Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

ABOUT ME

OUR CURRENT BOAT

FELIS CATUS III - THE DESIGN BRIEF

Click on any of the small pictures to see a full-size version, then use your browser's BACK button to return here.

LAYOUT

This is the design brief we gave to verious boatbuilders before deciding on Orion Narrowboats as our builder. The design has evolved a bit since then, and is expected to continure doing so until she's complete. Her vital statistics will be follows :-

We want the hull to be of 10/6/4 thickness steel. For the style, we prefer a "chunky" Black Country feel with no pronounced uplift to the back of the cabin.

Her design is a development from that of Felis Catus II, designed to give us more space and better equipment for residential use.

Forward half

Here are a couple of cut-away views:

After half

THE BACK END

I've given a lot of thought to the merits and demerits of different types of stern. Felis Catus II has a "traditional" stern, with which we are satisfied for most of the time. But occasionally we regret the lack of a social space next to the tiller. The original Felis Catus had a cruiser stern, and we found this quite uncomfortable in bad weather. I've looked at a number of "semi-trad" sterns, and have thought that most of them combine the worst of both options. So I've designed my own variation, borrowing ideas from a couple of other boats I've seen. I started with a "trad" design, then extended the width of the slide to nearly the full with of the top of the aft bulkhead. Then I extended the length of the slide to something like twice the normal. Considerations of weight mean that the slide may have to be fabricated in g.r.p. I provided it with a hinge, so that in its "open" position it occupies less space on the roof, thus avoiding too much space where I couldn't put ventilators etc. This gave me a "semi-trad" layout with a sliding lid. Then came the bit I modified from my friends Brian & Margaret Oliver's boat Zavala. Immediately inside the stern doors, the "semi-trad" area is roofed over for a small area each side. By pulling the slide back until it meets this, one has re-created the effect of a "trad" stern.

INTERNAL LAYOUT

We are not devotees of the "country cottage" type of layout with free-standing furniture since we prefer a more "boaty" feel and find that fixed furniture gives more storage space, which we consider essential for a live-aboard boat.

The forepeak is the gas locker, which should take 2 x 13kg cylinders with an automatic change-over valve, accessible through a traditional forehatch, which is surrounded by deck cants.

The well-deck is 5' long, with space to move the saloon table here for al fresco dining (possibly with a single Desmo leg fitting and the other end of the table supported on the forward coaming). It is equipped with two seat-lockers which will be used for coal, paint, windlasses, mooring pins etc. We want the well-deck floor to be well above the normal waterline so that it can be self-draining without risk of water coming in instead of out. This may well mean that the seat-locker tops will need to be flush with the gunnels at the lowest point.

Entering the saloon, there is an oilskin locker on the port side, then a stove (a Morsø Squirrel, as we have on Felis Catus II. Opposite is a low cupboard and shelves for the stereo and tapes, CDs etc. The TV and video recorder will sit on top of this cupboard, and above is a bookshelf. Then comes the dinette (convertible to a double berth), opposite which are shelves up to gunnel height, which will include a space for storing the table-top when not in use. There will be a large pigeon-box above. Lighting, as throughout the boat, will be by roof-mounted Thorn 2D lights, supplemented here by a couple of wall-mounted reading lamps.

We are keen on a C-shaped galley and both of us are keen cooks, so we've allocated it a fair bit of space. The cupboard which backs onto the dinette will be ventilated for the storage of vegetables. In the outboard corner above it will be shelves for crockery etc. Under the long work-top & sink there are a washer-drier, a cupboard for cleaning materials, an electric fridge (possibly a 230v domestic model) and a cupboard for pots and pans. Above part of this is an overhead cupboard which contains a micro-wave cooker and the grocery cupboard. The domestic-sized gas cooker is on the centre line. There is a bull's-eye roof-light in the food-preparation area, and a concealed strip light below the overhead cupboard.

Aft of the galley there is a corridor on the port side of the boat, while the starboard two-thirds of the width is occupied with the bathroom containing a shower, wash-basin (with cupboard below) and a porta-potti. The bathroom is pentagonal to allow the corridor to cross to the centre-line and make a visual break.

Continuing aft, one enters the study with a knee-hole desk on the port side, with shelving above it. This will be mainly used for a lap-top computer, which will have a scanner and attached, so will need a fair amount of desk space. To one side of the knee-hole are 4 drawers for papers etc, and on the other side 2 shelves, one big enough to take the computer's printer. On the starboard side is another side-hatch and a cupboard up to gunnel height with bookshelves above it.

INext comes the sleeping cabin. The bed's design is (very) loosely based on the cross-bed of a traditional back cabin. Above the foot of this bed is a cupboard, whose base is arched over the porthole. The centre panel of the bed folds up and locks to this cupboard, forming a space where the bedding can be kept. Fitted cushions needed for the three sections of this bed. I shall find a way in which the bedding can be simply rolled up and unrolled next night. Reading lamps are fitted to the cabin side to port.

Aft of this, on the starboard is a second en-suite loo compartment followed by an airing cupboard above the calorifier tank. This second loo will be Vacu-flush one whose holding tank extends under the side-bed. To prevent this affecting the trim of the boat, there will be two tanks together in this location, one the holding tank and the other a tank (slightly smaller) for the flushing water. Opposite this is a chest of drawers with an overhead shelf, and a wardrobe.

Aft of the cabin, some steps and a pair of doors lead up to the semi-trad cockpit over the engine. These doors will be the main security ones at this end of the boat.

The semi-trad cockpit contains a seat (which is also the battery locker) on the port side and tool storage on the other side.

Finally there is a short back deck.

WINDOWS

When we had Felis Catus II built, some of the boatbuilders we talked to thought our ideas about windows were rather strange, but we think they have proved successful and intend to repeat them.

On the starboard side of the boat there are two large windows, one by the dinette and one over the kitchen sink. These have their centre panel as a full-height hopper, which drops inwards for ventilation, or can have its glass totally removed for even more ventilation.

On the port side, however, one has to walk along by the windows when passing through the boat, and would be in danger of catching one's shoulder on a deep hopper window, so on that side we have full-width shallow hoppers at the top of each window. A similar (smaller and frosted) window is used for the bathroom. We want the external finish of the window frames to be black. The saloon and corridor windows to be fitted curtain rails (and lower restraints), the galley and shower-room windows with roller blinds.

The sleeping cabin, en suite second loo compartment and the semi-trad cockpit have brass-rimmed portholes with star glass.

DRIVE, POWER AND HEAT

My thinking about this started from the fact that we'll want a fairly good elex supply on board, given that we'll have a microwave, washer/drier, computer and various kitchen gadgets to power. So 240v seems essential. From what I've read about Beta Marine's Propgen system, I'm inclined to go for that, plus a big bank of batteries and an inverter. This will probably require a fairly sophisticated battery management system. We also want to facility to hook up to shore power when at a suitable mooring.

If you've not come across the Propgen idea, it's basically a diesel-engined generator set with a power take-off for the prop via a hydraulic trolling valve, so that the engine runs at constant revs what ever speed the prop is turning. If you want to find out more about it, go to Andy Greener's website to read about his boat boat Whisper which was built in 1999 with this power unit.

We don't plan to follow Andy's example and go for a completely gas-free boat, not least because I don't want to be dependent on a single fuel for everything. We'll certainly use gas for cooking (supplemented by a microwave cooker), which we much prefer, but will go this time for an electric fridge, as gas ones are prone to give trouble as they age.

Hot water will be provided when we're cruising by a calorifier off the engine. We'll need something to supplement that when we're static, and are tossing up between gas-fired and diesel-fired alternatives, at the moment our thinking favours an Eberspacher diesel-fired unit. Room heating will be mainly by the Morsø Squirrel stove in the saloon. We've got one of those in Felis Catus II and it warms to the back of the boat in all but the very coldest weather. But in a 60' (as opposed to 48') boat we'll probably need some sort of supplementary heating at the far end. I'm thinking of some finrads, either from a back boiler on the Squirrel or off the hot-water system.