Katona

Rebuilding a narrowboat.

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Nick

Nick

Righteous currents and holy grounds

I'm renaming Katona; see the end. Hello! Happy Sunday, happy June ☀️ Monday feels live forever ago, and I started by cutting, routing and sanding the final gunwale boards for the starboard side, followed by welding a big ol' bolt to the hull for the earth faults: One

By Nick 1 Jun 2025

Mildly electrified

Hello! On Monday I turned 30 and after a chaotic weekend, spent a few disorienting days catching up on sleep and wondering what to do next. I'd reached one North Star, and luckily the next was obvious: I'm leaving the marina on June 11th for a

By Nick 25 May 2025

We have hyperdrive, captain

Hello! A week for my ages, it's been just delightful — helping hands on the boat, 30th birthday party on Saturday, the S&P is up, and the sun's been out. It started on Monday, like all correctly-indexed weeks do, with more panelling and my jet-lagged

By Nick 18 May 2025

Duckling season

Hello, and happy Summer! ☀️ (also happy duckling season.) With the mattress out of the way, job #1 on Monday was cleaning that mess. The room was covered with sanded foam particles that stick to you for their life, but no match for a vacuum. I could then add skirting boards,

By Nick 11 May 2025

The cult of Cerbo GX

Hello, and happy May 4th! Another work-heavy week, but PROGRESS. In 7 days I move back onboard, and today dropped off the mattress foam for covering. I am actually excited to sleep on there, not camping, for the first time in 3 years. Sure there won't be a

By Nick 4 May 2025

Sanding foam and the saloon ceiling

Hello! Happy Sunday :) This week I've had a lot of work work, the boat-funding kind, but I still broke ground on the saloon ("lounge", "living room"), starting with the ceiling battens: Followed by panelling, while ignoring my own advice about doing one thing at

By Nick 27 Apr 2025

Blessed are the pipefitters

Hello, and happy Easter! This week I finished the doors, and they're delightful: Wood for the rest of the boat also arrived, and kitchen design is underway! Then I got to fix the shower fittings... luckily the access was easy; I could take out a few bedroom panels

By Nick 20 Apr 2025

Learn by doing

Hallo, happy Sunday! So the boat's been a mess for a while, but on Tuesday I had a big cleaning sesh with a helpful hand from mum — thank you! — and it is looking so much better. I forgot to take photos, but there is so much room for

By Nick 13 Apr 2025

If I were a sparky

— Beyoncé Hello, and happy April! Sometimes I think about what I’d do for work if everything went to shit with a demon cursing all computers and their programmers. Electrician is up there, and carpenter maybe. But tiler? Fuck no. Anyway the final wall tiles arrived on Saturday, and I

By Nick 6 Apr 2025

Making shapes

Hello! Happy Sunday :) This week I did start on the grouting, and dark grey on light tiles is a mess: I’ve since become more efficient, and it looks pretty! I imagined having the bathroom done this week — a bit more tiling, and the grouting, and some lights — but damn,

By Nick 30 Mar 2025

Magnets and membranes, Penrose and pizza

Hello! Happy Sunday. The expectations were indeed grout, but I did more tiling this week. Continuing the bathroom walls, and then on Thursday the concrete floor tiles arrived, all 170kg of them. Before starting on those, I stuck down a waterproof membrane and ordered some pizza. Also I fit the

By Nick 23 Mar 2025

Grout expectations

Hello! So tiling is was great; the little section I did last Sunday was a first-time mess (I also didn't have a decent second trowel), but since then the monotony set in, and I'm looking forward to the end. But mostly done, and I love how

By Nick 16 Mar 2025
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Katona

Rebuilding a narrowboat.