Serious Damage to MV. Challenge

Over the past three years the volunteers at Docklands Canal Boat Trust, who all have disabilities, have worked all hours to modernise our community boat.

 

Over the past few weeks we have shed blood to put in a place an energy management project which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund. By last weekend we had finished phase one of the project and were preparing to move on to phase two.

 

Sometime on 5th November some scumbags broke into the boat and destroyed all the work we have undertaken. As well as cutting out all the new cable and copper pipe they caused untold damage by ripping out sinks, wash hand basins and the boiler. Not content they then set about trashing the place. The photos below detail some of the damage caused:

Cables cut from the distribution board and ceiling

 

New Cable and batteries ripped out

They ripped the boiler off the wall just to get the copper out

Everything thrown everywhere

The sad thing about this fiasco is that the £000s of damage they caused will only get them about £30 at the scrap yard. In the mean time we have had to cancel our volunteer programme for the winter where we support young people with disabilities.

 

The scumbags who did this to us will not win as we won't let them. The police have prints and DNA and one day they will be brought to justice. In the meantime our board of Trustees will move forward in the spirit that makes our project unique.

 

Our boat was named Challenge because it was a major challenge to raise the funds and get the boat built in the first place. This is just another challenge in our long history and we will WIN...

 



Energy Management Project

NEWSLETTER

We are now several weeks into our Big Lottery Fund project and we now have in place the electrical framework to expand and complete our energy management project.

Since our last blog posting we have taken delivery of the equipment for the first phase of this project and installed it in the partially rebuilt engine room/crews cabin. Before we look at this new setup it is worth taking stock of what we have undertaken so far in this essential project.

Planning Phase

When we took over the charity in 2009 we had been made aware that the previous year there had been a major power failure as a result of a whole section of 50mm cable breaking down.

Once the new team had taken a good luck at all the wiring, how electricity was generated and all the associated problems, we knew we had no option but to develop a new system and replace the bulk of the equipment and wiring.

The first thing we had to do was to reduce the reliance on the generator as everything on Challenge was electric and linked to the generator. Hence, no power, no cooking, no battery charging, no pumps, no lift and no lights.

The first thing we did was reinstall gas as part of our galley refurbishment. The cooker, toaster and kettle were slung out. The next thing was to design a system that provided us with energy 24/7 and the primary battery charging came from the main engine and not the generator.

Funding the Project

Funding was always going to be a problem as estimated costs put this project at around £10k. This is more than twice the annual income of our small charity, which essentially is just enough for our annual running costs.

Fortunately we were successful in being awarded an ‘Awards for All’ grant from The Big Lottery Fund, http://www.awardsforall.org.uk This grant has now enabled us to take forward our project that will now put our charity and our activities on a firm footing for the foreseeable future.

What we have done so far

• Stripped out all the old panelling, timber framework and old insulation.
• Strengthened the floor and substructure for the new battery bank.
• Rebuilt the port side walls with higher grade insulation.
• Stripped out or rerouted all the 24V and 240V wiring.
• Installed a new 240V distribution board with RCD protection.
• Installed a new 24V distribution board.
• Replace the old 2x110amh battery bank with a 6x110amh bank.
• Installed a new Victron 24V Inverter/Charger & associated controls.
• Resited the main engine and generator batteries.
• Replaced all the 50 & 70mm cables to batteries, equipment and main busbar.
• Installed new fuse carriers/fuses & battery isolators.
• Replaced the 12V alternator with a 24V model and splitter system
• Drank loads of coffee and consumed copious amounts of cup-a-soup
 
 

Although it's nice to see pretty photos with any project, we've decided to pull them all together in the short film above.

 

Where to next?

The frozen kettle

Because winter’s fast approaching and we’ve ripped out the walls, ceiling and insulation, we need to ensure we get the insulation back ASAP. Our past experience of an uninsulated steel boat has not been a pleasant one. Icicles hanging from the ceiling, frozen water in the kettle and dripping water every.

Over the next few weeks we will be getting the rest of the walls/ceiling rebuilt and insulated. At the same time we’ll be putting in place the plans and work programme for the second phase of the project, the solar and wind power charging.

Nearer Christmas we may even treat our volunteers to an economy brand mince pie, and, if they play their cards right, we may even consider letting them have Christmas Day off.

 





Spotlight on our Trustees - Part One

Sean, our Treasurer and Senior Skipper.

Sean joined our Board of Trustees in early 2009 and has been very active in the development of the charity and refurbishment of our boat.

Sean was actually a child of the 60’s. In fact the year the Beatles first went to the USA. (A free photo of Sean if you can guess the year)

At the age of 5 he was dragged screaming from his home town of Romford to live in Barking, where he stayed until he met and married his wife Hazel. They now live in Dagenham where Hazel has been happily baking cakes for Sean for the past 25 years. Hazel has even baked cakes for the crew of Challenge.

Sean has got his own challenges as he has been disabled for the past 22 years. In late 2011 he underwent extensive surgery on his back and wallet. That has not stopped him though, he has a daughter and apprentice son-in-law to keep him busy and on his toes.

Sean first got the bug for real boats whilst holidaying on the canals and has undertaken significant training. He holds the Certificate in Community Boat Management.

Sean assists with all the refurbishment on Challenge, but has taken specific responsibility for the painting programme. He is currently working on the roof of the boat and replacing all the vents and fitting new pole racks. He loves it when the work involves using a club hammer.

Sean has extensive experience working with other charities and with adults and children with disabilities.

George, our Partnership Liaison Officer.

George is also a Senior Skipper and holds the RYA Helmsman’s Certificate and Certificate in Community Boat Management. He is also a Trained Chippy, Gas Safe Registered and a million other things too.

 

George joined the charity in early 2009 and has worked diligently to upgrade and keep challenge running. He has led on Operation Longboat to keel haul Challenge into the next decade. He is the only man that we know who has crawled through the inaccessible parts of the bilges to have a look. He also has the reputation of being the only person brave enough to stick his head inside our effluent holding tank! His work on the boat also includes:

• Creating a larger saloon area
• Build a new disabled access wet room/shower/toilet
• Installing a new galley

He is currently working on our new energy management project which is funded by The Big Lottery Fund.

George, has extensive experience working with other charities and with adults and children with disabilities.

Brian, ‘BriDev’ - Chairman, Blog/Twitter Editor, Tea Boy, Bread Pudding Maker, and Fund Raiser.

Brian joined the team in late 2008 when the charity was struggling. Six months later he had pulled together some like minded people, got some funding from Newham Voluntary Sector and the charity was on a roll again. He has developed all new policies, operational and marketing plans and our vision for the future, which includes Operation Longboat, our four year refurbishment programme. He has also been successful in attracting funding to enable our developments to go forward.

Brian has been around boats most of his life and holds the RYA Helmsman Certificate and Certificate in Community Boat Management. He is also a trained charity professional and has spent over 40 years working with organisations such as International Voluntary Service, Age Concern, MS Society and Lea Valley Cycle-Ability.

 

We are currently developing role descriptions and an information pack for the recruitment of new trustees. Follow us on Twitter @mvchallenge for more information.

Big Lottery Energy Management Project

NEWSLETTER



Blue skies on Saturday morning
and a full team of volunteers

First cuppa for the Treasurer
or he's useless!

After the torrential downpour on Friday night we arrived on Challenge Saturday morning to blue skies and warm sunshine. Once the kettle was on we set ourselves the task of completing all the demolition work during the weekend and starting the rebuilding process. We need at least half of the engine room wall built so we can start installing the framework for the new power system.

 

All weekend volunteers rip out
the old framework

By mid morning on Sunday we had completed our demolition work and were ready to start building the new framework for the walls. Whilst this was going on we took delivery of the timber, wall boards and insulation. Also our specialists were busy stripping out the old wiring which are like a London tube map!



We have ordered all our signs and logos for this project, which we are expecting in due course. In the meantime we mounted a temporary sign on the door. This created local interest and we shown around two local groups and one from Australia. The later kindly donated £20 to our charity.



Temporary Big Lottery Fund logo fitted
by Skipper George

Week commencing 8th October we will be continuing with the construction phase and taking delivery of the first stage of our new equipment.

 

Follow us on Twitter for daily updates @mv.challenge or email us at dcbt.challenge@gmail.com. To speak to a real live skipper Skype us at mv.challenge.

 

About The Big Lottery Fund

The Big Lottery Fund distributes half of the National Lottery good cause funding across the UK.  The Fund aims to enable others to make real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need.

 



Big Lottery Funding for Challenge

Yesterday The Big Lottery Fund, Awards for All, published their latest round of grants. Amongst them was your very own Docklands Canal Boat Trust. They have awarded us an amazing £9,488 to take forward a major Energy Management Project.





Overview of proposed power management

This important development includes:

• Ripping out all the old power cables
• Replacing the 2 x 110amp battery bank with a 6 x 110amp battery bank
• Replacing the 12v alternator with a 24v model and splitter
• Replace the small charger with a new inverter/charger
• Install new energy management controls
• Install new solar panels
• Install a new wind generator
• Using the redundant leisure batteries and charger, create a separate battery bank for the wheelchair lift


There is a tremendous amount of enabling works that need to be undertaken before we can put the initial framework in place. All this work will be undertaken by our small dedicated bunch of volunteers.

Why don’t you join us as a volunteer and make it a big bunch?

 



This lot has seen better days

History of electrics on Challenge

When Challenge was constructed in British Ship Yards they used heavy gauge material for all the work. This included isolators, switches, cable and fuses. After 27 years on London’s waterways the whole setup had seen better days. Most importantly we have had a number of energy failures and we need to consider modern usage of power and green energy. It took us a couple of years to agree on what we actually required and get in a position to bid for funding.

Green energy

As volunteers most of us have been green for some considerable time, unfortunately we could not say the same for the boat. The main source of power on Challenge has been a large generator that burns red diesel. We have to admit we have thrashed this unit over the past two years and we need to remove it and give it a complete overhaul, (next spring). We are also restricted with its use early in the morning and late at night.

We now want to concentrate on sourcing our energy from four main areas:

• From the engine whilst running the boat
• From solar power all year round
• From wind power when weather permits
• From the generator only as a back up
• From shore power when it is available

Crucially we need to reduce our reliance on the generator and significantly reduce our fuel costs.

Over the next few weeks we will be posting progress on our blog and via email as this project develops. If you want more information on this project, our charity or volunteering opportunities you can contact us in a number of ways:

• Email to dcbt.challenge@gmail.com
• Email to chairman@dcbt.org.uk
• Follow us on twitter at https://twitter.com/MVChallenge
• Skype us at mv.challenge to chat to a real live Skipper

About The Big Lottery Fund

The Big Lottery Fund distributes half of the National Lottery good cause funding across the UK.  The Fund aims to enable others to make real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need.

Archive Photos Down at Three Mills

We were looking at some photos the other day of Charles and Camilla who came down to the River Lee to name one of the new boats for Water Chariots.

 

We know from the national press and a multitude of websites that this venture, which was supposed to provide a riverboat service for the next 15 years was forced to go into receivership half way through the Olympic Games.
 

Charles & Camilla officially naming a Water Chariot Taxi

Look carefully at the top right of the photo and you will see the bridge supports for the District Line where it crosses the River Lee and Bow Creek

It was exactly 27 years that Princess Michael of Kent was in exactly the same spot at Three Mills to commission Challenge.



Princess Michael of Kent commissions Challenge in June 1985



The only thing that has changed over the past 27 is that the bridge is now green and there is a brand new floating pontoon for the water taxis. As they now don't exist and won't be using the pontoon, we feel that we have a duty to ensure that this resource is put to good use.

Anyway, the bank at Three Mills is always been a problem because of its sheer height. The new pontoon now opens up many opportunities in that area.

Challenge on the new Three Mills pontoon

A September Weekend On Challenge

This weekend was a real mixed bag of weather. On Saturday we had glorious sunshine, which was followed by torrential downpours on Sunday.

With the sun shining on Saturday it wasn’t long before the river came alive with rowers and canoeists. Now then, we have a written rule on the waterways that you keep to the right when passing other boats. That’s not always possible when you are sculling or rowing backwards, so these guys normally stick to the middle of the river. Unfortunately this can lean to near misses when you go round a bend and the river is full of canoeists straddling the whole river.

 

More of a problem can be inconsiderate boater who not only speed down the centre of the river, but go round bends without tooting their hooter. As you can see in the photo this can lead to disasters whereby a team of scullers were cut in half.

 

Fortunately nobody was injured on this occasion, even though the narrowboat responsible failed to stop and offer assistance to the crew in the water. We understand the narrowboat owner was tracked down several days later. We hope they throw the book at him!

 

As Sunday dawned and the heavens opened up the temperature started to fall. One of our projects last year was to install central heating in the boat. This was quickly switched on to warm up the boat.

 

As we couldn't work outside we decided to disconnect the Webasto heater that had been left in situe. This heater has been a right pain in the neck since we took over the boat 4 years ago. The unit was purchased new to replace an old Eberspächer heater. We could never get the Webasto to fire up, so our resident Mr Fix-It concluded that the pump was faulty. Now everything apart from the starter batteries is 24v on Challenge. Needless to say we bought a 24v pump for the unit but even this wouldn't work.

 

As I'm renowned for thinking outside of the box I sat there with the old pump and the instruction book in my hands just contemplating the problem. I then asked if anybody had run a test on the pump to see if it really was faulty? A few blank stares later I jury rigged the pump to a 12v battery and it sprang into life. I then asked Mr Fixit (who has the smallest head) to get his head in the bilges with a torch and check the voltage on the back of the Webasto. Yeah you've guessed it, this was 12v also and the whole unit was wired into a 24v system! Once we pulled in a 12v supply and put back the 12v pump the whole system fired up and blew hot air around the boat.

 

I won't talk about the Webasto being undersized for a 70' boat as that's a story for another day. All you need to know is that our new gas fired heating works a treat and we are ready for anything winter wants to throw at us.

 

 

 

 

Back on the Lee but not the Bow Back Rivers

Now that the River Lee is fully open we can finally get the boat down to the Olympic Park and Limehouse Basin. Last Saturday was a beautiful day on the river, albeit a bit slow. We managed to get down to Bow Locks before we had to turn and return home to base.

Now that all the athletes have gone from the Olympic Park it’s starting to fill up with contractors pulling down all the temporary buildings and hospitality tents.

Along the way we met a number of people who were glad the Olympics had finished as it had curtailed their activities and businesses. One restaurateur told us he had spent over £300k without any return on the investment, a lot less than the £3m lost on the water Chariots disaster, (see posting below). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19618187

Also good to see were the tour guides who can now access the tow path again and bring visitors back to the River Lee. All we need to do now is get the bits that are still shut open to the public.

Bow Back Rivers

The history of this are well documented elsewhere, but effectively they were shut in 2007 as part of the Olympic Park developments. Over the last five years the following has been invested in the river system:

• £2.1m for dredging
• £770k on waterway enhancements, including soft bank habitat, bridge fenders and moorings
• £1m for widening and resurfacing the tow path
• £200k for a pontoon for larger vessels outside the Aquatics Centre
• Probably a lot more hidden in other accounts!

That’s just a tad over £4m, but the benefits should be priceless. First off this area was once an open cesspit full of shopping trolleys, bikes old cars and mud clogged with rubbish. It is now a clean and pleasant environment and haven for wildlife. Secondly we now have the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which starts to open to the public in 2013. This should bring in numerous visitors and valuable revenue for the area.

Now then, my gripe is with the timetable for the opening of the Bow Back Rivers. Since 2007 British Waterways (now CRT) has said on their stoppages page that the area remains closed until after the Olympics. Well the Olympics are over so it’s time to get the rivers open again after five years closure. Hang on a minute, CRT are now saying that the area will remain closed until 2016. Now that is either a typo or they are having a laugh at the tax payers expense. Remember all that money spent was yours and not theirs.

https://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/stoppage/detail/6490/Bow+Back+Rivers+Advice

Although we emailed them last week for an explanation we have not yet had a response. we will keep you informed.

Back to Business

So here we are, just a couple of days to the end of the Olympics 2012 and the end of restrictions on the river.

Down at DCBT we have had a great time over the Olympics. For three weeks we played host to trainers from the New South Wales Institute of Sport, (NSWIS). During the games we shared their frustrations and they shared our joys as Team GB stormed ahead. One of the former Hockeyroos admitted that it was difficult not to get emotional when Jessica Ennis stepped on the podium to collect her gold medal. We always knew they were closet pommes!

We are now back on track with our core work and 'Learning on the Lee' with our client base.

One of the big stories of the Olympics is the possible demise of Water Chariots. They were set up with a mass of publicity and invested over £3m in the construction of boats to provide the official water taxi service to the games. They were also awarded a 15 year contract by BW to provide water taxi services as part of the Lea Valley/Olympic Park legacy.

When we heard about the numbers they were supposed to carry on the river – 1,000 per hour, we wondered at the time where they were going to get these people from. When they finally announced their prices we knew immediately they were on a looser. After operating on the River Lee for 28 years we knew how difficult it is to attract custom.

We understand that soon after the games started the company readjusted their numbers down to 1,000 per day. In reality we don’t think they did more than a hundred per day. Certainly on the Tottenham to Old Ford route there we no more than 30 per day. On some days we never even saw the boats. Once the main Olympics were over we never saw the boats again.

Needless to say this will have caused a serious cash flow problem. We now understand the receivers were called in on Tuesday 4^th September.

When the dust settles on this one it will be interesting to see where the funding came from for this fiasco. Some of the blogs and discussion boards talk about funding from BW, TFL and ODA. Other blogs have discussed the possibility of funding being diverted from the redevelopment of Stonebridge to construct a quay at Tottenham Lock. Although none of these rumours have been confirmed, it will be interesting to see what the fall out is

The link to this story can be found below:

http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/news-flash/4820-warningtwo-chariots

Lunch, Gold and Silver

Today we were invited to lunch by the Australian Team from NSWIS. We had a fabulous range of  pizzas and garlic bread in the Princess Of Wales. I was particularly impressed with the coffee after lunch.

Whilst we were eating we were delighted to watch Team GB storm home to win gold and silver in the canoe slalom at Lea Valley. Even the Australians congratulated us!

Summer 2012

Summer is finally here along with the Olympic Games and all the controls on the river and roads. Down on Challenge we are hosting a number of trainers and staff from the New South Wales Institute of Sport, (NSWIS).

They are obviously having a fantastic time on Challenge as we are just up river from the stadium and have secured for them a number of bikes. Most importantly for a beer loving nation, we are right outside the newly refurbished Princess of Wales Pub that is serving fantastic food and beer!

The boat is flying its full regalia, including the Australian Flag. For the moment they are leading Team GB in the medals table, but that could change as we have now broken the ice.

A year on the River Lee in 2011 with MV Challenge

As we prepare challenge for the 2012 season, we'd like to remind all our supporters of the fantstic year we had during 2011.

Over the year nearly 1,000 passengers with special needs enjoyed a day trip or holiday on our community boat.

The volunteer team excelled themselves and provided over 2,500 hours of their valuable time to assist with day trips, holidays and refurbishment.

This short film depicts our year on the river during 2011.

Operation Longboat 2011 Phases 2.5 & 3

During 2011 the volunteers of Docklands Canal Boat Trust continued with their three year refurbishment programme - Operation Longboat. During the autumn we secured a grant from the East London Community Foundation and were able to strip out the old galley and build a fabulous new one.

This short film shows some of the work we have undertaken to modernise our fantastic community riverboat.