welding my tjalk

[Richard]

I'm sticking my 42 foot tjalk 'Gideon' in dry dock next week (Feb 8th) where I plan to cut off the bow and add 10 feet to her length. Anyone had experience of welding new steel to 100 year old malleable iron? People I've spoken to seem divided between using fluxless mig and stainless (chrome) rods. Any advice/experience would be welcome

Richard
[email:354fqg4z]dolphin.design@btinternet.com[/email:354fqg4z]

[Admin (Chris)]

Hi Richard,

Just sent a text to Mike Hickson of Goldwater Boats with your question, he welded the Iron Dutchess together for me and has had years of welding and boat building experience.? I await and will post his reply.

Chris

Edit: Sadly no longer trading.

[Admin (Chris)]

Reply from Mike HicKson.

________________________

Your question is very interesting.

But this raises various questions,

I assume the dry dock is fully or partly open to the elements, in which case fluxless MIG will suffer from the draughts blowing the gas away. In that event fluxed MIG wire may be better.

This is where MMA (stick ) welding may be advantageous.

First thoughts are to ere on the side of high nickel content, ie- the stainless chrome rods or Monel rods.

Let me ask a welding inspector I know he may be able to ask The Welding Institute

if he is any help I will let you know.
________________________

I will post more as it arrives.

Chris

[Richard]

Well chaps, Gideon is now in dry dock, with a 10 foot section missing from his middle. I cut him with a plasma cutter and was very plesantly surprised to find the steel thickness was almost unchanged from when she left the slips over 100 years ago. We have much newer boats on our moorings with much thinner hulls (3 Springers for a start...). I got new plates rolled at a local fabricators, and to date 3/4 of the new section is in back in place. For information, I used a standard single phase BOC mig, .8mm wire and argoshield gas and the weldinghas gone very well. Advice I was given and used is to lay a quick root run down the gap of the vee'd steel and then grind it back before the final run. This seems to prepare the old iron for the main run, sort of warming it up I suppose.

If anyones in the area, please call in, we're 100 meters upstream of Hammersmith Bridge, on the north shore.

I'll put up some piccies if anyones interested.

Richard

[Admin (Chris)]

Hello Richard,

I'm down in London next weekend visiting my daughters who live in the Hanworth/Ashford (where I come from originally) area, so I will try to pop over Saturday morning, will anyone be about?

Some pictures would be nice, always good to see what others are up to 

[Richard]

Hello chaps, it's been a while since I've been here and I'm very pleased to see the forum has grown, and is still a nice place to visit!

If anyones interested the update to the Gideon (40' tjalk) storey is...

After a year in the dry dock, which to be fair wasn't booked to anyone else and was also on the same mooring as my resedential spot, Gideon motored out 10 feet longer with a new wheelhouse and a raised cabin forward of the tabernacle. The boat welded like a dream, they were using very good steel in Grongingen back in the dim distant. The old limited headroom bedroom forward I turned into a spare room/office, and the new section which was now 15' long as I cut into the generous fordeck section, became wetroom and bedroom, plenty of space for the swinging of the cat (Dutch tradition). The wheelhouse was fitted with a grands worth of windows from Paul the window bloke in Reading, sliding door tracks from B&Q, bench seat at the back, 6 coats of varnish on the dash, and it looked lovely! During the post operation survey the ultrasonics reveiled the 6mm original plate was in a lot of places down to 5.9mm!! 0.1 in 90 plus years! I'd like to see a narrow boat last as long. Some minor plating on the turn of the bilge, and a few pits filled (burn pit clean with a stick welder, then fill with the mig welder), and the survey, saftey certificate, and insurance condition report were all written.

Sadly, we had to sell Gideon last year, he is still on the mooring at Hammersmith with a new owner, a lovely Scottish girl who tells me she is very happy with Gideon, Annie and I moved upstream to Windsor, a reso mooring between the Racecourse Marina and Windsor Marina on the south side of the Thames. I joined the enemy camp I am sorry to report, a 42' Princess, and the two 9 litre diesel volvo's drink a gallon a minuet at full chat, (down the estury a good way), so I am now a biodiesel brewer as well. There are a couple of v. nice tjalks on the moorings, one of which I delivered up here from Chiswick Quay last month, so I still get to sit on a proper boat occasionally.

If anyone is up this way, call in for a chat/beer.

Richard
07930 302 508 

[Admin (Chris)]

Sounds like you've been busy!

Do you have any photos of the work on Gideon you could post here or link to?

You could keep an eye out for two friends of mine, Roy & Sue Farman, they run a hotel boat "Baglady" and are up and down the Thames through Windsor quite a often http://www.hotelboatbaglady.co.uk

If you meet them, ask Roy "Aren't you that Knackered sailor in the photograph" that should make him laugh, and I'll get a thank you for nothing phone call