noisey toys

We didn't get so much sunshine today, however it was still warm enough to do some more painting. Tom carried on cleaning up the paintwork on the wheelhouse with the grinder, then painted the bare patched with galavfroid. I fitted the new metalwork I'd made for the ventilator in the forward cabin. After lunch I painted white topcoat over the bits Tom primed yesterday. I had to do some interesting climbing moves to reach the higher bits tom had primed (he has quite a height advantage)
Dad put the finishing touches to the samsom post and screwed the adjoining bench back together, before painting the rope locker on the aft deck.
Yesterday I forgot to check if the dynamo was charging the batteries when we ran the engine, so I started it again today. At first I thought it wasn't working and I spent a while checking the wiring before I realised that I hadn't revved the engine over 1000rpm, given some revs it worked fine! I should have payed more attention to the rev counter, the sound of a 6 cylinder 2-stroke diesel fools your ears into thinking it's going much faster than it is.
In the picture is the control box for the dynamo which also housed the original switchgear for nav lights etc

she's got spots!

My friend Tom has come down to help this weekend, today he cleaned up the patches of rust on the starboard side of the wheelhouse and painted them with galvafriod paint so the boat now looks like a teenager
Dad put the finishing touches to the samson post he'd been replacing, so now I've got something decent to tie her up with again.
I started by cutting out some rusty metal from the ventilator in the forward cabin, then took apart more woodwork in the aft cabin, so that tomorrow I will be able to work on the 4th window. After lunch we started up the engine and ran it for an hour to make sure everything was working properly before we try going anywhere.

out with the paint brush

This weekend was a busy one, on saturday I was did the VHF SRC course (radio operation) so that I am now qualified to use the radio. Dad went over to the boat and carried on fitting the samson post.
On sunday I replaced 2 more windows in the aft cabin, this time with using new rubber seal which was a revelation, it made life a lot easier having supple rubber instead of the old hard stuff I found onboard.
Dad painted the roof of the wheel house with special paint that claims to seal flat roofs for up to 10 years!

sunshine :)

Just to keep us all on our toes, the weather changed from cold wet January to a glorious sunny day. So we did some outside jobs today. An annoying leak had started right on top of the helmsman's lap, which appeared to be coming in under the radar dome mounted directly above. After removing the dome, I had to hacksaw through the bolts holding the mounting plate (I couldn't get to the heads without ripping down the boards from the wheelhouse roof) Dad put some roofing felt over the square hole. The previous owner had covered the roof with shed type roofing felt , but didn't lift the radar dome so left a big square gap.I carried on working on the second window in the aft cabin, removing the cracked glass, then cleaning and painting the steelwork with cold galvanizing paint, before fitting a new perspex window. It looks quite different to the picture from last weekend!
In this pic you can see the rusty studs which were holding up the insulation. They make the perfect place for a drip! The next job is to remove them so the metal can be painted

Hiding from the rain

I'd planned to carry on with the windows today, but it decided to rain, and I didn't fancy having the weather lashing in as I worked, so I opted to strip the nasty old insulation from the aft cabin instead. I got all excited ripping stuff down, and forgot to take any pictures today, but I'll try to remember tomorrow
If you look at the pic on the last post, you can see the blue/white painted canvas which covers the rockwool insulation. That's all gone now :D

windows 1.1

Feeling smug after I'd managed to replace the window yesterday I thought I'd do another today...
However this one put up more of a fight, I've managed to loosen or drill out all of the screws, breaking two of the bits for the impact driver in the process! It turns out that those old english are made of tuff stuff, it's rare for the screw driver to snap before the screw!

In the pic you can see the flaky blue/white painted canvas that Dad has already removed from the foward cabin.

windows 1.0

After shoveling the snow ice from the dinghy, we made it out to mudlark this morning!
She's still got a good covering of snow on the decks, maybe I'll make a snowman tomorrow :)
Today I replaced one of the leaky windows on the starboard side of the aft cabin. The previous owner had already replaced some of the original windows, fitting the new ones with rubber seals, I found some of this rubber window seal in a locker and used it to fit the new window so it matches the others.
In this pic I've just painted the metal that will be hidden by the seal, to try and stop it going rusty under the rubber like I've seen on so many camper vans.

what I've been up to for the last week

Since Christmas, we've been working quite a lot!
I've painted half the foredeck as a short term measure to waterproof it, you can see the brighter, new paint on the right.
I've also dismantled the shower in the aft cabin to give access for next weekends work.
Dad has been stripping the soggy old insulation from the forward cabin, revealing the metalwork behind. Once we've cleaned, painted and sorted a few leaks, I will fit new insulation, and cover it all up again. Below deck all the cabins were insulated with rockwool, and lined with canvas which has been painted several times, and now looks grim as the bolts holding it up give the perfect location for drips!

Happy new Year

first post!

Hey all,
I've found five minutes to start a blog recording what I'm doing with the boat I recently Purchased.

"Mudlark" was originally a 52' admiralty harbour launch, powered by a foden diesel engine. The previous owner converted her to a motor cruiser, adding a galley and multiple bunks down below, and a large wheelhouse/saloon above deck.

With the help of my father I will be updating the accommodation to suit my needs, as well as doing a lot of maintenance to bring her up to scratch.