Canal-side construction (Day 2 of build)

Monday 28th July

5am canal-side between Camden Lock and London Zoo

The storage unit is at capacity, so instead of unloading the final car-load from the legendary Hammersmith shed dismantle, I went to the canal and fished out the pre-cut pieces that we could use immediately and stored them on top of the boat.

Bringing down the wood for the underside and floorboards from the car to the canalside. It was so peaceful. A great time to be working. I am running in the photo because the camera is on timer and so after setting up the shot, I had to fetch the wood while the clock was ticking down and get in the shot!

Shout-out to the hill-billy fenders: cushion and plastic contained inner-tubed to the side. All *recycled*. Hope and Desperation: the first carbon-neutral canal boat.

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Having off-loaded some of the wood from the packed car. I returned to the storage unit for about 07:15hr and met Peyman there. Together, we first removed the insulation and the wood from storage that was needed for the underside of the decks and the floorboards. This made room in the unit for the wood that was in the car from the shed dismantle. We then shipped in the shed wood, locked the door and wheeled out the insulation, one barrel and the wood.

I am a bit confused trying to remember but I must have felt like it was safe enough to leave this sub-deck propped up against the railing while I was gone. I remember dragging it off the deck of the boat when I cam to the canal at 5am and unwrapped the tarp. I removed it so I could work on in on dry land *and un-moving land - using power tools while on a platform floating on water feels like something off Gladiators or one of those Japanese contestant shows were everyone ends up falling into the water or getting smashed in the face.

The site we were building on used to be the 'Camden Art Kitchen' - a sprawling community project led by individuals who resided on the canal-side. It has recently been cleared up. Kareem (who ran it) is a friend of mine, so I will find out what happened when I next bump into him. Indian burial ground type-thing, innit.

While Peyman was working on the boat, I went to fetch 2 more barrels. I also went on foot to Toolstation to get 20m of metal strap which we use to secure the barrels to the deck. You can see an uncut piece from the metal spool in the photo below. It was very hot by this point, so I bought juice and sparkly water. We're fancy like that.

Working on a busy towpath was very distracting and minimised the space we could use. It's all part of the performance!

@ 12:22hr we launched the third sub-deck

Peyman is water-borne at 12:23hr on 29th July 2025.

Half of the deck is now secured together and floating on the water. I have to be out of storage by 6th August when my rental expires. That gives me 9 days to complete the entire deck and flooring (I have a tonne of hardwood herringbone flooring at the back of the unit). Then the next deadline after that is 16th August when I am hosting the Private View of 100 Tigers and the Official Boat Launch:

You're invited!

I want to give a special mention to the gargantuan pain-in-the-arse of parking in London. Today I had to move the car twice because one is only permitted a maximum of 2 hours per day at the spot which was next to the canal. At the end of the day when I was alone with two enormous heavy bags of tools, I had to take them by foot all the way to the spot where the car was parked about 1 km away. I'm building a FUCKING BOAT! and yet the most expensive and logistically difficult part of the process is managing the parking. It's a disgrace. Whoever is behind this farcical corruption deserves to be condemned to the fiery pits of hell. £35.79 in parking from 08:30hr - 14:00hr. Clowns.