Welcome to my Channel. My name is James and I do up Narrowboats. I didn’t think I did but in 2020 I bought my first narrowboat.
The first 400 or so videos are about me renovating Sloe Patrol, a 50 year old 43 ft Springer Narrowboat with an old Lister SL2 engine. She was to become my little floating home in and around London on the Grand Union Canal.
After renovating her and living on her for almost 3 years I was looking at the future and worrying about out growing Sloe Patrol; I was lucky enough to be given an old boat from someone who could no longer use it. It was called Project 57, a 57 ft Price Fallows Narrowboat with a Vetus 42 engine.
So videos 400(ish) onwards are about Project 57 and her full and thorough renovation back to full glory. So please join me as I get cracking
I won a mug! Oops I mean a storage pot with a handle 😃 Definitely not putting mine on eBay 😂 What a lovely offer James. I hope the raffle has helped fund some of the jobs on cerium 🤞🏻🥰
I think sometimes we want something to work enough that we ignore the fact it’s not actually suitable… that thing is too vulnerable and reapplying a new surface every few months just seems so impractical 🤷🏼♂️
how awesome to extend the offer in this way. James, the resin hardens over many many days, maybe sample section each day to see if it was harder than the day before. It may take 10-14 days to achieve full hardness
I think your creations with the resin may merit a sideline for you. You ought to raffle your experimental pieces too. Do you plan anymore 11 fluid Oz portable storage containers.? You have marketable stuff there James. I must admit, when I saw your initial attempts at kerfing and bending ply, I thought it would be a worthy experiment that went nowhere. I'm very glad you proved me wrong as it showed a massive perseverance.
Congrats to the winners! Wish it was me coming so I could have a beer with you guys and help out a bit as I’m on annual leave that week. Wonder if our Alan won? Could take all the trim he’s been saving up for ya 😂
James when you sand resins and plastics to get a shine you have to start with a grit about 800-1200 then maybe a 2400 and finish up with cut and polish and 4000 abrasive the same way that you restore automotive headlight lenses from weather turning them frosted.
My biggest question is, how food safe is it? Cause no one needs a surface that slowly seeps into fruits or veggies left in the counter, or if one cuts onion on it. That food btw isnt safe to eat.. You will have to re-apply compound on it to ensure it remains in nice nick. Same if one forgets to use a cutting board (cue in kids) and slices an apple for example. It damages the surfaces easily. Will this surface harden more over the next week or two? Yes & of course it will. Unless one uses food safe/grade resin.. this whole exercise is best to not be done for your kitchen. This is why one often sees em being used for desks or living room tables (or side tables) etc. because one can use none food grade resin for it. In order to be able to not affect the pattern one lays down, usually a clear layer is supposed to be applied ontop of the one where the pattern is embedded. This top layer is the one that one wetsands (and I mean it has to be wet, do not be careful with the water, dip the sanding block into the bucket of water frequently as you polish with higher and higher grit to polish it to the sheen you want. The water and wet sanding paper (it has to be actual high grit wet sanding paper) is what will keep your surfaces from deep scratches as long as you use a block with said paper. Usually it is a soft block for this type if work. This extra layer resin is what keeps the actual pattern safe. Not sure why this company isnt doing it that way. Its no different when you paint something onto a car etc. Once one is done airbrushing, one cleans it with a cleaner that takes any oil, fingerprints, dust etc away & one applies a ton of clear coats. Then those clear coats are what get polished. Same here. Now, no matter if food grade or not, if you do cut items on your type of worktop, the food will then have resin in it, and your surface will have bacteria growing in the damaged area of your worktop. That again has to first get cleaned with said above cleaner & then repoured and polished again. No diff with any surface like that that got scratched. This is a ton of work and requires constant maintenance. Even with real Granite its not recommended to place hot items on it. Actually no kitchen surface is meant to withstand this. (Cue items that cook over, which are boiling hot and run onto your counter top) My parents have Canadian granite as a kitchen countertop. We always use flat wooden blocks for hot items, and cutting boards to cut. After 35+ yrs they still look brand new. The only reason why one uses food grade resin, is to ensure your food remains safe to eat if it does come into short contact by chance with the surface. I really dont think you will have much long lived joy with this. If you were to do your kitchen /living room/table or a desk like that. I'd say, more power to you, just use food grade on any surfaces that come in contact with food. There are many places that sell granite (stone etc) countertops which were cut wrong or had orders cancelled who sell them at a reduced price (if money is an issue). Even the thinner ones of them will give you much more joy for yrs to come, plus higher resale value for your boat, than doing this nightmare. I understand it looks cool, and seems fun and like a cheap alternative. But tbh you'll be throwing good money after bad in a never ending cycle having to redo these surfaces regularly, for as long as you either own the boat or until you are so sick of having to redo them, you throw them out. I really don't know why no one has said any of the above I've written.. In the end, you have to do what you think is best. It is your boat, and your kitchen & health.
With regard to the problem you mentioned with grease, how about wiping it down with the same stuff you use when painting cars? Glad you're coming away from trying to imitate granite as some of the pieces you've done are very striking designs. You're actually getting into a whole new artform.
Can I ask... what is the condition of the rest of the build? The days you are spending on countertops... I thought you wanted to live on this boat fairly soon.
Hi James. I spent 10 yrs working in the aircraft industry working on aircraft panels. You should look into a different resin type. there are some that have a very high level of toughness which might give you different results and might suit you better. They are processed and cured in the same way but just have a harder finish. Do more research - You're on the right track. p.s. One online company that I use for my home projects is called MBFG. They have a very good website and a very good RU-vid channel. (No connection to the company, just have had great service from them.)
That whole exercise in 552,553 and this episode was very educational indeed. Thank you so much. Wishing you all the very best with the final product. Cheers
I thought this was going to end as a joke and she was your other half or something and was going to be a plug for simple safe boat alarms…but no … thank goodness that didn’t go pete tong
create your design and sand from 120 down to 400 grit, then pour a finish coat of clear resin once fully cured wet sand all the way down to 5000 grit followed by buffing compounds and finally apply a automotive ceramic coating. The results will amaze you
Just remembered, we had our original kitchen worktops overlayed with stonecover quartz. It’s about 10 mm thick and it looks brilliant. Maybe you should check this out ? The company comes in and measures up then comes back to fit it. It may be cheaper in the long run.
Don't forget even granite gets marked James, that's why you use a multitude of chopping boards and pan holders for various jobs. Those test pieces would make good chopping boards.
Oh James looks lovely but the resin is totally unpractical for a boat kitchen sorry but either granite or laminate (depending on budget) is the way to go but big high five for all you work to try and achieve something different ❤
Probably a very expensive option but having made a beautiful countertop that is visually pleasing. Cover completely with a glass top. Or there are plain rectangular glass cutting boards. You could have one by the hob for putting hot pans on etc without obscuring the pattern.
Give up on it James, ok you have dropped things on it and deliberately scratched it deliberately but I think in 1 week from normal use it’ll look a total mess. Remember your debacle over the roof lining? Even using protection it’ll still mark, I think you’ll regret it.
Bob is right 👍 A hardware shop I visit made a counter with nuts,bolts and washers in resin . It hasn’t been a year and you can hardly see through the scratches now 😕
Would putting a clear coat of resin on top of it help protect it, like have your base coat, your design coat and then top finishing sacrificial coat that will get screached up but will be easy to repair?
