Freyja has a new green oak framed tugdeck.

After removing all of the rotten softwood frame and soggy rockwool type insulation, I set to making a green oak frame which I then insulated it using ecotherm insulation, a big headache was re-routing the pipes to the cabin ventilation. Next I added a pair of doors which close behind the bed and panelled it all in marine and hardwood faced ply.

The first three main green oak members, metal supports were added to the rear and across the centre. I've fitted one of the two doors that close behind the bed and the cabin ventilation pipes now go straight towards the bow, instead of bending up to exit through the tugdeck floor.

The cross-members, forward bulkhead and insulation being fitted. It was very labour intensive, as everytime I wanted to adjust one of the many interlocking parts, I had to remove everything. I must have done that hundred's of times!The lower section in the bulkhead is ready for a sloping section to be fitted to allow my bike to sit, tilted down, in the bow.

One day, someone may find this little scribbling ;o)

The sloping cut-out which allows my old B.S.A. tofit down into the tugdeck, allowing the wide handlebars to clear the tarpaulins.

I've re-fitted the old floorboards for the time being, I'll fit the nice new oak boards when the weather improves. I will also make up a panel that will fit into the cut-out so that we'll get our tugdeck back when we are not carrying the B.S.A.

Removing a rust trap from Freyja's bow

When we were looking at buying our boats the waste of space that masqueraded as a pre-purchase surveyor (Small Boat Surveys) missed many extremely serious faults that have cost a fortune to fix. 

One of the few faults that he did find was that the water filler pipe had been leaking into the bow, which was full of pea shale, this caused the bow to rust from the inside, so we had to re-plate both sides of the bow.

The, very rotten, bow locker has been cut out.

Emptying the pea shale that had been put inside the bow locker (as ballast), this became one hell of a moisture trap.

 

We bought a new (mini) twin tub

There was a full size domestic washing machine in Freyja when we first bought her, we got rid of it as it seemed it would be a waste of electric and would empty the water tank too quickly.

We decided that we would buy a human-powered machine, but it seems that the few practical designs that were out there were not actually commercially available.

After another search, we came up with this 3.5 kg washer from Good Ideas, it can spin dry, 2 kg very efficiently. It fits in the bath which makes filling it easy, using the shower head. And then the water can be pumped out into the sink. It is light enough to be lifted out when having a shower and luckily fits on the captain's chest opposite the bath.

 

A new use for a dog bowl

Take one 8.5" stainless steel dog bowl, £1.50 from Irthlingborough boot sale

Drill 2 holes

Insert one spotlight and add one brass porthole, then bond three brass strips to the glass to give that vintage look.

A problem with a chimney flue

On a few occasions I've lit the Morso Squirrel in the bedroom and the smoke alarm has gone off. I then noticed a witness mark caused by smoke on the ceiling next to the flue.

After removing the split aluminium dish that slides up to the ceiling I found that somehow the soft aluminium collar under it had become buckled and lodged on top of the flue allowing smoke to escape

After prising the collar back out and pulling it back down over the flue pipe.

The first layer of heatproof sealant, looks messy but it's already sealed and a few more layers will be added before I replace the outer collar.