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 I started tiling the hearth, and gosh do I love hexagons:
When the boat's done I'll have all the important tile shapes covered; the hearth walls will be different still, and I have yet to find the right material and colour, which I'll do after installing the stove. It'll be annoying to tile when it's in — a forgive-me-yet-fuck-you to future me — but at this point I'm more interested in being warm than not filled with regret later on (and I also need to think about the pipework for the back boiler).
The boat is listing a lot to starboard; it's maybe 100kg of screed + tiles, then another 80kg or so with the stove. I wanted a slight lean for the shower but this is a little too much, and I've run out of heavy things to place on the port side. Maybe a sofa, but the dining table-to-be will counterbalance that. I may slip ~100kg of tractor weights or something under the kitchen units...
Thursday I covered the tiles with a stone sealer, 3 coats, the same one I used in the bathroom. I did it before grouting this time, which in hindsight I should've done there as well.
And on Saturday I performed a miracle, I re-assembled the stove having taken no photos during its disassembly:
One thing they don't mention in their engineering diagram is how you really need a ratchet strap to get the sides in so you can fit the top:
I feel well-versed in these older Morsø models now, and I've become a stove-noticing person. I was excited to see my neighbours had a 1430 squirrel, whereas mine is the 1410; nearly identical, with a slightly different door design.
One mistake I made was going for all-Morsø parts, like the bolts and washers. They're delightfully metric but zinc-plated, and for the same price I could've had multiple of the same ones in marine stainless from Accu. But I did use anti-seize copper grease in all the threads and bolts, in case I do need to take it apart...
The front and back panels are new, along with many of the internals, including the back boiler which I hoped to re-use but it was in a bad way. There's a hairline crack in the top plate, but outside of the smoke boundary and behind the fireproof rope, so I hope it'll hold. It was almost cheaper to get a new burner entirely, but that'd be much less satisfying and then I couldn't make a Stove of Theseus.
I also stopped by a shop to pick up some emergency fire rope, and noticed a blue wood burner. I assumed they were all black, but obviously you can get high-temp coloured paint (my engine is emerald green). Had I known!! There was a palette of the available colours, and a red one! Or a burnt orange..!! I may be irrational, but I'm not so far gone that I'd dis-assemble the stove, strip the exterior and re-paint it yellow...
But I did consider it, because a yellow stove!!
At the next opportunity I am getting a colourful wood burner. Anyway the fresh black does look smart, and I've yet to strip and re-paint the lower door (I missed that part), and the chimney flue should arrive tomorrow...
Then today, besides ringing the Sunday church bells for the first time, I grouted the tiles in all their messy glory:
And they look fuckin' sik:
The floor extending beyond the side wall looks a little weird, but when it's tiled and the stove's in I think it'll look right; it'll sit squarely within it.
Until next Sunday!
- Nick