2394Hrs – Cold, Warm & Water

Well it seems that we’re well and truly locked into winter right now, we’ve had no more snow but yesterdays fall is still lying just where it fell. Temperatures have stayed below freezing and the lanes leading to the barn are extremely slippery. I did manage to negotiate them and get yo the barn today but I wasn’t steering in the direction I was travelling most of the time, I miss my old Land Rover!

Anyway once there I braved the cold wind blowing through the barn for a couple of hours and got the last plank glued onto the longest crossbeam. Jacques warned me it would be a long job and he was right. I now have eight planks left to glue onto the remaining two cross beams. I have six days before we head down to Cornwall for the pre-launch reconnaissance and meeting with James and Hanneke, I want to get those planks finished before I go so I’ll have to double up on a couple of days.

By the time I’d finished todays though I couldn’t feel my hands so I retreated into the main cabin to carry on with the galley work. I dropped a piece of ply onto the cabin roof over the hatchway and covered it with a blanket to drop down where the washboard will be and once the little fan heater had been running for ten minutes it got so warm I had to take my jacket and hat off!

Apart from a couple of forays to fetch tools I stayed in there for the rest of my work session and got the insulation fitted into the bottom of the cool box and the runners fitted to the cutlery drawer. I’ve also measured up for the stainless watertank under the saloon seating up against the forward bulkhead. You may remember this is another idea I’ve pinched from Jacques ‘Pilgrim’ I can’t afford a custom made job to fit the space exactly but I think an off-the-shelf 60 lit rectangular tank will fit, I just need to check the measurements again. If I do the same under the starboard double berth that will give me a total of 120lit (16 US Gallons) I’ll aim to carry at least the same again in loose containers stowed elsewhere around the boat.

The picture below illustrates how beefy the crossbeam gets once all the planks are glued on, I shan’t be lifting that on my own!