The Grand Floating Palace Plan

Our boat warming pub party at the pub.

2009-12-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

Rather a long delay since ourlast postings , but here, courtesy of Dan (DanPrice84 http://www.flickr.com/) we have some awesome photos of our boat.

We had a hot sunny day shining down on as as we gave the grand tour of where everyones money had gone..... Sp please follow the link to his flickr and have a look!! x

Turbo. Our latest aquisition

2009-12-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

August bank holiday brought the arrival of Turbo the kitten. He is now a fat cat. He arrived stuffed down a fellow boaters coat one rainy night and promptly made himself at home. x

New hobby

2009-07-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

I have discovered the joys of Brasso! It is amazing! I am going to Brasso anything I can find from now on. I have done all the copper pipes that run the length of the boat and the coal bucket. Next the portholes. Give me a couple of rags and a pot of polish anyday.

slowly getting there

2009-07-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

Finally covered up the poo- brown paintwork - 32 coats of paint later....

2009-07-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Now look.

Trying to creep away and hide from the strict itinery of work I have laid out for you, Luke Watkins, will not work.

Not a chance in hell Sunshine.

hey pea brain!

2009-07-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Try not to let any Italians loose with a paint brush. x

hey! Nice boat!

2009-07-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

Some of the locals.

2009-07-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

Excessive hot weather, paint fumes and wood filler in the lungs. Just what you need on a day off from work. The development of paint- roller biceps also good.

some not so lazy sunday afternoons

2009-07-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

Now for the fun bit. Painting. And painting and sanding and painting. And then a bit more.

la salle de bain

2009-07-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

The best bath ( hiding under the sheet) in the world is soon to be plumbed in! Whether we can actually fill it or not is another matter.

Look! a room!

2009-07-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

And as if by magic a bedroom appears! New walls and ceiling put in - fancy lights in the ceiling and all! Doesn't it look.............well, wooden! The engine room is now nicely concealed behind that wall at the end.

chin up Watkins!

2009-07-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

This is the back of the boat looking very sorry for itself.

And Luke feeling sorry for himself.

This will turn into the bath and bedroom. When we have a ceiling and some walls.

oh good god.

2009-07-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Look. No Bedroom. Or bathroom. Or floor. Or walls. Or bloody ceiling. Got to get worse before it gets better.....uggghhhhhhh.

Nearly there...

2009-06-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Poor old boat in the yard - but being very well looked after by the boat yard. ...Who also happen to do a very good line in massive peices of cake to take comfort in, after what can be slightly traumatic viewings of the boat!

and a bit more falls off...

2009-06-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

So. The floor is sorted. Now for the ceiling and the new lights. But guess what? Down came the ceiling - oh! and down came the wall too. Bugger.(It is that bit missing near the port hole.) The builder of this boat, who I would LOVE to have a little chat with, decided to glue the ceiling in instead of using old fashioned screws.

What lies beneath!..

2009-06-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Ta dah! No not a new patio for the boat but our new ballast..( it keeps the boat from sitting at a tilt in the water.) We started the floor with the intention of a couple of new boards, but oh no. Lifting the lid is a dangerous thing. The boatyard boys discovered we had an extra 'floor' under the horrible rotten floorboards. So a bit of cutting and welding later and the rogue steel gone, new struts put in... and we've gained an inch or so more head room. Every little counts!

...add it to the bill!..

2009-05-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well aint that real pretty n'all? Shame its one of our bedroom windows that just went pop. I for one put it down to the dear old boat just letting us know she's a bit miffed at all the upheaval.

oh the decadence.

2009-05-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Our new bath. I am so excited about this bath I can hardly contain the glee!

Its got no taps yet though. Might need some of those.....

Cheers Pa!

2009-05-19T13:06:00.001-07:00

Delivery of our main wedding present!

One large steel water tank..provded by Dad and Penny. Excellent. Now we can wash more often!

This will sit in the bow locker in the front of the boat and fill our beautiful new roll top bath...its going to be AMAZING!

What lies beneath....

2009-05-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

Blimey! That used to be our bedroom... and and at the far end is the engine room.The stinky and creaky old floor has gone, ready for the new wooden one to go down...quite a depressing sight really - the poor old boat stripped to her undercrackers.

Finally...

2009-05-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

And here's one we made earlier! Just have a look at that.

Now that's what i call a project. Every last wall, or if you want to be technical, bulkhead has been taken down, lights gone, bathroom gone along with most of our wordly possesions. Well there's no going back, or should that be up, along, no down a bit, just to the right now!

Now you see it, now you dont...

2009-05-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

Remember that bedroom? Well now it's long gone, reduced to not much more than kindling. The only problem now being what to do with the dear old water tank (probably would of been a good idea to empty it, prior to taking the plumbing out)!

2009-05-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

More skilled demolition work! Now those of you who, as of yet have not had the privilage of staying aboard will not have had the pleasure of using the boats shower, come to think of it, no one's had any pleasure using the shower. Perhaps the best thing to equate it to would be having a shower in a coffin. Nice. It had to go.

It put up a valiant effort but eventually we got the better of it and we even managed to get a whole English pound for the shower tray (Ebay is a wonderous thing)!

2009-05-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

Now you'll have to excuse the somewhat rustic look to our bedroom picture here but it gives you a good idea of its size etc etc. You will also notice our restrained use of colour, ahem. The wood work, as with most of the boat, leaves a little to be desired, less spot on more 'that'll do'. Mind you, our woodworking skills have yet to be tested in the heat of battle as it were!

2009-05-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

This is the view from the front door into the galley of the boat. There's Lukes lovely armchair, sheepskin rug, and a kitchen. We are able to cook, wash up and eat all from one stool, no leg work needed...lovely. Note Jo's lovely jim jams too!

We have nice wooden floor boards, but the cupboards are, in time, going to become a little less 'log cabin' and a little more 'french farmhouse'. We hope.

If you were to walk round Jo and through to the left you would come to the bathroom, and then the bedroom.

2009-05-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

This is the stern (back) of our boat, with Jo pointing at it, how nice!

2009-05-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

Here she is. This is the front of our boat. Kate is helpfully demonstrating the removable cratch cover (porch area to you land lovers). This cover can be removed in sunny weather to reveal a scenic 'terrace' area, complete with benches that fit about six people that are really good friends or four that aren't.

You will notice our small garden developing randomly on the bow (front pointy bit),this could also do with some attention,ahem.

Smashing and ripping.

2009-05-12T11:23:00.001-07:00

Now, do try to keep up!....

The boat is due to have the following;

New ceiling. The current one is slightly sagging in places, bit worrying really...especially the bit over the bed. The new one's going to incorporate some lovely new insulation, kiss good bye to the 'orrible old rockwool (one of mans less pleasant inventions in my book)!

New lighting and a thorough re - wiring. We currently have wires in the shower (genius non)? And wires hanging out of areas where wires shouldnt be. The engine room wiring looks particulary sweet, more akin to a London tube map, the amazing thing is it all works(ish).

Big new water tank. The current one allows for approx 2 showers, 3 washings -up and that's about it. So every other day we are having to fill up the water tank , which is under the bed (genius again non)?
The new one will hold ALOT more water, which means less hassle for us. No having to tussle with tangled up hosepipes on cold dark nights, usually when you get home needing a hot shower, to discover there is no water left OR when the water runs out half way though a shower with shampoo in your hair. Now THAT is annoying! (Not for me, luke)

New Plumbing throughout. To make way for the spanking new water system and our shiny new bathroom (more of this in later posts).

New bedroom floor. The one we have is lovely, old floor boards but, has been damaged by diesel recently and like the ceiling is also sagging in places. Over the last six months it seems to have developed several trap doors and small compartments, oh how useful!

Electric sockets. Woo hoo! I know, i know, everyone calm down. Now when we say this we mean proper 240v sockets, like wot proper houses have. We will be able to charge phones, laptops, anything...we will join the 21st century basically.

That is the most basic of lists, just a little taster really, so you can see how far the wedding cheques are going. I know, we were very impressed too!