Saturday, October 12, 2013

Continuing with ‘Minnow’




Before ‘Minnow’ will be ready for cruising, I have a lot more to do on her.

This morning I painted the final upper coat of orange Toplac on the mast, and this afternoon I fitted the front window by sealing and bolting it to the cabin trunk. Finally, before calling it a day, I tried lighting a piece of polystyrene that I had taken from the boat. Initially it was reluctant to catch on fire, but after a few seconds, flames and black smoke came from it. This demonstration affirming how flammable the material is has convinced me I should remove all polystyrene from within the boat.

I did not have built-in buoyancy for my Paradox ‘Faith’, because I felt the chances of her being flooded were pretty remote. The same reasoning goes for ‘Minnow’, but there is one slight reservation, and that is she does not have the integrity of a completely joined-up cabin trunk, because a washboard has been fitted.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Bill,

She looks like a different boat....well heck....She IS a different boat now that you have done so much to her!! Bravo!!!! I have a wasboard too in Scout. Possibly we should make a way to latch it in place for heavier weather??

Sean
www.fullnby.com

Unknown said...

Hello Bill, I'm really glad that you've gone for the 'peace-of-mind' approach, and decided to remove the polystyrene. There are plenty of other flame-proof foams about, that while expensive, won't carry the ultimate cost. You may wish to consider the spray foam used by the narrow boat fraternity, but then you'd still have to disguise it behind some panelling.