where there's muck...

Another thing that we have brought back, phoenix-like, from the ashes of decay, is the compass in the wheelhouse . This is how it looked when we got the boat:

Lorna got some Brasso, and several hours and an awful lotta rubbin' later, produced this amazing mirror-like shine:




We also topped up the fluid inside, and discovered from the insciption on the little plaque on the front, which had been hidden by the oxidisation, that the compass was made by B Cooke and Son Ltd. of Hull , so we will be contacted them to see if they have any tips for caring for it in the future. It's nice to know where things come from.

turning the tables

Well, it's been a bit quiet on the blog front recently, mainly due to lots going on work-wise, but that doesn't mean we've been slacking off. The messiness of the deck is generally a good indicator of how much we're doing:


...so it's looking good at the moment.


One thing we've tackled recently is the table on the back deck. It came with the boat, and was looking old and tired, with the unprotected wood silvery and beginning to be water damaged.

We sanded the pieces of wood down and oiled them, (reallising that this grey, uninspiring wood was actually really nice hardwood, maybe teak or mahogany?):



and finally painted the metalwork with black hammerite:

before putting it all back together and finishing it off with a coat of varnish. It now matches the skylights and looks very smart.

Happy Birthday Hendrik!

On Saturday we went to see James and Melissa on Hendrik (who you will find on the blogroll on the right hand side of the page) at Tower Bridge, LondonEngland, whowere celebrating Hendrik's 75th birthday, as evidenced by the original bill of sale from when he was first launched.
It was great visit the moorings down there, and to see J&M, and we all enjoyed a fantastic barbeque and birthday cake. Happy Birthday Hendrik, hopefully we'll come to your 100th birthday party too...

hatched

Inspired by getting out the white paint for the life rings, Lorna took the doors and hatch cover off the hatch

and got to work touching up all the white bits of the hatch, which had been looking a bit tatty,

now we need to do the black triangles and, er, the rest of the 30m of the boat, and we'll be done!

(We actually also need to get the angle grinder on the mountain range of rustiness on the top of the hatch as well, and then give it a final coat of paint, but for now the white Hammerite has stopped it getting any worse and looks much better than it did before.)

life blings

Ever since we've had the boat, we've had a couple of slightly sad looking life rings hanging up, looking a bit faded and tatty.

So i finally got out the white and red paints and got to work;

giving them a new lease of life, who says life saving equipment can't look smart and stylish?

fortress of solitude

I finally completed the Cat Proof Fence, building a sort of gate that we can roll back to get on and off the back deck;

and hook on to the wall of the wheelhouse, via a couple of barrel hinges, to close it and keep Vortex contained.

Vortex wasn't sure about being hemmed in at first but he's now seen reason and is happy to be now allowed to poke around on the back deck far more than before.

cat proof fence

Living on a boat with a mischievous cat whose sole desire in life is to get off the boat, down the jetty, and lost in the woods, can be stressful, so i've been building an impenetrable fortress on the back deck so that Vortex can enjoy being outside without us having to watch him every second.

I sawed up a big length of wooden dowel, drilled holes lengthways in them, and banged in lengths of steel rod. A good coat of paint and they were ready to drop into the handy fence post holders that are already all the way round the back deck (how cool is our boat?!)

I then threaded the poles in and out of the netting mesh and tensioned it at the top and bottom with wire

working my way around the deck until i had something beginning to resemble the aviary at London Zoo


Now i just need to add a netting 'gate' next to the wheelhouse so that we can hook it back and get onto the deck, or hook it onto the other side and keep Vortex corralled. He's going to be one happy cat when he can poke about outside without getting into trouble every five minutes...