Just got back from a day on the Lyndon. Zie is definitely getting somewhere! The stern bilges and joists are all cleaned and dried out and one of the bulkheads has been replaced. The old coldwater tanks have been taken out (anyone need two big-ass galvanised steel tanks? They're sound, just old and too clunky for Lyndon's new fitout) and the new plastic one is in, only need to plumb it in to the (also new) pump. The central heating and hot water will be next, I hope, and the strip and replace of all hir internal panels will go on in parallel. I want rid of that rotting old cream vinyl, especially the patches that have pink stains on them from a thoughtless visitor's hairdye. And half the time when we pull out an old plywood panel the insulation behind it is ancient, crumbling polystyrene fire-risk hell - I want to find every single scrap of that stuff and get rid of it. It's dangerous. The replacement is going to be plastic bubble-wrap insulation, with stained ply over the top; eventually the cabins will be panelled entirely in faux dark oak, which I reckon will look absolutely beautiful in an antique sort of way.linklinklink

And best of all, I took hir out today.linklinklink Only out of the berth and round in the marina basin to show Dad how zie handled, but it was fantastic to have hir unmoored and feel hir move.linklinklink It's easy to forget that a fixed-moored boat really is still a boat, that it will still go if you untie it and start the engine, and the reminder was wonderful.linklinklink Since zie is now insured, I can now do this any time I want - although the river authorities will get annoyed if I do it without a license too many times.linklinklink Licensing is the next step, though that'll be a nontrivial and rather costly exercise.linklinklink

But the point is, it's all happening. Today was definitely a good day.linklinklink ^_^

Rath