JASMINE
the current boat
Once you've decided that you
like boats and the boating life, you start to work on the design for the
"Ultimate" boat. Having owned two boats, we were beginning
to get a good idea of what we liked and didn't like; of what worked for us
and what we could do without. Because of the limited space, there
are always some compromises to be made. So while we owned Vigornia,
we tried out a few ideas in our heads and imagined how these would work in
reality.
Our experiences with
Swanmore told us that we wanted a top quality shell and Kevin really liked
the idea of a "proper" engine with lots of brass bits to polish
in its own engine room. If you have an engine room, you really need
a boatman's cabin as well. This got us the bare bones of a design - a
full-size traditional shell with the engine room and boatman's cabin
completely traditional, but everything forward of the engine room to be
totally modern with all the labour saving devices we could fit. The
next three decisions took a while to work out and involved several trips
around the country. In the end, we decided on a shell built by
Graham Reeves - but not his normal design. Fitting out was to be by
Bluehaven Marine - with whom we formed a brilliant working relationship
and the engine was to be a Russell Newbery DM2 about as traditional
an engine for this style of boat as you could get.
Then some of the detail
needed to be worked out. We had nothing but trouble with the forced
combustion heating system on Vigornia, so decided to give it a miss (it
might work fine in coaches and lorries...). We have a Lockgate
diesel stove and back boiler that generates more than enough heat to keep
the boa warm, has all the benefits and charm of a log burning stove, but
creates no ash and fuel is stored in a 40 gallon tank (separate from the
main diesel tank). There's also plenty of heat from the engine and
if it gets really cold, there's a little cooker in the boatman's
cabin. The front saloon, including dinette is about 18 feet long, so
plenty of space
The kitchen is "all mod
cons" - built under cooker, mains fridge / freezer (much cheaper than
a 12v system and with the money you save, buy some extra batteries),
washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, etc. It's also as spacious
as you can get on a boat.
We've got a
"walk-through" style bathroom that allows more usable space
within less boat room.
There's a crossbed in the
main cabin, the dinette can be converted to a double and there are the
traditional 3 berths in the rear cabin. So plenty of space.
The electrical system is all by Mastervolt and includes 8
12v batteries, a diesel generator, mains battery charger and inverter.
The generator is a modern "Whispergen" that is almost silent
outside the boat so it won't annoy other canal users.
