Just one more month of winter....

Another weekend of progress.

First up was replacing some bilge hosing and installing another forward bilge pump. Can never have too many of them. I also had some leftover hoses up forward that were intended for a forward head, but never installed. Out they came at the same time. Needless to say, none of this work made for interesting photos.

I also knocked up some aluminium winch boxes in the wheelhouse that I'll get some photos of once they're sheathed in heavy duty ply.

The engine chap also came out on Friday to test the engines again - they seemed to be running quite cool (about 62C) which we'd put down to under-reading gauges, but couldn't test due to the tide being out. Anyway, out he came again with the tide in and about a 2500rpm run, it turns out the engines are indeed just running a bit cool, and the gauges are reading ok. Perfect.

So I know this all sounds a bit dull so far, but it gets better. The Dickinson Adriatic diesel cooker arrived late on Friday eve and we carted it down to the boat on Saturday morning. Of course it was a smidge too big to fit in the companionway, so out came a halyard and we lowered it in sideways.

The lowering process was one of those "it'll either work or be a spectacular disaster" type moments.

 

 

I then set about destroying the existing galley and getting the new stove installed.

This is where we're at as of today:

- Day tank and gauge installed and plumbed - awaiting breather outlet, 12V wiring and a general tidy up.

- Plumbing from main to day tank installed, plumbing from day tank to cooker and from cooker back to tank installed (this is what it looked like test laying it out, before the final fit up).

- Shelf made up for cooker, now to paint with high temp paint, bolt it down and secure facing panel.

- Flue hashed in - hardwood trim ring wood has been ordered and will be built this coming week.

I'm thinking another two weekends and it'll be done. In the interim, the sliding windows are *still* outstanding and if we get some decent weather this week, we'll rebuild the aft hatch and also fit the remaining davit.

Oh yes, and I bought a used 8hp two-stroke last week. We spent a good couple of hours arsing around in that over the weekend during a rare sunny spell - it's going to be a good summer :)

n