Trying to save our boatman's cabin

One of the traditional ways of waterproofing a wooden cabin roof was to cover it in canvas and then paint over it. Over the years the canvas cracked and rotted, allowing water in and allowing rot to set in. :0( Here glenda is hard at work stripping the old canvas back.

Both boats have had many different configurations and there are a lot of blanked off chimney holes and this old, rusty and very leaky chimney collar. I decided to remove it but it was so rusty I had to grind the heads off the bolts, the boards around it were rotting away.

Removing the rotting hand rails to reveal more rot below

The chimney collar has been removed, and plugs made to fill the chimney hole and bolt holes. The first side has had a layer of liquid rubber, the geo-textile tape applied and the liquid rubber on top.

Upstands and corners were also treated to rubber / geo-textile tape

Started using a roller but  preferred to use a brush as I progressed.

The frame, runners and board around the rear hatch was all badly rotted, I used a piece of scrap mahogany (with the castle painting) the oak on the sides and for the tapered wedge-shaped runners.

The first light coat of liquid rubber was rollered on.

Getting there

After the first thick coat of liquid rubber, we had to rush to beat the heavy rain which had been forecast.

The upstands on the workshop skylight.

Now this is an expensive experiment, aimed at nipping in the bud, the incessant leaks in the hope of stopping the rot.

We are heading out, for three weeks, on the river with our neighbours John & Rita. When we return we'll give her another thick coat of rubber then leave it until spring to give it the final coat, which we'll cover with a membrane which we hope will be paintable.

Glenda paints Freyja while I'm away ;o)

Glenda worked hard to rub down the roof and the rear hatch, giving the roof this nice shine.

The new steel hatch rails are now nicely painted and ready for us to replace the hatch. Glenda and Houston are probably musing on what the crazy Welshman is doing stood on Cristina's roof.

Yum!

A lovely loaf of home made foccacia bread that Glenda made.

Our new cratchboard progresses

Dovetailed into position

The cratchboard will hinge forward as will the new metal A-frame, allowing us to lower the top plank for low bridges and tunnels

Here I've added the centre panel which will hinge inward to form a small table and to allow Glenda to see out when the tugdeck doors to the bedroom are open.

The panel looked a bit odd to me, as the two lower planks are wider than the top one.

I decided to cut a narrow groove in the two lower boards it will then look like there are five equal planks.

Using UV resistant water based yellow dye first, then UV resistant universal stainer mixed with Chinese lacquer

Then do the same in red

The centre panel with the extra grooves cut in and with a couple of coats of plain lacquer

The old rotten softwood cratchboard and the new cratchboard in oak

Chop takes a leap.........and Splosh!

We took a trip down to the Friends of the river Nene's Woodford mooring with John & Rita tuck of NB Izzyinn II.

There was already a narrowboat moored there and we needed to get in close enough to crane off the petrol lawnmower, i got the bow in close enough for Glenda to jump off, then tried to get the stern in closer and jumped.....then slid down the bank and SPLOSH! In I went, along with my 2 week old Motorola G2 phone. luckily, not deep enough to trigger my lifejacket. As I slid, I got covered in stinging nettles. my shoes were firmly in the mud and I was in danger of pulling Glenda in, so I drove a mooring pin into the bank and managed to haul myself out with Glenda's help. I found out that the phone was ruined :o( and on checking online for a new one I found out the Motorola had, a few days earlier, released a new waterproof version! The G3, which I now own ;o)

We tidied up the mooring and headed down to Denford where we had a barbeque, and the girls quaffed to bottles of bubbly, then up to The Cock in Denford where there was a good band playing and another barbeque, which we also tucked into! A bit later Glyn said they'd finished barbequing and everything left was up for grabs, donations to charity, so we scoffed a third lot. then back to the boats where John and I sat around the pit fire with a nice whisky.

Glenda takes a leap and becomes a liveaboard boater!

 At the end of July glenda packed in her job in Sudbury, moved out of the rented house and moved to the boats ;o)

I prepared a celebratory meal and used a lump hammer to crack a lobster!

Lobster in crab and brown shrimp sauce eaten on our picnic bench. Yum!

A new figurehead for Freyja

Barry, our marina manager got into the habit of moving this sheep from boat to boat, with a little help from our neighbour John Tuck, I seem to have adopted it and turned it into a new figurehead.