Mike, Painting the engine bay process was:-

1. Remove water
2. Remove hardened yuk with combination of chisel and wall paper removal thingy
3. Remove rust with sand paper
4. Vacuum clean
5. If any grease survived the above (it did under the engine) degrease with thinners - get light headed with fumes at this point!
6) Treat everything with Vactan
7) Paint in Bilge paint, I think ours was Teamac but you can get bilge paint from most chandlers

We have some ballast consisting of old kerb stones hidden under a bench. I sat them on spray underseal and then painted them deck colour. they aren't very noticeable.

Cheers Graham

Now that's my kind of a techie description!!!!

Remove water - mmmmmm! Drill hole in bottom of engine bay to let it out?

Chisel and wallpaper "thingy" I have, as well as sand paper and white spirits (sounds like vinegar and brown paper ).

Getting light headed sounds fun.

Vactan and Teamac etc I can source.

Also need a BIG box of plasters after reading about your hands and a pillow for the ribs to reduce the bruising.

Thanks for info.

Mike

The bath is 4 ft, Jo is 5ft 6. She does like baths

G

Does she like them better with water in them?

She does but I couldn't persuade her to put her swim suit on for the picture.

Cheers Graham

Just did an analysis of last year's spend. Overspent the budget by £1000! A further analysis shows that this can be split as 30% maintenance backlog from its hire cruiser days and 70% enhancement to get it where we want it. These are arguably the cost of buying delayed. So it's not too bad as:-

The only outstanding maintenance backlog is under the hot water tank and a lick of paint in the bilge.

The remaining planned enhancements are the bath (odd plumbing, wood and tiles), modifying the back cabin beds to become double if we are forced to sleep there for example when Grandkids are on board (a few bits of wood) and maybe a stove ( a bit expensive that one I think).

So I'm moderately happy we can afford the boat with the forthcoming retirement.

Cheers Graham

We spent the weekend on the boat, it was a bit cold overnight!

Jo has removed the old shower bath thingy and I had a look under the hot water tank after removing a load of dripping insulation. It was bit like changing a nappy, you kind of undo it, glance and put it back quick. Then you have to settle down to clearing up the mess.

There is insufficient room to raise the tank to get the lagging off the hull so we are having a vertical one put in next to the engine or we will when I've finished painting down there.

I was a bit disappointed to see a few rust marks in the new paint. I've now redone that area with red oxide primer and 3 coats of bilge paint. I think preparing the surface was a bit difficult with the general mess of water, old oil and muck so maybe it didn't prime properly the first time.

Up again next week to continue the bath fitting.

Cheers Graham

As I understand it the vertically fitted calorifier is a better option than the horizontal one. Hot water rising and so on. You shouldnt have any concerns about that option being forced on you

The area under the planned calorifier now has Vactan, red oxide and 3 coats of bilge paint. All ready for fitting.

There may be an issue with trim as the tank changes sides but there is a load of ballast which can be moved to the other side so it should be OK.

This is the old bath:-


And this is the space after Jo finished with it:-


I'm trying to ignore the household mains cable in use

The new one is slightly too long so I'm going to sink it into the wall by the hull but guess what - there is a rib (if this is the right term) right where we want to go but I think it will just fit. It might be a bit tight on the taps though but I can swap then for the lever type if necessary.

Cheers Graham

The bath was just too long!



The support nearest the camera isn't on the floor (also at this stage the alcove was not the right width).

But I was able to cut a small bit out to allow for the rib on the hull and fitted the alcove for the taps, I'm going to line this with thin plastic sheet to maximise finger clearance and make it waterproof.



I've just got to connect the pipes - they are all there ready but I ran out of time.

I cant really get much further until the weather warms as I don't want to fill the water systems until I'm sure the severe frosts have passed.

My gas bottle crane came in handy again but I must fit a better winch to ease the lowering process. Currently it takes two hands and about 4 actions to lower a couple of inches.

Cheers Graham

Dotty Pair from an old cynic, A couple of Winches on the Maplin pages for you to compare. http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?cri ... &source=15

I have a back that complains now and again so ask my wife to move any thing heavy or work locks and things. Having been married since 1966 my wife understands me only too well but I have selective hearing too.

Thanks, the manual one would do I think but the free wheel setting sounds a bit dodgy! I used to have selective hearing but Jo sent me to get a hearing aid. Strangely my IQ went up about 10 at the same time.

Cheers Graham

We've just got a quote for replacing the calorifier, pretty much what we expected. I thought, hey I could save a bit if I did it myself. Jo had other ideas - 'you do too much, let someone else do it', she said. She does try and look after me.

I was up at Odiham today re-installing the mechanics of the power steering on Madam Butterly http://www.accessibleboating.org.uk/butterfly.html.

The boat was sitting on the bottom as the water level is so low. There is a bit of a crisis on the Basingstoke Canal. See http://www3.hants.gov.uk/communications/mediacentre/mediareleases.htm?newsid=378319

We got it working but our electrical expert was still tweaking the feedback circuits when I had to go.

If they don't fix the canal soon it doesn't look good for the charity or for Galleon Marine as the level is too low for practical navigation and the maximum cruise is about 4 hours.

Cheers Graham