BOATS AND CANALS

Another nice day. I did some work in the engine bay keeping rust at bay, added some strips to join the new floor to the lounge and bathrooms.

We went for a walk in the evening and rembered how beautiful it is here.









Cheers Graham

.......and took some great shots.

_________________
Maurice

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We have had out first trip of the year. A cruise to Woolfhampcote and back. It takes about 3 hours, gorgeous sunshine.



The sunken boat at the end isn't sunk anymore.



Cheers Graham

It has been a very productive week on the boat.

We have painted a door and a wall, painted more in the bilge, cleaned and polished the boat sides, touched up a few chips on the roof, fitted a new work top in the kitchen and demolished the sink unit.

There are a couple of snaps.

The new worktop.



And a refelctive look at a sunset



Cheers Graham

It has been a very productive week on the boat.

We have painted a door and a wall, painted more in the bilge, cleaned and polished the boat sides, touched up a few chips on the roof, fitted a new work top in the kitchen and demolished the sink unit.

There are a couple of snaps.

The new worktop.



And a reflective look at a sunset



Cheers Graham

Progress on the new kitchen unit is good. I started with a large piece of plywood, a new sink, new taps and produced a kit of parts.



I have made a bit of a start.



The old doors and drawer fronts are solid wood so will be reused. There are some unnwated holes in the drawer fronts so I turned down some dowels to plug them.



Cheers Graham

Who's a clever boy then. Jo should be pleased with that.

_________________
Maurice

Please click to go to our associate sites

Foxshaw Gardens Online & Boats and Canals

Interesting point, the kitchen is classed as my domain. I do the cooking but Jo does do the washing up.....

See. I was right, Jo is the sink user.

_________________
Maurice

Please click to go to our associate sites

Foxshaw Gardens Online & Boats and Canals

Initial assembly has taken place.



I have now taken it apart to produce a final kit of parts that now include all the right conncetors in the right places. I will now varnish all the panels before taking then to the boat for assembly on site.



The doors look quite attractice at first sight but a closer inspction will reveal marks from water damage and modifcations over the years so they will be painted with a kitchen cupboard paint which will make the boat look a bit more modern and be easier to clean.

Cheers Graham

I have cleaned and painted (it was gross) the space into which the kitchen sink unit will go.



Home now and doing some final painting of the rebuilt unit prior to an intended trip to install it next weekend.

Cheers Graham

The sink!

First the plumbing. It is a bit complicated as it feeds two identical mixer taps (identical for appearance sake) The left tap mixes unfltered hot and cold water, the right is filtered cold water in either direction. I also have to plan for winterisation and therefore need to isolate completely the right hand tap and be able to connect the left to cold only. This is because the hot water is complelty drained in the winter as the tank is in the unheated engine bay but we can temporarily refill the cold whlist we are on board and then drain it again before we leave.



The shelf put in the pipe second from the left has a temprary stop cock on it. That has been replaced with the tap fitting.



The drawer support in.



The drawer in



The sink and false drawer front in.



The finished (almost) article.



There is still some wood to put up on the left and some sealent to do plus some painting on the end panel

Cheers Graham

We have a cover for the sofa bed. The sofa is very comfy but it is a light colour and shows up every mark. We have bought a washable cover for it. The cover is good but didn't stay on very well so I have added straps and clips to hold it on place. It works well now.



I have also replaced the old LED bulbs in the spotlights with ones that now look like spotlights rather tham a pile of LEDs.

Cheers Graham

We are now moored at Hillmorton, just after the locks. It has been a very quiet day with few boats moving. We did meet a wide beam on the Northern Oxford (a narrow canal) This proved a bit hard and our boat did get brushed by the vegetation. Wide beams are only allowed up there to go to the two marinas and this has to be booked. I really don't know how he is going to get through the congested part at Braunston.

Cheers Graham

We are now moored just south of Anstey having turned at the entrance to the Wyken Arm. We visited the outdoor cafe in a park in Rugby today. The coffee was the best I have tasted since one I had in Amsterdam about 10 years ago. The cakes were excellent too. We had quite a long afternoon crusing and moored at about 6:15. This sets us up well for another visit to the same cafe tomorrow.

The weather has been gorgeous requiring much sun block!

We met too interesting boats, both GRP cruisers. The first had a very unwell engine and they stopped to let us past as they were going slower than our idle speed. The second had no engine at all and was being propelled by poles or ropes.

Cheers Graham