Week Nine

Monday 27th February 2006.
The start of week 8 and major things were going to happen this week. Firstly the two Steve's tacked into place the roofing for the galley and bathroom, so we have the beginings of a roof over our heads.They then put up the first sheet of steel for the boatsman's cabin, little can be done to the boatsman's cabin, until the engine come's back.In the mean time Roger was working on the prop shaft and couplings.

Tuesday 28th February.
The last day of the month and brrrr a cold day with snow flurries but inside the workshop it was a flurry of work going on as the two sides and roof for the saloon are tacked into place.We also had discussions about the size of the portholes, we are having 7 in all.

Wednesday 1st March.
The doorway and the bulkhead for the saloon opening into the open hold was added. We were also told that our national engine was due to come back on Monday, which will be very exciting, to see it in its new livery.

Thursday 2nd March.
With Steve two off poorly, Steve One was busy welding and grinding back the new cabins.

Friday 3rd March.
Steve One spent the day cutting out and tacking into place the door's for the Saloon, these doors have been done as stable doors, so they open into the open hold. We have also had hinges fitted so that the top doors can be taken off in the good weather. Steve's final task for the week was to red oxide the floor of the engine room, ready for the engines return on Monday. That was it would have the weekend to dry out, as it is very cold in the workshop.

It has been a fantastic week for seeing progress, and imagining where everything is going to go once fitted out.Atfer the the boatsman's cabin and engine room, we have added an extra 10ft of cabin space to accomodate the bathroom and galley, with a further 8ft for the saloon, which will be unseen under the canvas. The idea for extending the cabin top by 10ft for the galley and bathroom, were taken off of Warbler a Willow Wren boat also a Star Class, we saw her down at the Canal Crusing company when we were having Misty Ladys bottom blacked, and having looked at Warbler we realised it did not look out of place and actually solved a few of our space problems, as we had originally decided to have everything under canvas, but they caused problems for the head room in the shower. So now with the problem solved with the 10ft extention, we can have what we want, but still keep the outside looking in proportion. Our excitement is building as you can well imagine, especially with our engine coming back. Look out for the next installment when I will post photographs of the engine in her new livery.