Bluebell - February 2006 update

Work resumed in mid January and it was so good this year not to be called out over Christmas and New year to replace the plastic windows which kept blowing out last year.  While Iain completed the wiring and electrics Ian and Bill, our woodworkers, set to to complete the removal of the thin ply for the sides below gunwale level and replace it with marine ply. The wooden trim below the windows was then put on on both sides but not up to the front of the cabin as work needs to be done in this area before any final fittings can go on. After a few days rain, the roof lining along side the hatch was badly stained indicating that we still had a water leak in this area - we thought we had found them all and fixed them. Iain took the hatch to bits and found the problem and rebuilt the wood so that we now have leak free hatch.

The next step was to fix the water tank to the floor ( in the rear cabin on the starboard side) and start constructing the toilet compartment. At this point  we realised that the toilet door would be too heavy if it was made out of marine ply and a ready made light toilet door from a caravan was acquired. This added to the wood workers problems as the door is being fitted at an angle across the opening and it needs  to overlap the edges rather than joint to them as  a normal door would do. And, of course, a boat does not have straight sides and it moves and slopes to the stern... Good character building stuff, all this thatch scratching.

The first mushroom vent has been installed in the roof, only three more to go.

While all this hard work was being done on the wood working and electrics side, the rest of us oiled the window surrounds (several times) sanded walls and anything else which stood still for long enough, cleaned out the front deck area ready for grit blasting, tidied the store and tried to keep the boat tidy to give a decent, safe work area. Oh, and made the coffee.

After the toilet compartment is complete, the next stage is to fit worktops etc and complete the galley fit out, including water heater and all piping. I had contacted IKEA in Edinburgh when we were thinking about tables and the contact with Hilary had continued. The result was that IKEA were extremely generous and donated worktops, chairs, crockery and cutlery for Bluebell. This gives us a fantastic boost and having cups and saucers will no doubt spur us all on to have the boat ready so that we can make something to put in them :-)

Here are a few photos