready for lift out with so much of the superstructure taken out they will give a bit of support .




As all the electrics were summered for so long I had to remove all the pumps, here I'm taking out the toilet waste pump I'm sure you would have all jumped at the chance to give me a hand with this :eek: as the aroma was something to behold




Toilet, shower and water.




Not looking great but I'll see what I can do.






And at last I found her a suitable new home for the next year

neris

Where did you geta plac to put her?

fergal.b

neris wrote: »

Where did you geta plac to put her?

Michael Sweetmans country gardens.

neris

at least theres a punch bag there which you,ll probably get good use out of

fergal.b

Ready



Steady



Go :[

URL=http://s753.photobucket.com/user/fergalbutler/media/Roving gem 1/Roving gem/20160511_162737_zpsjnikbu0g.jpg.html][/URL]


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fergal.b

Arrived safe and sound.






Have her all stripped out now so tomorrow I will power wash her out should be a nice clean job :eek:







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fergal.b

Lovely day today spent with a bucket and sponge taking out the oil, crap and water out of the bilge, my knees are killing me from kneeling on the timbers and my back is broke from bending over, I'm getting too old for this crap

Balfey1972

Fergal,

You probably have used it before but dishwasher liquid mixed with hot water is great for removing the oil and grunge. We are nearly finished a refurb and there was about an inch of oil, dirt, sand and gunk which smelt woeful. It is as good as bilgex and a fraction of the price. leave it on for 20 mins, for the awkward areas use a hand spray bottle. Also used a hand steamer to remove the awkward areas after apply the dishwasher solution. leaves a nice lemon smell also !!.

fergal.b

Worked on the engine today and removed all the oil it came out white so still a bit of water in it.




Also had to strip down the starter as it was full of crap and not turning over.




It took a lot of bleeding to fill up the water trap and filter they were also full of gunk so I just cleaned them up with diesel and put them back as I'm just going to flush the engine with old waste oil to get any water that might be left before I put the new filters on. There was a bit of noise from the shaft but I think it's just dry cuttles bearings.

It's alive but nothing like a V8

copper12

I’m jealous
All the room you have’ to work on it.
Sounds good to me’ you could be right about the cutlass bearing; repack and a little grease and your good to go.
I presume it ran ok before it was submerged

Donie75

You need to get a wet & dry vacuum cleaner. I bought a €50 Karcher one and it's great for cleaning out the bilge. Well worth it. Aldi/Lidl do them too sometimes.

Daibheid

The hull looks very well built and well finished in areas a customer was never expected to see. That diesel sounds very sweet, not too many hours on it.
It's good to be starting out with the basics right!

Would you consider glassing in some underfloor chambers for buoyancy and floor support? It could add a lot of rigidity to the hull if you had to have to carve bits out of the gunn'ls for the lift and at least some insurance against another sinking.

neris

Who had the hi-ab to lift her? Need a hi-ab to lift my yoke to drop the keel off her

fergal.b

neris wrote: »

Who had the hi-ab to lift her? Need a hi-ab to lift my yoke to drop the keel off her

I used Kennedy Haulage http://www.kennedyhaulage.ie/ they know what they are doing and are not bad on price.


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gctest50

http://truckandcranehire.com/

fergal.b

Daibheid wrote: »

The hull looks very well built and well finished in areas a customer was never expected to see. That diesel sounds very sweet, not too many hours on it.
It's good to be starting out with the basics right!

Would you consider glassing in some underfloor chambers for buoyancy and floor support? It could add a lot of rigidity to the hull if you had to have to carve bits out of the gunn'ls for the lift and at least some insurance against another sinking.

Yep I will be glassing in extra supports as the electric wheelchairs have a bit of weight to them and I will try and make her as unsinkable as possible, might even use blow up beds



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fergal.b

New timbers and extra support where needed. I also cut a wider doorway. into the cabin.




Removed the side partitions and it looks a lot bigger now.



Big thanks to Mike Clinton of Clinton Marine for giving me this tilt trim unit It should do the job just fine, just have a bit of figuring out to do on building the lift it will be something like a motor bike lift.

fergal.b

Busy week started off stripping out the main cab removing the roof and side panels, I'm not a big fan of rusty flat head screws and boy was there some amount of them.



Made a mockup of the wheelchair lift and stripped down the tilt trim.






Cut out some of the floor joists to do a test fitting and to make sure I have my levels right.



Gave the cabin a lick of paint just tio tidy it up a bit I just used the paint left over from the canoe.



Ready to start fitting out and another big thanks for the donation of plywood from a secret admirer.

copper12

You are absolute flying, you enthusiasm knows no bounds, it’s even rubbing of on me.
Great credit to you,
I hope it turns out exactly as you hope it will.
If it doesn’t it won’t be for the want of trying.
I wish I could offer some help’ even if it’s only holding the dopey end of the measuring tape.:P
Looking forward to seeing the end product

fergal.b

copper12 wrote: »

You are absolute flying, you enthusiasm knows no bounds, it’s even rubbing of on me.
Great credit to you,
I hope it turns out exactly as you hope it will.
If it doesn’t it won’t be for the want of trying.
I wish I could offer some help’ even if it’s only holding the dopey end of the measuring tape.:P
Looking forward to seeing the end product

Cheers but I think you have enough on your plate although I could do with someone holding the tape for me