Hullo! So... I put a deposit on a mooring, in King's Cross. From October 1st... With lock closures the earliest I can get there is end of November/early December, but I have a lot to do!
I also had AI make a website: about 280 miles, 164 locks, and 138 ringable bell towers en route:
Anyway, on Monday I got the boat out of the marina to start chopping away unnecessary parts of the engine bay and cleaning up the deck for its first coat of paint.
I also cut out the voids under the gas lockers, which was a bitch to reach with an angle grinder:
And finally the rusty holes in the gas lockers themselves, ready for new plates to weld over:
I did rent a needle gun for a couple of days to help de-scale the bay, but it was shite and degreaser + a pressure washer did a much better job. About 6 times I went around with that, and the engine bay is somewhat clean:
Don't mind the rust, I still need to go over everything with a wire brush on an angle grinder, but I'm parking the engine bay for now. I can do this en route to London, and there are other things to get on with. Like deck paint!
I got 3 epoxy undercoats done (Jotamastic 87, the first being the aluminium variant I used on the hull), and I'll wait until next week for the 2 polyurethane topcoats.
And after moving the boat out, I noticed a compression nut on the fuel line had split so I cut it off not thinking much of it. Then I saw it was something non-standard, a WADE 10mm, and after some internet sleuthing ordered a replacement on Thursday for next day delivery... which didn't arrive.
So reluctant to leave the boat outside the marine, I jerry-rigged a little fuel feeder and got underway:
It worked a treat, and I was surprised how quickly it guzzled diesel.
And then later today, with thanks to a helping hand, the shower screen is in!
The dumb architect be damned, it's been a long time coming.
Until next Sunday!
- Nick