Now SOLD! Harmonic 47950
Iron & steel 47ft Narrowboat SOLD!
A cottage on the water: good hull, good engine & a good stove!
Up to date BSS. Hull blacked & new anodes in Oct. '07.
Lister diesel engine. Solid fuel stove.
Trad stern. Engine in engine room. Solar panel. 12V electrics.
Thames licenced until end Dec. 2010.
No gas. No current fixed mooring.
Call Jon on: 0774 3897688
BARGAIN! Priced low for a quick sale Cos I want to go off travelling the world ASAP
Great liveaboard for one person or a couple!
Or - a super holiday / weekend boat!
Or - a project boat for you to fit out to your own taste!
From bow to swim the hull is Victorian quarter inch rolled-iron riveted plate.
Originally an open "butty" boat built in 1898 by Bantock (MkII). Her Birmingham Canal Network reg. at that time was 15722. Her steel hull (swim and stern) was added later, perhaps in the 50s or 60s. Her all steel superstructure was added at the same time - converting her for use as a liveaboard narrowboat.
Hull: Good. last surveyed in drydock September 2007 - found to be quarter inch iron (thicker iron at the bow) and at least 5mm (some 6mm - 7mm) steel thickness respectively. She has had her bottom and lower sides overplated sometime in the last decade or so, with 5mm steel plate.
Hull details from Sept. '07 survey:
- Original side plates - 6mm riveted iron (8mm bow plates)
- Baseplate overplate - 5mm mild steel
- Lower sides overplate - 5mm mild steel
- Swim and stern side plates - 5mm mild steel
- Counterplate - 6 - 7mm mild steel plate
Stern gland repacked in Sept 2007. Bilge pump built into the swim. Hull is sound and her bilges are dry!
Hull blacked to gunnels, & new anodes fitted (four in total) in Oct. 2007.
Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) cert. renewed Sept. 2009, valid to Nov. 2013
Scroll down to READ MORE, below layout plan:
Harmonic has a 3 cylinder Lister HW3, 36 horse power engine - cooled by raw water via a heat exchanger*. Engine is started by compression ignition with an electric starter motor. Controlled by throttle and with a Forward / Neutral / Reverse gearbox. All in full working order. Most recent oil change: March 2010.
[*Raw water comes in from the river, passes through a strainer which is in the engine room (it's very easy to access and clear out when necessary - see photo below) and takes up heat from a separate, clean, internal water circuit via the heat exchanger. The raw water then returns to the river in the exhaust stream. All this happens automatically!]
Electrics:
Two batteries in battery bank: Separate 110Ah leisure and starter batteries - Charging by engine alternator and built in 68W Solar panel, with electronic regulator (can take additional panels if required, current single panel is enough to keep 110Ah leisure battery very well charged March - October. Even in winter still get half to one Amp Hour a day.).
12V flourescent and LED lighting and 12V sockets throughout. No 240V system.
Heating / Insulation:
Rayburn No. 1 solid fuel stove in main cabin, with hot plate and oven. Stove and flue in good working order. Main cabin lined in pannelled ply over polystyrene insulation. Also, a small portable gas fire is part of the boats kit.
Water:
Harmonic has a drinking water tank under the bow, recently derusted and double blacked, ready to have supply side plumbing connected to the stop cock! There is no "supply side" plumbing connected off this tank's stop cock at the moment. She does have a stainless steel kitchen sink with waste water plumbed to outflow, and a shower tray likewise plumbed to outflow, with a Whale 12V pump. This can be used in conjuntion with portable water can and 12V pump (part of the boat's kit) for showers in the summer season.
Berths:
One 6' x 4' double bed with firm, block-foam mattress in main cabin. And one single bed / platform in rear cabin, but with two mattress - one designed to go on floor in rear cabin = two single berths. (Although I prefer to use the rear cabin and platform for storage).
Sanitation:
Porta-potti. New in Sept. 2007. Plus spare, second cassette.
Storage:
Plentiful throughout. Two under floor lockers in rear cabin. Plus storage space under kitchen surfaces, sofa and all beds. Beds and sofa have large drawer / crate / lockers underneath.
Gas:
NONE! Harmonic is a gas free boat. i.e. she has no built in gas system
Mooring:
NO CURRENT FIXED MOORING. Harmonic moves about on "continuous cruise".
Scroll down for lots more images below:
Sorry all pics taken on camphones, so not great quality!
Below: See that thing on the right-hand side of the roof that looks like a long, thin mat on the roof between the chimney and crossrail at midships? That's the 68W solar panel. It is of the "flexi" type so it is safe to walk on it, and it is permanently stuck down to the roof.
Below:The main cabin, seen from bow end. The perspective makes it look oddly small - but the sofa is 4' long and seats two people comfortably!
Below: The main cabin, seen from engine room doorway with vintage Rayburn No.1 complete with hot plate and oven!
Below: Storage under sofa in main cabin
Below: Storage drawers under double bed in main cabin
Below: 3 cylinder, 36HP Lister Engine, diesel tank in background
Below: Kitchen/galley area in more detail. Yes, that is the original BCN 15722 number plate for the boat! Dating back to 1898!
Below: Kitchen: again you can see headroom here...
Below: Removabale work surface easily slides off to reveal the sink.
Below: Work surface removed to show stainless steel sink. Waste water down the plughole goes into the river through outflow point above the waterline.
Below: 3 cylinder, 36HP Lister Engine and gearbox
Below: The stern cabin storage space: both on top of and under the bed/platform (one crate pulled out, five more under there).
G = socket for the removable gear lever.
Below: The stern cabin, with floor locker cover panels open.
Below: The stern cabin, with floor locker cover panels open, the bed frame with storage underneath, is on the left
Below: The stern cabin, with both single mattresses in place, each single mattress is a about 6' long
Below: Engine room seen from outside, with both port and starboard hatches open. Hard to see here, but headroom in engine room is about 6'2".
Below: This is the strainer, in the engine room, that keeps leaves etc. from gunking up the external, raw water part of the engine-cooling heat-exchange circuit... As you can see, if it needs cleaning out there's just ONE wingnut to undo, which then frees the lid, the basket inside lifts out to be rinsed, then it all goes back together. It's a two minute job, tops.Normally quicker than that, even.
Below: The stern cabin, from the other direction, with floor locker covers back in place, the bed frame with storage underneath, is on the right
Below: The stern cabin, with both single mattresses in place, each single mattress is a about 6' long
Below: The hull underneath the stern cabin... Floor stripped out for treatment/painting of the steel... You can see the the hull of the counter and swim, after derusting and two fresh coats of Hammerite (summer '08).
G = socket for removable gear lever. R = Gear change rod. P = Prop shaft. L = Grease line for stern gland. C = Power cable for bilge pump.
FAQs:
1) Is Harmonic licenced?
- Yes she is Thames licenced until end Dec. 2010
2) What was the original thickness of the overplating?
- The surveyor said 5mm, which is standard apparently. When she was in dry dock for her survey in Sept. '07 there was no apparent corrosion to the overplating, according to both visual inspection and ultrasonic survey. This is probably due to three factors: use of good quality steel, low oxygen in water at that depth and the sacrificial magnesium anodes (which were renewed along with blacking in Oct. '07)
3) Why did you have her surveyed in Sept. '07?
- The previous owner at the time was in some doubt about the hull. Harmonic was a big purchase for me, so I paid to have her surveyed BEFORE I bought her. Happily her hull was found to be in good condition.
4) Is that a dent in the side of the main cabin? What's that rippling in the steel work of the roof?
- No it's not a dent! Explanation follows:
First, very important point: Both other inspection and survey found that the hull has not suffered any distortion of shape at all - e.g. the "knees" (heavy angle iron) which join the side to the bottom plating are perfectly square. There is some "rippling" in the steel work of the main cabin superstructure, above the gunnels ONLY. This "rippling" is not noticeable from inside. The 5mm steel of the top and sides remains perfectly sound and solid. I have had people weghing 16stone walking and sitting on the roof without any problems!
The rippling effect (they are NOT impact dents!) is due to heat damage which arose about 5 years and two owners ago. The then owner suffered a gas leak - which led to a fire in the main cabin (fortunately no-one was aboard at the time). Although the main cabin was gutted and the superstructure of the steelwork suffered superficial "thermal rippling" (due to contraction and expansion in the heat) the hull was NOT damaged at all. The next two owners (me being the second) worked very hard to completely re-line the main cabin and repair / replace all significant fire damage. It was this history that prompted me to maintain Harmonic as a gas-free boat for the 2 and a half years of my ownership. There remain only the slighest traces of that fire (e.g. a little surface char visible on the doorframe between the engine room and the main cabin.
5) Why are you selling?
- I'm planning on going off travelling the world again, as soon as I can!
6) Roughly how much will it cost the buyer to fit a hot water shower in Harmonic?
- Harmonic already has the shower tray and waste water pump installed and working.
You can add supply side plumbing from the stopcock on the existing cold water tank under the bow.
You will need to buy a water heater and at least one more inline pump (pumps are not expensive). Erspacher make a diesel water heater, or there are plenty of marine calorifiers available on the market - here's one I googled! that could be run off a small, portable electric generator e.g.here's a very posh new one, you can probably buy similar for less. So if you DIY the plumbing, you should be able to sort out a hot shower system for about £1,000 to £1,500 or so... If you have it done professionally it would cost more, probably.
I understand that most buyers will want to install a hot shower, so Harmonic is already priced super-low so the buyer can afford to sort this out, after purchase.
Below: The loo / shower room (see section on Water above)
VIDEOS:
(shot on phone cam, so not great quality - and it makes things look smaller and darker than they are! Sorry!):
A quick tour of the outside of Harmonic:
A short video inside Harmonic's engine room - you can hear the Lister HW3 chugging away! I run her with the brass cap off the heat exchanger, replaced with a cloth to stop anything falling into the coolant, this is to make doubly sure that the pressure in the system stays the same as atmospheric. The lister pump in this circuit was designed to run in a pressure neutral system, you see, and although there is a breather valve (which is fine) I prefer a "belt and braces" approach to engine care!
A quick look around inside the main cabin and the loo/bathroom bit of my narrowboat, Harmonic. Please excuse the noise of the engine in the background and the poor quality, was filmed on a phone cam. I forgot to mention in the video - although there's is waste plumbing (i.e. kitchen sink is connected to outlet and so is the shower tray) but no "supply side" piping, there IS a fresh water tank under the front deck (behind the red curtain from inside) which has been recently reblacked and has a stub and stop cock ready for connection to piping. Also: this video is out of date in one respect - The chimney flue is now fully repaired with a newly welded in section of 3mm thick steel flue! So the stove and flue are now in good working order!