Well, this is what I did over the bank holiday weekend. I wanted to try and fix up the under deck area at the front. In my minds eye, this was going to involve a bit of work on saturday, followed by a cruise to Henley on sunday with Pimms on the Thames on sunday.
The reality was somewhat different....once I started looking into it in detail, there was nothing of the original under deck fittings that I could keep. It seemed to have been lashed together from MFI drawers and bits of old table. I took it all out, along with the last of the gravel. The hull didn't look too bad after all the dust had settled, just a bit of surface rust.
I splashed Waxoyl liberally around to kill the existing rust and to prevent any new outbursts. I had to cut a new section of flooring, luckily I was able to use the plywood from the partition that Mat and I had previously removed.
Once that was done, I installed some new ballast (courtesy of Travis-Perkins) restoring the trim.
Roof battens and side frames needed to be constructed, I used a variety of timber for this, working on the dymanic planning approach of carpentry. All the wood was given a coat of Waxoyl, to seal it from moisture and because it smelt nice in the confined space.
Insulation was put in between the wooden bits, 50mm for the sides and 25mm for the roof. Cutting this stuff up combined with a mild breeze made the inside of Iris look and feel like a sno-globe. I lined the sides with 9mm ply and will be using 8mm tongue and groove for the ceiling. I put a couple of bits up just to make it look like I was achieving something.
It was at this point I noticed that the water pump was leaking, so there was no point in constructing the front wall until this was fixed (I dismantled the pump on sunday, cleaned it out and used a bit of Loctite sealant and it seems ok now).
To have a break from the under deck project, I added a bit of variety by dismantling the original bed, which was made up from a wide variety or wood and assorted cabinets. I made two trips to the tip to get rid of stuff, suprisingly cathartic. I had a rental car this weekend for removing rubbish and bringing in supplies, wouldn't have been easy with my car (away getting an MoT and emptying my bank account).
Had a few visitors on sunday, Kim and Harv, friends from NZ who were staying with me. they wanted to see where I kept 'popping out to' for 11-12 hours per day.
Kev and Sophia came across from Hertfordshire to see me too. Sophia looks particually happy in this picture as Kev has just anounced they can go. They brought lunch which was much appreciated.
We did encounter the 'black swan of death', a frightening creature with glowing red eyes. I was afraid it was going to launch itself out of the water and take someones face off like a Great White. Maybe we shouldn't have fed it some crisps.
So at the end of the weekend some progress has been made, but there is still lots to do.
A special thanks to Brian for the 'loan' of his digital camera. Bet he's regretting me having a set of keys to his house now....
The reality was somewhat different....once I started looking into it in detail, there was nothing of the original under deck fittings that I could keep. It seemed to have been lashed together from MFI drawers and bits of old table. I took it all out, along with the last of the gravel. The hull didn't look too bad after all the dust had settled, just a bit of surface rust.
I splashed Waxoyl liberally around to kill the existing rust and to prevent any new outbursts. I had to cut a new section of flooring, luckily I was able to use the plywood from the partition that Mat and I had previously removed.
Once that was done, I installed some new ballast (courtesy of Travis-Perkins) restoring the trim.
Roof battens and side frames needed to be constructed, I used a variety of timber for this, working on the dymanic planning approach of carpentry. All the wood was given a coat of Waxoyl, to seal it from moisture and because it smelt nice in the confined space.
Insulation was put in between the wooden bits, 50mm for the sides and 25mm for the roof. Cutting this stuff up combined with a mild breeze made the inside of Iris look and feel like a sno-globe. I lined the sides with 9mm ply and will be using 8mm tongue and groove for the ceiling. I put a couple of bits up just to make it look like I was achieving something.
It was at this point I noticed that the water pump was leaking, so there was no point in constructing the front wall until this was fixed (I dismantled the pump on sunday, cleaned it out and used a bit of Loctite sealant and it seems ok now).
To have a break from the under deck project, I added a bit of variety by dismantling the original bed, which was made up from a wide variety or wood and assorted cabinets. I made two trips to the tip to get rid of stuff, suprisingly cathartic. I had a rental car this weekend for removing rubbish and bringing in supplies, wouldn't have been easy with my car (away getting an MoT and emptying my bank account).
Had a few visitors on sunday, Kim and Harv, friends from NZ who were staying with me. they wanted to see where I kept 'popping out to' for 11-12 hours per day.
Kev and Sophia came across from Hertfordshire to see me too. Sophia looks particually happy in this picture as Kev has just anounced they can go. They brought lunch which was much appreciated.
We did encounter the 'black swan of death', a frightening creature with glowing red eyes. I was afraid it was going to launch itself out of the water and take someones face off like a Great White. Maybe we shouldn't have fed it some crisps.
So at the end of the weekend some progress has been made, but there is still lots to do.
A special thanks to Brian for the 'loan' of his digital camera. Bet he's regretting me having a set of keys to his house now....
posted by flatplane8 at 10:29 PM
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