A Year on the River Lee in 2012 with MV. Challenge

As we prepare our boat ready for our new season we'd like to share with you some of the wonderful sights on the River Lee during 2012.

We are now taking bookings for your 2013 boating adventures on the River Lee. Book now to avoid disappointment. Email: bookings@dcbt.org.uk

Volunteer & Trustee Recruitment 2013

As January comes to an end and our 2013 season is fast approaching we are undertaking a volunteer and trustee recruitment programme.

Over the next nine weeks we will be preparing Challenge for the first of our residential cruises and putting the finishing touches to our winter refurbishment programme.

Volunteers are required to assist with this programme and join us as crew members to run our river boat.

We can offer a full induction and training to achieve nationally recognised certification.

What will I be doing?

This will depend on the role that you carry out but may include:

• Skippering the boat*
• Crewing the boat
• Providing hospitality to guests
• Fundraising
• Maintenance of the engine, boat and electrics*
• Marketing of the organisation and our work

*Depending on skills or training

Email us for a full information pack and application form at chairman@dcbt.org.uk

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.