Rust never sleeps

Mary and I went up for one day this weekend to carry on with the interior work. There was some more of the old fitout to remove and we're now up to 15 car loads that we've taken to the Hatfield tip. They know us by name now. On that note, the guy in the Donnington park services at the Costa stand greeted us with a cheery 'good to see you again' when we stopped for coffee on the way up on saturday afternoon. Routine is our friend after all.....

 Once we'd got the rest of the old walls to the tip and removed the old bath and remaining fibreglass, we were left with a a large expanse of rusting steel. There was a covering of paint, but this came away in sheets and was peversely satisfying to scape all this off. Mary did most of this while I played with the engine and chatted to some locals ensured that the engine was functioning correctly (which it was).

Here is one of the piles of rust/paint that we swept up.

 
 

Once this was done, I pulled up some of the floor to have a look at how things are constructed underneath. Quite solidly as it turns out. Note to my sister: that is the adjustable spanner you brought me for my birthday, see, not every gift ends up on ebay.

 

Here is a closer look at the hull sides. It looks worse than it is (this is what I tell myself anyway....)

The next steps are to figure out what type of insulation is best to use, as it'll determine how we treat the rust. If  we use sprayfoam, then we'll need to just clean up and posibly prime the steel, if we use other materials (such as rockwool) then we'll use a special anti-rust oil (sprayfoam won't stick to this). I'm still undecided, the main drawback with sprayfoam to me is that you'll never be able to see whats going on underneath it, coupled with possible fire risk should welding be required on the hull sides in the future.  I'll do some more research.

More destruction

I was going to title this 'Appetite for Destruction' but only a few would get that reference. Mary and I spent a couple of days over the bank holiday weekend removing more of the interior fitout from the front of the boat. Chipboard, hardboard and firbreboard have been used throughout. Bizzare really, as some of the woodwork joints were quite good, but the use of poor materials has spoilt the whole thing. Mary is now the proud owner of her own screwdriver and stylish DIY coveralls. Guys, you need to take care of the woman in your life. I might buy Mary a powertool for Christmas.

 

These pictures show the scale of the job, we've basically dismantled three odd shaped bedrooms and a bathroom. Mary refused to touch the porta-potti, but she remained relatively close by in a 'supportive' role while I got rid of it. We've taken a total of 13 trips to the Hatfield tip - we should get a loyalty card.

 
 

 

 This final picture shows the cleared space. We still need to figure out what to do about treating the rust and framing and insulating the hull, but its good to get it cleared out. We've laid out some bits of wood to show where the walls will go when its rebuilt, gives us an idea of spaces. Exciting eh?

 

Finally congratulations to Nev (see the IRIS blog...) who is now a qualified boatmaster!  

Freaking Out

We went back up to do some more work on Misterton this weekend. Mary was keen to de-rust and treat the roof, and she did a great job (and will need to continue to do so.... :) The fruits of her labours can be seen here.

 

My original plan was to try and empty out the front crew's quarters (underneath the front deck) where I plan to put some water tanks. However, that looked too hard, so we set about further examination of the interior. Its not good. The previous owners must've had access to a giant chipboard empourium, as they've used it for both the floors and the walls. This isn't the best material for a boat, so it all has to come out. What was revealed behind looks bad, but really was to be expected - lots of flaking paint and rust on the hull sides.

 Some pictures of the carnage below.

 

 

To paraphrase that American Military commander in Vietnam ' we had to destory the boat to save it'

First Visit as Owners

Mary and I went up to Yorkshire on the weekend to see Misterton for the first time as owners. All previous visits had the former owners in attendance, so it was quite a novelty to have a look round own our own.

The broker's family (Lynn, daugter Julie etc. ) had done an amazing job clearing out the boat and already it was looking much better with all the clutter gone. Apparently it had been quite grueling work, as food had been left and gone off etc. 

Here I am unlocking Misterton for the first time.

 Here are a few shots of the inside. One minor problem with everything being cleared is that the enormity of the task had become apparent. A lot of the interior had been fitted out in chipboard (the floor for example) and this will all need replacing.

 

 

As the weather was so good, we decided to suspend reality regarding the inside, and clean up the outside of the boat. This actually makes sense, as the first work to be done will be de-rusting and plating any anreas of the deck that need it.

Before we started there was all sorts of old rope, wood etc. strewn on the roof.

We ended up making three runs to the local dump to get rid of all this, lots of fun in the baking heat. Going to the tip seemed like a popular activity with big queues of cars every time.

Mary was so happy to see the ropes go, she took this picture, much to the bemusment of the truck driver...... 

Another little activity I amused myself with was starting the engine. Misterton has a Lister JP3 engine, its a 3 cylinder diesel of about 4.3 litres size. And its hand start only. As should be expected with these things, there is obviously a knack, and I've not quite discovered it yet. It took a lot longer than I'd thought, but eventually it burst into life. Mary suggested that the engine offers a gentle 'vibro-massage' effect, as she sat on the deck reading her book, but she's a girl and clearly has no idea of the emotional bond being formed as I stood on the deck listening to the steady beat of this ancient device.

 

The engine room needs de-cluttering and cleaning too, not sure what industrial chemicals thats going to require..... 

We left late on sunday afternoon, but before going took a few pictures. To our eyes at least, she seems a lot cleaner on the outside.

 

Scoping the work

Mary and I went up to meet with the boat builder, Alan Pease to scope the initial work to be done on Misterton. It was very cold, but at least it didn't rain. There seems to be a lot to do......

Spring in the UK....