A Black Bottom for Christmas

And dont she look good. A nice thick layer of bitumen all round. Its been a good year for Wildrose, and she has kept me fit doing it....

Going for a break for a couple of months now to get the workshop sorted and practice on some woodwork , that will be fun ha ha.....
wish I could remember how to use the router though, want to be able to cut out circles .... portholes.
I have to say that Utube has been great for finding out how to do stuff, hasn't failed me yet

"Come on Rosie, Light my Fire" ... said Wildrose on a cold and frosty morning

Now whilst the boys were doing the front deck, I was building up the hearth ready to fit the stove.....having looked a lots of others, I decided once again to do it my own way and so have had a go at a small version of the one I did at home .......... so here goes and wacha think?

Base plate is a non-combustable sheet resting on ballast and floor supports. On top is a layer of small 10x10x5 cms concrete brickets supporting two 2ftx1ft welsh slate floor tiles, left over from my kitchen and bathroom update ha ( I just knew they would fit in somewhere special)

And the sweetest little stove you ever did see, now fitted, what a treat to light it and feel the warmth ... mmmm

a bit of a milesone too and well celebrates this years efforts.......

And thats what I call proper central heating ha ha
and the rather large looking hearth will show its purpose when I try out a bit of griddled chicken, stir fry & jacket potato yum yum
but need a floor in first...arriving on monday...

Meanwhile -------- the smoke goes up the chimley just the same ... Howzat Ha

Arghhhhhh .. now I remember choking on the smoke when sailing with the fire lit....harrumph......We did get a taller chimney, but when I checked them out at a brilliant little chandlers at Compton, I found them to be too heavy for me (any chimney is too tall to get under the bridge at the entrance to Bumble Hole arm !!!!!, it was my job to stear whilst Jim removed the chimney and dodged the bridge !!! ....)

So this is a medium sized chimney and the reason why I intend to fit an exhaust gas heat exchanger to pump hot water round the boat when travelling ... yeh baby ya gotta be cosy, "its the law" said Jim.

A Deck in Time

This front corner of the front deck may have looked motheaten, but the damage was caused by a Bumble Hole Moor-hen nesting there for years. She used to walk her baby chicks down the gunnels when they were first out of the nest ....... and what a treat that was watching from inside, trying to not rock the boat, ha ha.... oops splash.....but always landing fine then swimming around as if they had always been doing it.. The wildlife watching was terrific.











What a relief it was to get it all cut out, cleaned out, treated all over and replacement so neatly fitted with the 1/4 inch plate steel from Greens of Netherton ...It went in in 2 pieces, a welded seam down the middle and a neat hole for the water tank filler ...... Thank you fellas

And just look at it now, all black and shiney with a couple of coats of Hammerite and a thick layer of Bitumen round the edges.

Just before the winter sets in as well, phew.....and don't it look great.

Its got me thinking about the paint designs for the doors ..... that'll keep my mind busy in the bad weather when it arrives and I don't have to go out ..... whoopydoo. Got lots of firewood collected this autumn and practicing cooking on the home woodburner. Next entry will show what I have done fitting the woodburner on the boat, an excellent place to start on the inside methinks.

Another dirty week ha !

Water tank removed from its position and the hull well and truly cleaned out and treated.....it must be the first light of day in here since she was built (well appart from through the rusty holes harrumph). Still amazed at how well she has weathered her use and abuse, Wildrose is in great condition and its been a filthy pleasure to work on her.......

Roll on getting the new front deck in place before the weather breaks....just waiting for the steel to arrive.....

Off with her Deck !!! and on with the new Ha!

Smokey burning bitumen as the deck is cut orf .... pretty chokey too....phew


Nice tats Ross








and heave ho off it goes..












Measure three times .......













cos we can only cut once !!!!

but then it had to be cut in half down the middle to get it in place...with a hole for the water tank (now back in situ underneath) filler .

Many thanks to get this much needed job done. Much smoke from burning bitumen, but off it came to reveal a large triangular water tank .... still full of water !!! that was a surprise, but it does mean that it is sound and no leaks ha...syphoned it out and now ready to slide it out of the hull so that I can complete the Waxoil treatment.....

New fittings are all that is needed for the tank but the original brass filler might be recoverable hopefully.....So next week her new front deck will have its 2 coats of Hammerite smooth black whoooopydooooo......providing the weather allows me to get it done in time...

A blast of ballast

Jolly glad I have the pics to show where I started .......
and its a relief to see how well she is recovering from her 10 years of neglect ...getting quite excited....but still more dirty work yet to be done....

Back inside, spraying the Waxoil was a bit yukky and fumey (masks and goggles again) but with a pressure sprayer it went down a treat and into all those places no-one can reach......now to let it dry out and just made stepping stones with the ballast whilst it does.......
I feel like I know every square millimeter very very well ha ha

Ballast from Billington's, cant afford to use the firebricks that are often used but she had broken slabs before and it will be easier for me to handle ....good weight training and cheaper than going to the Gym - whoopydoo !!

filler on the roof ---

Now you see it - now you dont Ha...and another good week developing my arm muscles !!!! filling all the de rusted roof and then rubbing it all down to a suposedly smooth and unblemished finish. Worked up quite a sweat in the sunshine but well worth it. And now to compare the results with how she looked before I started, gosh doesnt it look good.

Used loads of filler but still some left in the tin, jolly good eh! well she has now had a second layer of red oxide and I am thrilled with how the roof looks.....still some dinges and dimples here and there but they will save and I have filler at the ready but I think that will do nicely for the time being and the exterior will keep now until I have done the inside jobs that need to be done before the winter...well that is if I want to install the stove for Xmas.

I was going to draw up a plan of action, but as I have spent my life doing just that, with endless lists of 'to do' things, dealines and targets and all that crap....so I am just going with the flow...have thought about it all for years so I have a good idea of the order of refurb......so its back inside next week with an application of Waxoil to the base. This is the next stage before the balast can be put in place. Non came back with her but today I spotted a pile of broken paving slabs just removed from a garden opposite, so, as thats what was originally used I shall pop over tomorra and ask if I can have some of it......

At 35ft she is proving to be a very manageable size....a 5ltr tin of paint is enough for one complete coat with a bit to spare, looks like I will only need the 1 tin of the filler and I am hoping to get the balast for nothing...so I think thats a good start financially .... I have spent 15 quid so far on sandpaper .. rub a dub dub eh!

A whole lot of filling going on !

After a very sweaty couple of weeks sanding the interior woodwork I am happy with the results so far....dont want it to look new and the lightness is great, so its time to leave that for now and make the most of the sunny weather and get stuck into more of the outer restoration.....

I was recomended to use Dinitrol filler.... allegedly its used to repair Chieftan Tanks ha ha....so if its good enough for that then its just the job for Wildrose....

The roof is taking up most of it, and just under where the roof joins the sides.......found much rust here and once it was chipped, scraped and groung out, it left a surface that has more in common with Dancing Ledges (Dorset coast near Swanage where the sea has created a ledge of large dimples where fossils used to be), anyway,
a considerable amount of this very smelly but fast drying filler has been used this week with terrific results. A light sanding and a second layer of undercoat rollered on is giving a good enough covering to take her through the winter and give me time to do some other jobs that must be done before the winter.

One of the front side windows does let small amounts of water in when it rains, the front deck needs some welding and there is still the engine compartment waiting patiently for its next bout of attention....so ... watch this space..... and thank you for listening.

Getting Better

Well I seem to be slipping into a routine now....dirty weeks and clean weekends ha ha
This week I have been taking advantage of the damp weather and sanding the old, dark and dirty varnish off the remaining woodwork, above the gunnels and the roof.....goggles and facemask essential....just wish they wouldnt steam up so quickly, the goggles that is....anyway I have done about 1/3 but have had to vary the jobs so that I don't knacker the same muscles up.....so I am also tackling the back step where one of the batteries will be, and the bottom step will be for cooking stuff, pans etc. This needed de-rusting and is now ready for a coat of Hammerite.......but the remaining woodwork will need to be done before any more paint can happen. It was hard doing the roof but well worth the effort....all finished by hand eh!
And here is another effort with interior pics.....

Picture collage made with Smilebox