Table n shelves

Well here they are, what you have all been waiting for, the pictures of the new table and the shelving.

As Biggles would say: Flap down Flap up.

Just the brass fiddler rails to fit when we get to Braunston

We couldn't justify spending the money quoted by the marina for the table and shelves so Paul took it upon himself to utilise the redundant materials from the old pullman dinette. Only expenditure was 2 banister spindles at 4.99, some ramin moulding for the edging at £12, a pair of hinges 3.99 and a few brass screws, total saving over £1400.

An added bonus is that the table is just the right height for me to do the ironing (not sure that is an added bonus but then it is mainly my clothes that get ironed.)

This afternoon I washed the boat down while Paul was chatting to Bottle and Wozie nb Oakfield then he had the cheek to say I had missed a bit. I did start to do the polishing but only managed the name panel so Paul can finish that job while I am away. He is also going to inspect the 240v consumer box glad I wont be here to listen to the language that will inevitably be flying. The antifreeze is to be replaced a job that has been put off for far too long.

Gosty Hill came by so we are replenished now with our fuel.

No work today.

Today we had to pop into Rugby on a rug hunting recce. I also had to pop into Specsavers as my new glasses were really giving me gip. This was our first port of call, I explained to the nice lady that although I could see distances the reading bit of my varifocals was absolute crap, no I didn't say that just pointed out that I couldn't read anything, using my lap top was difficult and watching the tele put a strain on my eyes. Now when I went for my new glasses because I had had my eyes tested in Jan (at Specsavers in Uxbridge) I couldn't get them retested for free so I used that prescription as it wasn't too different from my last one. I digress, the lady checked and my old glasses were a stronger prescription than my new ones not good. So upstairs I went was given a new eye test and a new prescription that is stronger, so now my new glasses have to be sent away to have the new lenses put in. All free of charge I'm glad to say. Paul is a bit put out as it means with wearing my old glasses again I read for longer in bed. Oh yes the other day I stacked it as I jumped off the boat ended up with dirty knees and dented pride I can now put it down to my naff glasses making the bank look closer than it was and not my misjudging the gap.
We spent so long in Rugby that when we got back we still had to get dog food and anti freeze. Our rug hunting has been proving fruitless as we couldn't find anything in the sizes we wanted so we popped into Carpetrite to see that if we chose a nice carpet it could be cut to size and whipped (now now) making a nice rug. They were helpful but said that obviously we had to buy the carpet width by the required length, now this was okay as we needed 2 rugs of different sizes for the saloon and a runner for between the beds which will leave a small amount left over. Paul has to return in the morning with the exact sizes so the carpet can be ordered. Will take about 3 weeks but at least we have just what we want. As the day had whizzed by no varnishing got done today. That is a job for tomorrow when we get to Hillmorton. We had a visit from Betty and Graham nb Tranquility who are now moored at the park waiting for family. We saw them last year when they were on their way up to Manchester, this winter they are staying round Braunston/Rugby like us so no doubt we will be seeing a bit of them in the coming months.
Rang Ian and Alison on Gosty Hill and they will be at Hillmorton tomorrow so that's okay as we need fuel of the liquid and solid kind.

My little cherub has been busy.

Well since Thursday the table has been taking shape, its not time for the pictures yet so you will have to wait a little bit longer to see the finished result. At the moment I am trying out "the table" and it is really nice to be able to use the laptop at the correct height, no having to sit on two cushions now. The table has had a 50/50 coat of varnish/white spirit and now has to be rubbed down again and the final coat of varnish applied and then the dropleaf section attached. Needless to say while waiting for the varnish to dry Paul set about yet another task, why he couldn't just sit down and take it easy I do not know. So the shelves in the kitchen are now in place and they too are ready for their first coat of varnish. Must say everything is really coming together nicely didn't know I had such a clever hubby, although there has been plenty of moaning about the cramped conditions he has worked in. ( I don't know, some people just aren't happy with a plank across the cruiser stern he should be grateful for the canopy at least he didn't get wet when it rained.)
This morning MOTOGP was on at 6.45 so alarm on the phone was set also checked to make sure that the automatic time update was on for the time change. But as usual things never go to plan, Paul couldn't sleep (too busy thinking about his shelves) so he got up at 5.45 and then the alarm went off because the time hadn't updated. Apparently a lot of phones were the same, I am now getting used to being woken up by Paul crashing through the boat so he can watch some stupid motor racing of one sort or another. I am sure he would have plenty to say if I wanted to watch a programme at some ungodly hour, but thinking about it he probably wouldn't even know I had got up, he doesn't hear his own alarm so he wouldn't hear mine.
Dogs are a bit confused with the extra hour they were looking for their dinner an hour too soon so I compromised and fed them at 5.30 new time not the 6pm old time. (I'm thinking that doesn't make sense, I haven't had a drink honest).
At least here at Rugby we get 3g so Paul had a nice long chat to his brother in Oz via Skype. Have arranged to go to Kent next weekend it is No 1 grandsons 18th so there is going to be a family get together cant wait to see everyone again. I am sure Paul will be busy putting something or other together and of course it is the last F1 of the season so that's him sorted.

Rugby yet again.

Well here it is our nice new dinette complete with upholstery, nice colour eh! Have to get some nice cushions now.

Ready to try out as a bed.

The seat cushions on the dinette are sprung so when we use it as a bed it is like a proper mattress not like before when the cushions were foam and it was so uncomfortable to sleep on. Was worth paying the extra to get a comfortable seat. Although we have altered the design we haven't lost any storage and it has opened up the saloon area. Next buy is a couple of rugs.

We got to Rugby this morning and within half an hour were in Wickes getting bits for the new table that Paul is making. While he got stuck in to the said table I wandered to Tesco and it was lovely to be able to browse without a lot of huffing behind me. When I got back all the trim work had been done and Paul was up to his ankles in shavings.

Now you may be wondering just why we have had all this work done when we were quite happy before. Well yes we were happy but Paul would like an engine room and a more traditional looking narrowboat. So was a new boat on the cards? we made various enquiries over the past 6 months and found that in the present economic climate it wasn't a viable option, as we would lose out on the sale of Piston Broke. Paul as usual put his thinking cap on and came up with the idea that as Piston Broke was only 4 years old we would look at having some major surgery carried out. So over a period of 5 weeks various measurements were taken and drawings were done to remodel the boat. We came up with the perfect combination that suited us both. This entailed moving the stern and forward bulkheads and we had assigned a position to have her stretched by 6ft. The old Beta 43 would have been removed and a new JD3 installed in its own engine room. The only major refitting would have been to the galley, and the bathroom would have been remodeled to a walk through. Whereas, what we have had done will stay in situ, also due to the stretch she would be completely repainted. Estimates have been obtained from various boatyards and all are within this budget. So at the time everything was ready to go next month, however we were relying on monies from an investment but due to a cockup on our behalf these funds will not be available until next November. Although these alterations are still on the cards we will have to see how the financial market is at the time. No doubt after we have lived with our revamped boat for the next year it will give us time to adjust any plans for the future.

consumer box done.

Monday we went and turned round yet again in readiness for the trip to the marina to meet up with the upholstery man. Then yesterday was THE day for the consumer box. We spent the morning labelling up wires so that Paul knew what was what and sorted out the redundant wires.

nicely labelled.

I was running to the front of the boat "headlight on" back again "headlight off" then "horn on " "horn off" "bilge pump" etc, then there was lots of swearing when the RCD's came out,

RCD's

as Paul found strip connectors in the back of the box extending cut short wires. In the middle of all this the upholsterer rang to say the cushions were ready. Everything was disconnected I had to nip to the hairdressers at 3 so had to leave Paul to his own devices. I was given the "very " important job of putting the RCD's in ampage order so that when they were returned to the box the wiring was in the correct value RCD. Paul had found that the 2 12 watt wall lights were guarded by a 16amp breaker which was a bit ott, if you do your sums right total power comsumption for these two lights is 2 amps.

Of course putting it all back took ages because Paul wanted to test everthing as he went for total loads, but at least now we know where everything is in the box and everything is guarded by the correct value RCD. There were a couple of wires that we just couldnt find out what they were for, so will be interesting to see what, if anything isnt working.

Consumer box before. After all nice and neat.

We did have a cheek clenching moment when we could smell something warm, Paul had the light boards down in the bedroom but couldnt find anything, we then realised it was my waxed hat sitting on top of the TV and touching one of the halogen ceiling lights getting a trifle hot, thank goodness for that, panic over.

Paul did as promised and measured all the excess cabling and it came to a mind boggling 66 metres plus the redundant ariel cable 18 metres and that which we cut off the fridge and bow thruster many moons ago totaling another 5 metres I am sure there is other stuff we have forgotten but it all adds up to loads of cable. As you probably know 12v cabling needs to be as shorter length as possible and of course the correct size to avoid voltage drop. Today an isolator switch has gone in for the fridge and he has rewired the shower pump as the connections were naff. What will he do with himself when all these jobs are finished, there must be something he hasnt taken apart yet and investigated. Oh yes we have yet to find the central heating supply Paul has made his mind up that he is going to look into the 240v box because if it is anything like the 12v box there will be work to be done. It took a total of 6 and a half hours from start to finish to do that dammed consumer box. Good job the was an open bottle of wine in the fridge as we certainly needed a glass afterwards.

Finishing touch to the floor, heavy duty brass strip between tiles and the new flooring.

Nice knobs on the draw fronts on the bookshelf.

Sooooooo tired.

Before we went to bed last night I had to set the alarm on Paul's mobile to wake him at 5.30 so he could watch MOTOGP which is so sad. At around 2.30 I was woken by Paul's phone beeping as the battery was low, I tried to ignore it but then thought if the alarm doesn't go off and he misses his motorcycling all hell would break loose. So up I got set the alarm on my phone and got back into bed. When both the alarms went off I hadn't had a wink of sleep and all the time Paul was snoring in fact the alarms didn't even wake him. He smashed and crashed his way out of the bedroom swearing and cursing as he knocked into things. Give him his due he did thank me for waking him. I did eventually fall asleep for a whole 2 hours. At least when the new dinette is in situ he can sleep on that when he wants to watch his motor racing at some ungodly hour and I will get an undisturbed night.
The next phase of the wiring was tackled so now there is a great big pile of surplus wiring destined for the bin. Paul has got it in his mind to measure how much he has cut out of this boat. The next thing on the agenda is the dreaded consumer box. Which he will probably do on Tuesday.
Tomorrow we must turn round yet again so when we get the phone call from the upholsterer we can get back to the marina, weather looks grim for Tuesday so Monday it will have to be.
Have had a nice chat with Bottle and Wozie on nb Oakfield transpires we both know Maffi and Bones. Paul did his good deed for the day by getting out the chain saw to cut up some wood for them, he hates to see a lady struggle with a bow saw. (unless that lady is me and then he would tell me to put my back into it).
Next part of the motor racing is just about to start and it looks like Jenson will need a lot of luck to get the points he needs to win the championship. I'm off to make a steak and kidney pie for dinner and the bottle of wine in the fridge is calling out to be opened, I'm on my way my Rose friend.

Part 2

Here I am again, hopefully pictures will load a bit quicker than last night, still Paul is watching F1 qualifying so he will be out of my hair.

Forgot to mention yesterday that as we were leaving Blue Haven we met up with John and Angela on nb Ellen who held up the boats for us as we reversed out of the marina onto the canal. Angela said she had emailed but as the boat was in chaos I never got to open the email until yesterday and found that we had missed out on a bottle of wine oh bugger don't worry Angela we will catch up with you sometime.

Washing machine has been fixed as well, chap came while we were in the marina to replace the seal so I was able to take advantage of being hooked up to the 240v to catch up with all the washing.

We caught the bus to Rugby where we purchased a nice solid wood coffee table. Had a look at some rugs but nothing jumped up and grabbed me so will wait a bit. When we got back a few silly jobs got done like repairing the door Paul fell on when the day boat hit us, sorted out under the dinette so I can find paperwork etc and made up the new coffee table. So perhaps tomorrow we can have an easy day doing nothing. Obviously I am wrong as Paul has just informed me after he has watched the MOTOGP at 5.30 in the morning he is going to start the next phase of the wiring. Which he hopes to finish in time to watch F1 in the evening. Come on Jenson!!!!!!!

No floor. Nice floor.

We are more than happy with the new dinette and as you can see gives us a bit more space than the pullman did, (Paul was forever hitting his hip on the side), we also choose not to have it raised so the floor area is larger. We haven't lost any storage and I still have my pull out shelf with my printer on. Of course my de-cluttering has helped, in fact I gave all my crystal decanters and glasses to Roy at Blue Haven as he does a lot of fundraising for the local Air Ambulance and was looking for raffle prizes. A good cause I thought and I didn't have to carry them in to town to a charity shop.

Dinette, drop leaf table is being made to complete it.

Double bed.

Cant wait to get the new cushions then the work will be all done. Must congratulate the carpenter at Blue Haven who did an excellent job and actually listened to what we wanted and delivered 100%. Nothing was too much trouble it was nice to find a craftsman who did what the customer wanted with a bit of input if he thought he could improve on our suggestions.