The rainy season is here...

It might as well rain until September...

Saturday morning - rain. I have to deliver some beer up to the lake district, so I might as well do it while it's raining. It might clear up later.

Really slow journey up to Great Langdale stuck behind tourists. I don't mind if you like to drive at 20mph down the road admiring the view, but some of us on the road are working. At least pull over occasionally and let us past so we can finish work and get on with the boat! You know you are holding people up when you are driving a mercedes sport or saab turbo or something, and I am in a brewers van full of beer stuck behind you !

Sorry, rant over.

Dropped the beer off, and finally got back to the boat. It has just stopped raining, and it looks like brightening up.

Yipee!

The hatch opening at the back is now finished ready for doors and a lid. The stern tube is arriving Monday, and then that should be all the welding finished.

The remaining 'dry' time on Saturday was spent cleaning up all the welds on one side Then filling any indentations. Rain set in again at six, so all done till tomorrow.
I discovered the mini roller sets at B&Q for £1.95. Wow, the painting takes no time at all with these. A couple of hours of sunshine on sunday, I have got up to the gunwales on one side with primer.

Bloody Weather

"You can look at weather forecasts all you like, all that is certain is that there will be weather. Usually lots of it. It is then merely a matter of how hard it hits you"

Well, the shell is starting to look more like a proper shell now. I have been working on it fairly full on for the last couple of weekends, together with Kieth the Welder, and the long list of snags is now almost gone. At first glance it doesn't look like much has been done but...

The dished rear deck that was holding water is now fully drained. I have also added a hinged section to allow perfect access to the engine and weed hatch.

The rear door is now slightly wider to allow the engine to fit in, and as an added bonus, it is the same width at the top as at the bottom.


The rubbing strakes are now fully welded, and the tacky little brackets for holding the fenders on have been replaced with more substantial brackets made from steel bar.

The gas locker now has drains/vents and all of the dubious welding at the front has been redone.
The hole in the front deck has been welded up, and a new top has been put on the cross beam at the front of the well. Now all the front end needs (other than a load of paint) is Lady Penelope's son to build me some nice hardwood front doors to replace the useless and bad fitting steel ones fitted by the Stilton Cowboy.


I have a tiller bar made from 40mm bright steel bar.


TIP: If you like feeling light headed try dangling upside down with your head in the gas locker while painting it!.

The engine beds are in, and there is loads of paint waiting for some painting weather. One whole bank holiday weekend, and all I have got done outside is eight feet of boat!

Music Maestro

"Pantone One Hundred and Eighty!"

Well, I went to Fairport Convention this weekend just because I have always done it. I went the "pretty way" via Braunston to pick up some zinc phosphate primer. Some good music on, but mostly it seems to be the only time in the year I have any time off work. Note to Self. Must get a life sometime.


Once the tent was up at Cropredy, it was time for a pint, so a quick walk down the canal to the Red Lion. I noticed Saddleworth on the side of a boat, and after a chat with the owner, learned that the Huddersfield canal goes all the way up to Saddleworth. The number of times I have driven through there and never realised that there was a canal there.


Friday morning got a coffee & sat by the canal waiting for the pub to open for breakfast (You can get a bad name for yourself sitting outside a pub at 7.00 am waiting for it to open). Saw a tug & butty coming down the canal carrying roofing materials. Interesting to watch it going through the locks.

I went into Banbury, first time I had been into the town for several years, and was very impressed by the Quay area redevelopment. I had a wander and looked at all the boats to get some idea of a colour scheme. I liked the blue and maroon, then again I like the Green. The Green and Red looks good. So does the Red. Ditto the red & gold. The green and blue looks good. So does the very dark green.


Sod it, I'm going to put all the pictures on a dartboard and pick the colour scheme the Eric Bristow Method.



Saturday Left the pub as it was getting a bit manic and sat by the lock drinking beer (it's a hobby i suppose). Saw a hire boat with a very direct means of opening lock gates. You just ram them!

Back to Work

"Get back on your horse and get the hell outa town!"

Start of August - definitely working on the boat. Friday night went out for a meal with Lady P & co. Well, I have to keep my strength up for the job in hand you know. Awful meal. Why do people think that Microwaving a wholesalers pie constitutes a good restaurant meal just because you cut the carrots chunky.

Had a strange dream. Don't get me wrong, I often get strange dreams, but this one seemed to be a happy dream. Normally I just get nightmares. Good portent possibly ?

Got myself a notebook and made a list of the snags that need sorting out on the shell. Getting organised at last. So now when the welder has some time free I have two full pages of snags for him to have a go at. Simple things like Welding the rubbing strakes on, rather than just tacking them and filling the gaps with silicon. Perhaps Mr Stilton doing a runner has been a good thing, as now I can get a professional job done.

In the meantime, I have spent the weekend shifting bricks about in the boat. By Saturday evening I have Eight "bays" bitumined ready for the bricks to go in their final resting place.

Sunday morning. Had breakfast with Lady P at a new farm shop we discovered. Good field mushrooms and nice sausages, but the usual mistake of using cheap sliced bread, and not cooking the tomatoes enough. We should start work on the definitive guide to where not to breakfast. Breakfast Nightmares ? No I don't think I could swear that much, besides I'm a better cook than Ramsey.

Put the bricks on the newly painted (or should that be bitumined ?) floor, and cleared the next few bays ready for the bitumin. Tried different patterns of laying the bricks but ended up with them on edge as the easiest way to fit them all in. This means that the bricks are resting on the floor, not on spacers, but I havent the clearance for the spacers. Never mind.

Bridge over the River Kwai time again as there have been sunflakes belting down on the shell all afternoon. Cleaned the new floor area, but I have had too much time in the sweat box, so I am legging it and leaving the bitumin until next weekend.

Interesting Times

"Jeez, I thought you guys were going to follow some kinda footpath...".

Well, I have finally got back to adding something to this blog, after an 'interesting' couple of months. A few years ago my life turned upside down. I called this interesting times after the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times". Well, I suppose the last month or two has been interesting as well.

June:

Started putting the battens on the floor. This was then interrupted by a weekend at a medieval fayre. We're the beer tent, not the medievals. They are the sane ones.

Following a long weekend of drinking beer, setting up a bar, drinking beer, selling beer, drinking beer, taking down the bar, and drinking beer, I had a week off, then boat. Over the next week I managed to get some of the battening done in the evenings after work. This got a bit much, working 7:30 to 18:00, 40 mins driving, two hours working on the boat, then 40 mins driving to bed ready for the next day at work.

I decided to spend a full weekend working on the boat and booked into the Travellodge at Stilton for the weekend. Finished off most of the battening, just the back half of the ceiling to do, but I ran out of wood. It is amazing how much wood it takes! Anyway, retire to the Bell at Stilton for an amazing meal and one or two pints of superb Fools Nook Ale from Digfield Brewery. If you are ever in Stilton, just off What used to be the Norman Cross roundabout on the A1, the Bell at Stilton cannot be recommended highly enough.

I have decided to use Engineering bricks for the ballast as they are easy to adjust, plus at £60 per tonne they are a bargain. Measured up the wood I needed to finish off the battening, and counted up 1200 bricks for the ballast.

July:

Well, I arrived at the boat to find that the remaining battens had been delivered together with three pallets of bricks, so far so good, and also the news that the Bailiffs had been around taking stock of what shells were there because the shell builder had "done a runner".

Wonderful.

It was Lady P's Birthday, so I had to go up North for a couple of days, calming down, but also wondering whether the shell would be there when I got back. Never mind - have a good couple of days at this barbeque/birthday party and leave sorting this out the following week because i am well and truly p****d off.

Monday. Back into work and loads of pointless hassle at work stops me doing anything for a few days. Probably as well because dealing with the mind-numbing tedium gets me riled into a solution.

Tuesday. Following various phone calls, I have found only one person I know with a trombone trailer needed to shift the shell. The wagon isn't the problem, but 58'6" needs a special 'extendable' trailer. Finally got in touch with him, and found he had sold it. Bugger. Rang Botony Bay, they had DIY bays available, and put me in touch with a narrowboat transport firm.

Wednesday Evening. Persuaded three blokes from work to come up to Stilton for a small amount of excercise. I removed one of the windows for easy access, and with two of us inside and two outside, one hour later there are three tons of bricks are inside the shell. Just time for a quick trip to treat these guys to a pint at the Bell at Stilton. the Fools Nook was even better than I remember, or is that just because of the brick shifting ? Anyway a fantastic meal and a few pints later, we returned home.

Thursday. £250 poorer a crane is booked.

Friday. A huge crane arrived at Stilton, and, during a thunderstorm no less, lifted the shell onto the waiting trailer. £450 poorer the trailer disapears with the shell on board, due to arrive at Botony bay on Monday.

Monday. Shell is craned off at Botony bay. I am now another £250 poorer for the crane off, making a total of £950.

Sod it I am off to the pub.

Following weekend I thought I might go to the lakes. Waited all Morning, but Luke had Flu & decided not to go. Set off late, but the roads were terrible. Turns out there was a 15 mile queue on the M6. Thought it was much easier popping up to the Lakes when I used to have a motorbike. Might consider getting another.

I went to the boat instead, but just outside the boatyard a Range Rover and a motorbike collided. Stuck for ages while the police & ambulance arrived, closed the road. the motorcylist didn't make it.

I hate days like this, I'm going to the Pub.

Last weekend in July I went up to the lakes with Luke. His sister is engaged to a great bloke from New York, so we decided to show him the Lake District the Hard Way. After we dragged him up Ravens Crag, Pavey Ark, Mill Gyll and part of the Dungeon Ghyll (I have never heard so much swearing from him), followed by the obligatory one or two pints in the 'Old', he slept for a week.

Maybe get back to the boat in August.

Timber....

If a man says something in the forest, and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?

Well, what can I say ? There seems to be an awful lot of wood to batten the boat out. Not sure about the colour scheme though - red primer on grey primer - hmm.

Still got the first batten down, only 21 to go then I start on the walls....

Michelle

People say "One day all your dreams will come true". Bloody hope not, otherwise I really will be naked in the queue at Tesco.

The shell is now taking shape. Apparently it is unlucky to rename a boat, so I am resisting the urge to call it Michelle at the moment.

It is amazing to see how quickly a 10mm sheet of steel floor turns into a hull. Right at the moment the boat looks huge, although I'm not used to seeing them out of the water, so it is a lot taller.

I must also say that I am impressed by the techniques used to create quite a complex shape from sheet steel. Now I have something to see, I can start thinking about how to use every single cubic inch of space within the shell.