Every day yields exciting developments on board Fair Chancellor. With the deadline for completion looming, the boat builders are scurrying around fervently. You may be wondering why there is such a rush for this newly built boat in our quieter season in the middle of winter (although all our modern boats are equipped with boat to shore power lines and heaters), however it is not an impending letting causing the festive scampering but instead Norfolk Broads Direct’s attendance at the London Boat Show. Do drop in and visit us; we can be found on Stand E002 at ExCel London from 9th-18th January and we’d love to see you! You will be able to look round this handcrafted Broads cruiser built entirely by our talented Norfolk boat builders and engineers.
As Fair Chancellor is made from the same moulding as Fair Majesty, you will find some of the features are the same. This week, Steve is wiring in the pop-up T.V., creating that extra bit of space in the saloon.
The galley is coming along nicely; Ali has put in the headlining and is now working on the Mistral work tops. The initial supports will be put in and then further boards that are cut to size to support the oyster and mink headlining before being finished with American oak beading. The headlining boards are sent off to Jeckells where they are covered in foam then the oyster vinyl and the oak timber mouldings are machined at Windboats, next door to our boat yard.
From the outside, things are smartening up one step at a time. Two coats of Blakes’ finest anti foul have been applied, covering the silver ‘Primocon’ undercoat primer (this always makes me think of the Transformers) which was only painted once Giles (below) had prepped the gel coat surface by sanding it down. The sliding roof has now been added and the tinted windows secured in place. It won’t be long before she is ready for the Show. Once Fair Chancellor 1 is complete, the shell of Fair Chancellor 2 will be hoisted in; at the moment, she is floating in the basin looking rather like a ghost ship.
As well as working hard on the ‘raspberry’ curtains for the Cordon Rouge, Danny and Richard are refurbishing the fleet’s interiors, replacing curtains where necessary. As soon as the material arrives, work will commence on the mauve curtains for Fair Chancellor, ready for the big dressing day at ExCel in January.
If you wander around the yard in the winter, you may spot an engineer or two with his head stuck in an engine bay. Each and every one of the Norfolk Broads Direct fleet has a full winter service in order to make sure the boats run smoothly throughout the summer season. Regular servicing and maintenance prolong the life of the engines, giving optimum performance. This prevents any build up in the filters which may cause damage to the injector pumps and clean oil reduces internal friction and wear and tear on the engine. The oil is sucked out using a vacuum pump and then emptied into a barrel.
As you would expect, our boatyard produces several hundreds of litres of old oil and diesel each year and we have always debated the best way of reusing this product. Currently all waste oil is collected by a certified company, but we are now looking at investing in a Waste Oil Burner for one of our work sheds in order to reuse our waste products on site, and save a bit of money on fuel in the process!
On entering the Peninsula work shop you’ll hear the hum of troops hard at work: sanders, polishers, maybe even someone singing along to the radio. As well as the engine servicing and deep cleaning of the interiors, all boats are pulled out for repairs and external cleaning. You can see Becky and Ted hard at work in these pictures. Becky is cleaning, compounding and polishing the hull and Ted is repairing the fibre glass on the side of Fair Empress.
