It started with a trip to B+Q to find some Aquapanel [Masterboard etc], a cement particle board which is waterproof and often used for showers, if you can't be sure of being able to tile to a waterproof standard... It's also used now and again as it's heatproof and forms a barrier between things like the new cooker and combustible surfaces. Comes in 4x3 sheets, and weighs far too much. Popped from there to my storage unit to collect some Cat5e cable for the boat network, and a radiator I'd bought a while back which is one of three going into the boat. As some singer currently is saying, I'm going to be warm this Christmas.
It took getting on for three hours to get the cooker on board, with lots of ingenuity from Ben!
We managed to get it out of the van and down to the boat using a pallet truck, then started slowly lifting it end by end onto higher and higher collections of things. The most interesting surprise was that a milk crate can take the 300kg or so of the cooker...
In the background of this one, you can see that Ben had borrowed two steel 'saw-horses' and used some constructional timber to make a platform strong enough, but only a couple of feet lower than the deck.
From here, we knocked up a ramp to get from the milk crate setup, up to the new platform. The ramp's screwed together to make sure nothing moved too far.
Then from the platform, up onto a few fence posts, planks and plywood, then up into the air on the balance point and over onto the deck:
Despite the quick few pics, it did take a long time! Ben's either looking pleased or horrified, not sure which...
Another ramp was created to get it down onto the boat floor, although it was a tight fit through the doors:
Then down and into the boat...
From here, whilst Ben was getting back to insulation, battens and the start of the bedroom tongue and groove ceiling, I got on with putting the Aquapanel down where needed to form a hearth, and with Ben's assistance, put a battened arrangement up to form the base for tiles behind the cooker. These needed to be fitted before the range was pushed (!) into place.
Tiled these with some of the spare bathroom tiles:
There turned out to be no insulation whatsoever behind the hull side lining, so I tried the trick of installing some Celotex - turns out I'm useless! I just can't get it to turn out right, and ended up playing with the new foam gun to bridge the gaps:
Which was fun, but not a very professional job - but at least the cooker won't be spending too much time heating the canal.
Ben, meanwhile, was getting on with more useful first-fix stuff:
And by the end of the day, the bedroom ceiling was more or less done - top work, Ben.
We pushed the range into place, slightly, after the tiles had dried a bit. The Mapei adhesive is good stuff - sets quickly but stays flexible - so much so, it won't come off my hands!
A couple of gratuitous pics to finish:
So a good day, but delayed by spending so much time winching the cooker into place. We'll have to get cracking with things tomorrow. Ben'll no doubt complete the rooms and start fitting out, whilst I get on with plumbing.
On that note, I've just returned from yet another trip to Screwfix, picking up some plumbing fittings ordered in the week, and Ben's requested some more of the Ceresit construction adhesive. None of that in stock, so he'll have to make do with Gripfill...
PC
