Vital Statistics

Measuring up

March 2017

Its getting to crunch time when we actually start to load all that carefully prepared stock onto the Jam Butty, ready for sale during the summer season.

Its not just the size but the weight distribution and storage capacity which has been occupying my mind. A quick tally in the store room suggests something like 2000 jars / bottles will be coming with us which at about 150 jars per trading day gives us, um - about 13 days supply. Thats a lot of volume and a lot of weight.

All jars have to be stored in boxes to keep them safe, and we have enough space, just. But how much will it all weigh? Nerd that I am I decided to do a bit of maths. Each 210g jar actually weighs 370g when you include the glass - so thats 740,000 grammes or 740 Kg. But as traditional boaters we spit on metric so 740 kg equals 1,630 lbs, or 116 stone which is the equivalent of 7 medium sized blokes (something I can imagine).

Thats quite a lot of weight, but not so much that the butty cant carry it. It just needs to be distributed taking account of the natural list to port (it lists 2 or 3 cm and its not the fit out weight distribution, so it has to be vagaries in the construction using the remains of the iron day boat. My guess is that one side is deeper than the other. The fabricators were never convinced it was straight either and the feeling is that one side is longer than the other but on a boat which is all bows and stern, with just 2 metres of straight plate in the middle, being a "banana boat" isn't a particular problem.

So, the storage has been constructed with 2/3 to starboard and most towards the middle of the boat and about 66% below the waterline for stability. Time will tell if this all works out.