Tony Brown has had his newly built boat for a year now, so how has he got on with it?

This is an example of the type of boats and boatbuilding feature you will be able to find regularly in Canals & Rivers magazine's BOATBUILDING SECTION

Regular readers will recall the previous articles in Canals & Rivers on the construction and delivery of my 41ft aluminium Sea Otter narrow boat, Cantabile, leading to the arrival of our new boat in October, 2006.

Our Sea Otter, Cantabile

Small fixes
The condition of the boat on delivery was very good with all finishes fully up to the high standard that we had come to expect from Sea Otter. Just three areas gave us cause for concern and all were dealt with efficiently by the manufacturer. Although the Webasto hot water and central heating system appeared to work on delivery, within a day or two it refused to fire up and a prompt visit by Sea Otter quickly established that rubber debris from a flexible fuel pipe, pushed onto a sharp edged metal

Extra storage under berths

Stiff steering sorted
The second problem occurred when the beautifully moulded, glass fibre shower tray detached itself from the shower wall at one point, allowing a small amount of water to leak under the bathroom carpet. Again, a prompt visit from the manufacturer corrected the defect, which fortunately has not recurred.  Finally, during this summer’s warmer weather and our first full cruise, it became clear that the tiller was too stiff for comfort and steering precision. Ray, Sea Otter’s Managing Director and technical expert, suggested some adjustment to the plastic rudder bearings to reduce the effort required on the tiller and this proved to be a dramatic cure.

Our modifications
I am a great believer in modifying any standard boat or caravan to provide optimum individual convenience and maximise storage capacity so we went to work shortly after delivery, on this track. Sometimes a very simple and minor adjustment makes such a difference. A small bent wire hook attached to the back of the water filler cap, made to engage with the refill hose nozzle enables the tank to be filled at full pressure without the need for the hose to be held in place to prevent snaking.

Modified cupboard storage for tins etc

Reorganising storage
Whilst Sea Otter had done their best to accommodate my individual needs with regard to storage of my two Brompton folding bikes in the base of the wardrobe, situated just inside the rear doors, and further storage for folding chairs and table under the 7ft pull-out rear settee/bed, some modifications were needed for maximum convenience. The wardrobe was reorganised to provide more shelf than hanging space – not too many dinner dances these days – and access to my floor-level bicycle storage space was improved by increasing the size of the opening onto the passage and by rebuilding the rear steps to allow

Smoke alarm and hooks...

Deck gear stowage
I do think that dedicated internal plank and pole storage is important, but how often is this seen? Safety and comfort are not improved by planks and poles rolling around the floor in the corridor, a situation which is seen so commonly. Now access to the under bed storage area has been improved, plank and pole (in two interlocking sections) are stored here and the boathook is neatly and almost invisibly retained in two bent aluminium strip hooks, quickly accessible under the side deck near the rear doors. After being awoken in the middle of the night by a smoke alarm, doing its job in a previous caravan, I take fire precautions very seriously. The local Fire Brigade kindly attended at the marina to advise us on the most effective location for the two smoke alarms which they supplied and which we fitted, one at each end.

Hooks from tie-backs
It goes without saying that coat hooks have been added in strategic places as living aboard has dictated over the months. I have used curtain tie-back hooks as these are much flatter than coat hooks which is welcome in a confined space. In fact I prefer to choose my own location for hooks so the absence of hooks provided by the manufacturer is, for me, an asset. The main problem which arises with customer added hardware or in fact, in modifications to cabinet work is to ensure that all materials and fittings are compatible and that the standard of work at least reaches that of the original construction. This does indeed create difficulties when modifying a Sea Otter in that the owner, Ray, imposes his own, very high standards of construction and finish on his cabinet and lining work and it is a real challenge to match this, as one must, when modifying the original woodwork. Fortunately, the factory has been most helpful in supplying matching oak sections and oak-faced plywood for my changes.

Mattress mods
The pull-out settee/bed is necessarily made up of 3 long mattresses, consisting of 2 backrests and one seat cushion which together make up the width of the double bed. Inevitably, as the free edge is adjacent to the passage and not retained by wall or woodwork, there is a tendency for the individual mattresses to separate in use. This problem has been easily solved by two lengths of seat belt sized webbing with substantial Velcro strips at the ends. These are left in place under the seat cushion during the day and tensioned and closed round the three mattresses at night before bedding is added. During the planning stage, I had identified a location for a large food storage cupboard opening into the corridor and stealing a few inches from the very generous 1170mm long shower compartment behind. This did not appeal to the manufacturer so it was left for me to

Stowage below cupboards

Central heating boosted
Winter boating draws attention to additional problems, not affecting the fair weather boater. As we were visiting fairly frequently over the cold weather and even snow, it became rather a chore to drain and refill the hot and cold domestic water system every time, so I took up the suggestion of Lee, from Walton Marine, the selling agents, to add 12in oil-filled, mains tubular heaters to prevent freezing in winter. One has been installed next to the water pump under the bow water storage tank and two positioned next to the calorifier in the engine compartment. These are connected through adjacent froststats and are all permanently wired to a single central switch for convenience. It was a considerable challenge to find a route behind the lining panelling and to draw through, not only the mains supply flexes but also protective trunking to prevent damaging contact between PVC flex insulation and the expanded polystyrene wall insulation. At the same time, wiring was provided to power a permanently installed, remotely switched, small, oil-filled radiator in the bathroom to keep it cosy when it is not quite cold enough to keep the central heating on overnight. Existing storage space in the dinette-double front bedding lockers is good but has been made more useful by dividing each locker into three sections which enables different areas to be dedicated to bedding, spare parts, ropes, electrical accessories etc.

Dinette table expanded
The dinette table provided proved rather small for my larger than standard, dinette-double, is a little low for the thick seat cushions and is incredibly solid and therefore, heavy. A new 400mm longer table top was constructed by laminating two thin matching oak-faced plywood sheets, the underside layer perforated to remove all unnecessary timber away from the edges and leg attachment points.  After oak edge trim and a few coats of satin varnish, the top was ready for its new legs. The legs of a spare, matching folding leg unit were cut with a hacksaw and the old unit cannibalised to provide an extra 50mm of table height, at the same time removing much of the steel framing which added much weight but little strength. The end result is a larger, lighter and more manageable table which is stored in the same place under the side deck as before, but now horizontally rather than vertically, with its retainer reshaped and repositioned to keep it in place.

Exterior changes
Some exterior changes have also been made. A stainless steel handle bolted to the rear door slide has made it more user friendly and bow mooring line fairleads added either side of the bow cleat. Eventually, a rear deck light will be wired in using

Bow locker lids

Summary
In conclusion, it is important to point out that thanks to care taken during its manufacture, this 41ft Sea Otter has proved a generally well-designed, well-constructed, well-finished and well liked-boat with my personal adaptations involving only a tiny part of its construction. I wonder how many narrow boat manufacturers can achieve this level of customer satisfaction?!