Week Thirty-Five

Week Thirty-Five and it has been a week of extreme excitement and hard work on the part of Roger, Tina, Steve with Keith and I helping out.

Boatman's Stove Area Finished.

Work has progressed well inside and outside on Hadar. Roger has finished the area where the range goes in the boatman's cabin. The base is aluminium and the walls are plasterboard. He has also completed fitting the red moulding to the boatman's cabin woodwork. Even young Steve has been working on her, doing various bits and pieces, such as making the fitting for the headlamp to go on the top of the post, the bracket for attaching the klaxon to the slide hatch, and the flywheel and alternator guards for the engine, which are essential to ensure Paddy's tail doesn't get caught in them whilst the engine is running.

Calorifier is Now Boxed In.

The boxing in of the calorifier has now been fitted which will also accept one of the fixings for the alternator guard. Tina has now completed all the signwriting, and it looks really great.

The Completed Signwriting.

Tina finished the signwriting, Hadar looks absolutely amazing. Tina has done such a fabulous job.

Flywheel and Alternator Covers.

With all hands to the pumps, things have been moving along briskly. Many of the smaller fitting and fixtures are being painted, such as the flywheel and alternator covers.

Navigation Lights and Cabin Steps.

All 4 navigation lights have been fitted and the 4 fold down brass steps on the cabin sides. Although not quite traditional I feel that if working boats had carried on in large numbers that boatman would have opted for such luxuries in later life.

Stern Navigation Light and Cabin Step.

The stern navigation light will also act as a deck light as it is independantly switched in the boatman's cabin. This will also mean that it can be used in tunnels without having to have all 4 navigation lights on.

Coal Skuttle, Inner Mast and Boatman's Cabin Floor.

Much of the fittings have started to receive their red oxide and primer coats. For some items such as the coal skuttle innerards and boatman's cabin floor this will be the only coat they will receive. The inner mast will have the upper section painted gloss red, and the lower will remain in red oxide.

Fitted Painted Boatman's Cabin Floor.

It was a good sign that the boatman's cabin was nearing completion when the painted floor goes down. The calorifier box received its coat of primer, and the porthole rings started to be painted. These rings are inserts that fit inside the woodwork, to give a good finish. They are rolled from aluminium sheet. The ones in the boatman's cabin and engine room will be painted red and the remaining ones in the galley and bathroom will be ivory.

Calorifier Box and 1 of the Porthole Rings.

Preparing the Hull for Blacking.

Who let me (Jo) loose with a power tool? We volunteered to black the hull of Hadar as it would be good experience for when we have to do it in the future. I removed the rust, with the sander, that had accumulated whilst she was in the water for 10 months. Whilst I was doing this Keith was masking off the gloss paint areas which meet the blacked area.

Fitted Boatman's Cabin Flooring.

Roger fitted the vinyl flooring to the boatman's cabin floor. We found 2 pieces of this in the corner of the local carpet shop, and got them both for £15. It finishes off the cabin so well, we are both delighted with the look.

Blacking the Hull.

No Keith did not black the whole of the hull with a 1" wide brush! He was filling in the bits that the roller had missed. We rollered the blacking on having seen both this method and brushing it on, and the roller method is definitely easier and quicker.

Final Roses.

As we were blacking the hull this meant that Tina could get on with finishing painting other parts of the boat so that she is ready to come out of the paintshed next week. This included the final set of roses on the boatman's cabin doors, and hopefully the final coat of blue on the inside of the engine room doors.

Completed Blacking from the Bow.

We finished the blacking late in the afternoon. We both were very tired, a 70ft boat takes a lot of blacking. We both slept well that night.

Completed Blacking from the Stern.

Finally for the week Keith finished the blacking by going over the bits that were a bit thin. This was evident on the sections painted over previously unblacked areas, especially where she had been painted in that very light blue holding coat. He also did the sections where the access ladders had been the previous day. Tina finished the roses on the boatman's cabin doors. Jo was busy making the curtains for the back cabin. It was an extremely manic week, but very satisfying to watch and be apart of. Roll on next week when all being well there will be photographs of Hadar coming out of the shed, so watch this space.