Roof Supports

Jo helped me cut the roof supports this morning, all ready for painting.

Keith.

Final Timber Order Arrived

Just as we were rising from our bed this morning there was a knock on the boat.

Our final order of timber, to complete building the room and for the layout, had arrived.

Keith.

Cloudy Wallpaper

Bought a roll of this cloudy wallpaper from Homebase yesterday for £9.99 for a 10m roll.

Will be interesting to see how it looks behind the layout and, if successful, will be a cheap solution to backdrops for model railways.

Keith.

Another Addition to My Diesel Fleet

This diesel loco arrived today, my smallest engine so far.

Keith.

New Lighting

This morning I temporarily installed the new permanent lighting, and removed the temporary lighting permanently.

Considering the temporary lighting has been in the hold for 10 years it hasn't done too bad. The temporary lighting was 4 12v halogen bulbs, 20 Watts per bulb, the new lighting is 4 LED light fittings, 2 Watts per fitting but equivalent to 25 Watts output each so brighter with less power consumed.

New lighting fitted temporarily but turned off, temporary lights on.

Temporary lights turned off, new lights on.

Temporary lights removed.

As can be seen from the photos then new lights are definitely brighter.

Keith.

Hull Walls Finished

Port side finished today, it was lot easier today, and all the work was finished by 2.00pm.

Battens on the port side fixed in place.

Jo getting to grips with her new compact camera I bought her for Christmas.

The 2 large sheets of plywood fixed in place, with the socket box in place.

Just the last small piece to fit.

Both double sockets wired in and working.

The last piece of plywood on the port side fixed in place.

The final piece of plywood is fixed in place on the starboard side, that is enough for today.

Keith.

Starboard Side of Hull Nearly Finished

Busy day today, first we fitted all the battens to the starboard side.

First piece of Plywood fixed in place.

Second piece fixed in place with double power socket in it.

Just a small piece needed to finish the starboard side.

Keith.

Battens Cut Ready to be Installed and Another Addition to Engine Fleet

This morning Jo and I cut the battens ready for installation.

Unfortunately my first attempt to install the first batten failed! I managed to strip 3 Phillips No.2 bits trying to screw it to the steel bearers with the special self-drilling screws. Contacted the supplier ScrewFix and they recommend special bits for the job which I have ordered and will pick up tomorrow morning whilst I am out in Leamington Spa food shopping.

The engine at the back of my little railway arrived today, a great addition to my fleet of locos.

Keith.

First Delivery of Timber & Plywood

Today the first order of timber and plywood arrived.

Because of the lack of space in the hold we cannot store all the wood we need for the whole fit out, so this delivery is enough timber for the battens and walls for the walls below the gunwale.

I have also laid the mains cable in which will go behind the ply walls, which will give us a double socket on each wall.

Keith

Hull insulation Completed

Hull insulation is now complete on both sides.

Keith.

First Sections of Insulation Fitted

First 4 sections of insulation fitted, before bad light stopped play (and a coffee!).

Timber battens & plywood ordered for the hull section, just have to wait for it to arrive, but we should have all the insulation fitted below gunwale tomorrow.

Keith.

Insulation

Happy New Year to you all!

Whilst we were away for Christmas we picked up another 2⅔ tonnes of bricks for more ballast, which we have put some under the remaining shutts, some under the counter at the stern of the boat, and the rest temporarily stacked in from of the water tank and the front end of the hold. Once we have built the railway room, then we can move these to where they are needed, some may have to go at the stern, and the rest under the gas locker and alongside the water tank. On Tuesday, 2 days ago, I ordered 10 sheets of insulation.

It arrived today!

We unloaded the sheets of insulation from the lorry and carried it down to our mooring, fortunately it is very light and we carried the 10 sheets quite easily between us.

It was my job to carry each sheet to the hold.

It was Jo’s job to manoeuvre the sheets into the hold, where they are now stacked ready for installation.

Keith.

Latest Update

Apologies for a lack of updates on the building of Hadarford recently. However we have now discussed with a neighbour the building of the railway room under the sheeting. They are keen to do the job for us, with our help. As they do have other work as a tree surgeon, they will be doing the work when they have time in the new year. As we told them we are not in any hurry, but it does suit them this time of year as their tree surgery works does drop during the winter time.

Both my wife Jo and I are now looking forward to the start of the build, which will be another step forward.

As we will also be away for Christmas this will probably be the last update until the new year, so may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

P.S. I wonder what Santa Claus will bring me?

Keith.

Ballast Goes under the Shutts.

Since returning from our Autumn cruise, we had intended to put the bricks in the hold which we had picked up on our way into Birmingham, under the shutts for ballast. But unfortunately my prolapsed disc decided to come out again when we got back to our mooring and it has taken until today for my back to recover enough to consider putting the bricks under the shutts this morning, probably about 2½ tonnes filled up the space, the remaining ⅙ tonne, 167 kg will go around the water tank once we can get near it. The important thing today was to get the boxes of stuff we had temporarily stored on the pontoon whilst we were out back inside the boat especially now we are getting frost overnight.

Keith.

Another Addition to the Steam Loco Fleet for Hadarford

Keith.

New Addition to Hadarfords Motive Power Fleet

Newest addition to my motive power fleet for Hadarford.

I was impressed with the maroon coloured Bemo loco that I inherited from my father and I have been watching out for a new one, which arrived today, in the blue livery. It has been well worth the wait.

Keith

Ballast

We are out travelling for a few weeks before the winter sets in. Whilst out we have loaded 3 tonnes of bricks for ballast into the hold.

We had hoped to load them straight under the shutts, but as they were wet we have had to stack them in the hold until they dry out, which will hopefully be by the time we return to our mooring.

Keith.

Lagging and Oiling

Today I lagged the water-pipe running through the hold.

Then Jo set about painting the base-plate with used engine oil to protect it.

More lagging.

Final section of base-plate oiled.

All shutts refitted.

Keith.

Work in the Hold to Build the Model Railway Room

Today we started preparatory work for building my model railway room in the hold. First we had to sort out the rubbish we had accumulated, which went to the bins, then moved everything else as far forward as possible, which allowed us access to and removal of the first two shutts (floorboards) from the bulkhead at the saloon end of the hold.

It is in better condition than we thought it might be. Jo set about scraping and removing the loose bits, then painted the base of the walls. It is already for oiling tomorrow morning, then we can do under the next 2 shutts. We thought that whilst we had the shutts up it was lagging the main water pipe from the water tank in the bow with some pipe insulation, to stop the condensation which appears to be happening, so I popped to Screwfix to get some and have fitted the first lengths.

Keith.