My hound is feeling a bit sleepy after her holiday - it always takes it out of her, but as usual, she came back happy - didn't want to leave the kennels to be honest...
After the day's work, I managed to get over to the boat, via picking up the new built-under fridge from the warehouse, and a trip to Screwfix for plumbing bits and a big tarpaulin to cover the remaining wood which will be moved to the roof shortly - or I won't have any space at all to get around the bed end!
Unfortunately also picked up a puncture on the trip, so that was a pain - need to go get a tyre tomorrow as the space saver is a bit lively, especially since I'm in Somerset on weds when it's forcast to snow...
Anyhow, started off by leveling the range, in lieu of leveling the boat, with some chocks of wood - needed to put my back in to it to shift it!
This is temporary measure to get the burner oil level to act properly...
Also installed an oil-spec ball valve on the feed line so I can turn it off to work on it:
Sealed the bottom of the flue properly, and also removed the hotplate again, to run a thin bead of the heatproof stuff over the knackered rope seals - I'll need to find a supplier of the stuff soon...
I relit it after that, and it does run properly, although only really on 'high'. I really need to set the high flow screw properly, but that requires I find a graduated measuring cylinder and find out what the values are supposed to be! The low flow screw is missing, from the faffing around with the remote actuation (seized) pin by the previous owner... We'll see... It did throw a little heat into the boat, for the hour I ran it though, and the chimney pulls okay once hot...
I did a bit of plumbing too, replacing that knackered tap tail, and re-gluing the waste fitting into place, as it fell out. I've got a feeling that idea isn't going to last! If anyone knows how to connect small hose to a 32mm fitting, let me know!
The actual host is fitted to the skin fitting and clipped along to the basin, in a temporary way...
More stuff to do, the next bits being as above; the moving of the remaining materials, and the setting of the oil, so I can fire the cooker up full time.
I then need to test the hot water system, make a wall, and finish the bed - I should be able to put the TV back in place, fit the new fridge and move back on board - a busy weekend coming up I think!
PC
Ben, working with me for the week, has been paid, as he's had to be away from his usual clients for that time, as well as the boatyard fees and the like. It's burnt most of my remaining annual leave until March too!
Boatyard and Ben came to around the 2k mark, plus the costs of materials, so the total is probably hovering around the 4k level at the moment.
I hadn't planned on getting the stove onboard before Christmas, so the extra costs of that, plumbing and the new fridge haven't helped keep the budget down either... But it was probably easier to put it on board now, than when she was floating!
Is that more or less than you expected?
PC
Yup, you're right, I did buy her at the bottom end of the market, and to an extent, I've been lucky that the hull survey was fairly good. Major replating would have put an 8k dent in the budget!
My thinking goes that a 30yr old, 40ft cruiser-stern boat has [or had, at least] a maximum value on the open market of around £23k. So as long as I don't spend more than that in total, including the purchase, then I'm not wasting my money.
But mostly, it's to make it a pleasant place to live!
PC