A good time to clean and paint our bilge

When I tried previously to clean and paint our bilge, it was only a partial success, as the engine stopped me from getting to some of the more difficult to reach bits.

So now, with the engine and gearbox out, I decided to give it all a birthday, before we drop the Sabb in.

This is the horrible sight that greeted us when we first went to pick up our boats! The muppets at Aqueduct Marina had dropped Freyja back into the water, without greasing the stern gland, water had mixed with oil and diesel and come up over the starter motor. Everything was filthy, it was a dirty job to do anything in the engine 'ole.

 

After removing a bag full of rust flakes and de-greasing everything, it's ready to paint

I had previously painted around the weedhatch and stern

After the first coat of 2-pack garage floor paint we've got an engine 'ole that looks more suitable for our shiny blue Sabb, there'll be LEDs under the deck drain channels so it will make life easier and cleaner, when we need to work down there.

Lifting our engine and gearbox

Mark Hanson from Nene Marine said he knew someone who was looking for an engine and gearbox, could they come and see our AMC 1.8 (marinised BMC 1.8)?

Robin & Matt came down to see it, hear it running and to have a little run out on the river. They were pleased with it and agreed to buy it. 

Marina owner Clive lifted the engine and gearbox out with the Matbro, Barry the marina manager keeps an eye on things.

With the engine out, Robin and Matt asked if I could get the spares that I'd promised to give them. We had moved the boat to a spot that gave better access to the Matbro, so it was that I had to jump to get back on the boat...I picked up a box of spares in one hand and a new alternator belt in the other, jumped off...landed on a loose bit of hardcore, wobbled, tried to grab for anything on the bank, then there was that 'Oh, Oh, here we go again' moment and them sploosh! I stopped the spares from floating off, and hauled myself out. When I splosh, splosh, sploshed back to the others, dripping muddy water, the others howled with laughter and started taken photos. Luckily, after my last impromtu dunking I replaced my ruined mobile phone with a waterproof one so no harm done, and I'd left everything but my phone and some keys on the boat. Everyone makes fun when we wear our lifejackets, and the one time I'm not wearing it, I fall in! Typical! Did save having to renew the cartridge though!

Glenda gives her chillies some jip!

Glenda was a little disappointed that the chillies that she's been growing weren't as hot as she would have liked, she read somewhere that she could make them hotter by stressing them!

Have you ever seen a stressed out chilli? It's not a pretty sight!

Glenda, in her floating greenhouse, giving her chillies a good talking to!

She's also growing peppers, kale, rocket, spinach, lettuce, beans and strawberries.

Glenda has more plants outside on the pontoon

The windows have to be open quite wide as it gets pretty hot in the greenhouse, it also lets the bees visit.