The boat ideas.

To create the interior of the boat described i decided to go ahead and draw up what it would look like on the outside so i could get a nice idea of scale and theme. Above i noted down the key aspects of what I had to bear in mind.

The passage mentions a barge, yet it mentions this boat was never meant to be lived in so i decided to stay away from that design. After drawing up a few sketches of the same shape i decided this design wasn't industrial enough. I needed something fresh and something you wouldn't expect to people to live in.

And so i drew up a strange water wheel powered boat design. After i did a quick sketch of the shape it seemed to just click into place. I really like the huge nose of the ship, balanced out against the huge water wheel at the back. The water wheel idea came to me after thinking about how the boat was meant to be old and absolute. A water wheel powered ship could be old technology for the time period, plus it gives it plenty of charm and character. The cabins ontop were tricky to balance out. I had to think of where people were going to walk and how the inside would work.

He is the original industrial design of the boat! Rather dinky yet robust.

And here is the 'now' version of the boat. Its beaten, battered and fully customized! The washing lines from the chimney to the cabin shows its inhabited now. lots of patch work has been done too, especially on the wheel guard and chimney. I had this fun little idea of a second stream of smoke leaking out from the chimney. Little charms, tassels and flags are floating about on the railings and ropes, this shows memories and the passing of time. Three new windows have emerged and are rather roughly fitted on with a new shade of metal holding them in place, like a big patch work. I really love this design... and now the interior!

I had SO MUCH trouble figuring out the inside perspective as the room comes to a point, and i want to be facing into the point or out from it. Finally though i settled for the one shown below.