1st February 2014

I spent a couple of hours on her today, removing one of the deck beams, one of the longer ones so I can use it to make the jig that will be used to remake the 55 of them that need replacing.  To put it bluntly, it was a pain in the ar$e of a task, but it gives me an idea of how strong her construction is.

I also put a floor down in what was the officers toilet which will make it easier to work in there.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll re-hoover her and clean up after the recent work that we have done.

26th January 2014

The weather as we are all know over the last couple of weeks has been somewhat wet so I spent the day finishing off the onboard electrics, everything is waterproof and designed for low temperature as I've used arctic cable.

There are three 4' fluorescent tubes, all on independent switches, plus two bulk head lights.  There is a 25M four way extension cable, plus a 10M one in a waterproof box.  All in all quite a good days work.

19th January 2014

After a bit of a break over Christmas as the Trust was closed and I also needed to work out what I needed tarp wise, the side tarps are now in place.  I've quite pleased with the frame and the covering tarps, even after all the wind and rain we have had recently its stood without any problems and the old girl is nice and dry inside.

Next week I'll install the guttering on the out edge, which was a request from the trust to prevent the rain run off from damaging what is left of the tarmac in the yard.  Getting the guttering to follow the shape will be interesting, but I'm hoping to use a heat gun to melt it slightly so it will follow the contours.

16th November 2013

The frame is now complete, all the cross members are in place, the tarp supports in place and everything is glued and screwed in place.

The first of the three huge tarps are also in place, covering the back which is handy due to all the rain we have been having.  

Cheeky smile from my able bodied helper.

11th November 2013

13th October 2013

We have started to build the large wooden frame that will be used to support the tarps that will cover the boat.  We had a few false starts due to concerns by the trust over health and safety, the original plan was to create a sloping roof, supported outside the boat by large 3x2 timbers, braced with plywood at the corners to give added strength.  We ordered the timber and were about to start when the trust expressed their concerns, so we changed the plan.

The new design consists of a structure that follows the rough contours of the outside edge of the boat, but the frame is supported internally by the support structures within the boat.  This will require cutting holes in the deck, but as the deck needs to be replaced its not so much of an issue.  What it does mean though, is that as the deck is rebuilt the tarps will have to come off, which will leave her open to the elements.

First stage was to build four large frames that will be strengthened using cross beams and plywood corners, below we can see the first three in place, each are bolted to the other and glued/screwed using polyurethane glue:

You get an idea of the size of the boat when you look down her length like this.

29th September 2013