Hopefully floating

Hello! Happy Sunday :) I'm writing this from a cosy sofa in a centrally-heated home, and I was in Denmark for most of the week, so I hope the boat's afloat but on Monday I did re-seal the chimney for the 3rd time. This time I did

Trains, tarps, and lights

Hello! Happy 2nd Sunday of Advent. And we're in for a mild December..? I got back home on Monday evening after a long day. Sleeping on a train was excellent except for maybe the thing which mattered most: sleeping. It was old and rickety, and unlike the rolling

From Germany with love

Hallo! Happy Sunday, and happy end of November. I am currently in Berlin, and boat? No, but on Tuesday I went to Evesham marina to move my neighbours boat from the river to the service dock for craning out. It's a wide beam, and after completely screwing up

Smoke signals

Hello! Happy Sunday :) The chimney had been leaking, a smoky gunge running down inside, from the silicone seal up above. I put it off because that meant letting it cure for a day, i.e. no heating. But I spent Wednesday away so I could reseal it, and since then

The wintery urge to hunker down

Hello! Happy Sunday :) It's been one of those weeks (the boat looks identical). On Monday I did empty the engine drip tray, which left me with a load of oily water to dispose of. It still needs a clean and wipe down, then I'll do an

Spin, rinse, repeat

Hello! Happy Sunday :) The stove, while working, moved. The old door with a new front isn't snug, and it requires a little shove. So on Monday I cleaned 3 brackets for bolting it down, picked up the lower door and painted the lot, including another coat on the

FIRE

Hello! And happy November :) The flue arrived on Monday, advertised at 125m overall diameter (OD) which I knew would be tight, but should fit. Anyways it arrived 125mm internal diameter (ID) with a 1.5mm wall. It in fact did not fit, but I tried. Alas. So I ordered the

My Theseun Stove

Hello! Happy Sunday, it's feckin' cold. On Monday I started tiling the hearth, mixed the adhesive and realised you can't score and snap slate... I broke one tile, then picked up a wet tile cutter (thanks mum!) and acquired a new diamond blade. On Tuesday

Sink & certify

Hello! Happy Sunday :) I got back to the boat late on Monday, and the next day was sink plumbing, connecting the tap and an inline water filter. It's a bit of a rube, and the u-bend is strictly unnecessary and the wrong way around, but I need it

Deadline tourism

Hello! Happy Sunday :) I am and have been in Budapest this weekend, which was a great mini deadline to get shit done. Monday I dropped off the stove for sand-blasting and bolted the worktops together, then on Tuesday sanded them down for oiling with a helping hand from the broski:

Sink mount salvation

Hello! Happy Sunday :) "I'll make sure it has the illusion of a straight cut" I said, about the sink cutout. That was a lie, and I spent a long ol' while sanding the edges to make it nice, which I could not. It was a

The illusion of straightness

Hello! It's reached that point of the year where I'm having cold showers to warm up; the difference between days with and without sunlight is huge. On the plus side they're excellent practice in surrendering to the present. The cold present... Anyway, you know

End panels and the end game

Hello, happy Sunday! I almost forgot about the boat today, I find myself in New Jersey seeing family this weekend, but I did make some progress on the kitchen! Firstly was to finish the end panels, cutting them to size and screwing them in. I started with the washing machine,

Bilges and breakfast bars

Hello! Happy Sunday :) I'm currently regretting not writing this as I went this week, it's time for bed. But! On Monday I went to help dad tape up part of his boat for insulating, and before leaving I finally re-filled the greaser for the stern tube:

Pipes, boards and a gift from Yorkshire

Hello, and happy September! T'is getting cold... about that wood burner, but first I have a kitchen to fit. And thank god it didn't arrive on Monday, although something about work expanding to fit the time available for its completion — it arrived today, and I only

Ping pong piano

Hello! Happy Sunday :) It's Sunday. For a hot minute I forgot there's a boat to finish, I'm trying to remember what actually happened this week... I did reseal one of the kitchen windows, fixing the most egregious leak, but the rest of it I

Room for activities

Hello! I got back from Denmark late on Wednesday, after a lot of driving. En route we stopped by Ribe and the viking centre (turns out I need archery practice), and then Münster in Germany for a night. Seeing the cages on the church where the leaders of the Anabaptist

Salvage operations

Hello! Happy Sunday :) I've been away from the boat all week, starting early on Monday with a 2-day trip to Denmark for their first international balloon fiesta. It's been glorious, and we were up and away on Wednesday evening for the first flight: On Thursday it

The weight of heat

Hello! Happy Sunday :) After laying that smidge of underfloor heating last week, I needed to suss out the hearth area. I was looking for 20mm-thick slate hexagon tiles to put on top, and went to ChatGPT for a second opinion (it's fantastic for DIY). When I mentioned this,

Trimmed, lit, then laid

Hello! Happy August, and happy post #100 :) On Monday I finished the trim in the port-side living area, then fitted the lighting coves and prepped for varnishing, which I started on Tuesday: That I finished on Wednesday, after which I could wire the sockets and fit the rest of the

From tinny to timber

Hello! Happy Sunday :) This week I varnished the starboard half of the lounge, and as hoped it changed the sound of the walls. Being quite thin pine, giving it a knock made its tongues rattle in the grooves of the next. It was tinny, and yeurgh. But with varnish, it

Counting sheep

Hello! Happy Sunday :) The sheets for this trapezoidal mattress arrived this week, and my mum's neighbour Bev did a stellar job adjusting them to shape. I was waiting for those before unpacking the bedding, and oh my god, it's everything you love about the sweet scent

No more cling film windows

Hello! And oh buoy, I'm writing this slightly hungover (oops), and spent a lot of this week either away, working or recovering. Still, the new window arrived on Monday, and on Wednesday I did the final deed: No more plastic, taped-up sheets! And it was nice to have

Panels and paddles

Hello, and happy July :) I remember boldly proclaiming that I probably wouldn't hit 100 posts, but here we are at 96 and the kitchen lead time is at least 4 weeks. Onwards! Monday was possibly the year's peak for solar energy (so far), and I got