I went back to the yard again yesterday. About 3 hours total work was done last week. The stern tube for the prop shaft was welded in and the vee, which was cut off the original base plate has been welded on to form the upper part of the swim.

Straight sides will now rise from that plate and will be all thats visable above the water line. Confused? Wait and see, it will all take shape and make sense when it happens.

This is going to be a 'cruiser' stern, not semi circular like most traditional narrow boat types but square across the full width, with just the corners radiused.
That will maximise floor space in the aft deck wheelhouse.
It will also provide a cavernous engine room and make the engine look tiny.

You can never have enough storeage room for tools, spares etc. A rough calculation yesterday suggests the fuel tankage will hold @ 110 gallons or 475 ish litres.

The engine compartment will also contain the 22 gallon hot water tank - the calorifier, and 24 x 2volt wet lead battery cells which weigh about 1 ton.

Its important that I build in some weight. This type of full displacement hull needs ballast to push it down into the water to make it seaworthy. Its also very important that the majority of that weight is evenly distributed to ensure stability.
Once the whole boat is fitted out, minor trimming might be needed to offset non evenly distributed weight like furniture etc.

A large fresh water tank in the bow will help offset all this stern weight, plus I will have to add 3-4 tons of bricks under the main cabin floor to keep the bows down when water from the tank is used.