wrapping up

It's the end of an era for me, and a new home for mudlark, I'll miss her, and wish her new owner fair winds and following seas

paint party

Having sorted out the gunwale, We've been busy with the paint, the hull on the port side is now primed, soon to be black with a white stripe. Many thanks to Tom, Fi, Will, Juliana and Juan for coming down to help.

summer update

I've Finally had some time on my hands, so here's a quick update:
The work on the aft deck is done, ice cubes frozen and drinks at the ready :)
The bathroom is coming together, I've got the shower finished and the loo plumbed in

With all the nice weather I've been mostly working on the outside of Mudlark, I've replaced the gunwhale on the port side (the shiny new looking bit where the hull meets the deck, and we've been cleaning off the old paint from the planking beneath, I twisted Juan's arm to do a bit

I've been working on the new bathroom (heads) as well as the deck at the stern. The remains of the old galley is gone, stripped back to the insulation the previous owner fitted to the bulkhead. in the picture you can see a zig zag rad line, which is the level of the deck in the old wheel house.
I've placed the loo in the corner to see how it fits, the shower is taking shape to the left.

It's nice to be putting stuff together again :)
This weekend I've been making the frames for the lockers under the side decks.
I've used iroko, so I can varnish it, and have some wood son show to contrast with the painted decks.
Meanwhile, back in the workshop Dad is making a wooded grating for the shower tray, so there will be something to stand on

another overdue update

I've been working away on Mudlark, just not doing so much to the blog!

I've extended the side decks all the way to the stern, using epoxy sheathed plywood. The idea is to provide some seating for those sunset drinks :) and storage space on the aft deck. I will panel in the open side to make a couple of lockers. Hopefully the covers will be off in time for summer.

Below deck I have started building the heads (bathroom) I've made the shower tray, and got the door frame in place, so it's starting to look like a bathroom now

overdue update!

I haven't found the time to update this blog for a while, but I have still been getting on with Mudlark :)
The second water tank (port side) is now in place, in what will become the heads (bathroom)
I've finished the woodwork behind the tank, and painted it, which turned out to be a longer job than I'd first thought.


The current work in progress is to clean the bilges under the future bathroom

It seems like this year is running away faster than ever!
In the last few weeks, we've done lot of work though :)

I fitted new wood below the windows on the port side of the old galley, which will soon become the new heads (bathroom)

Then we painted the inside of the hull that Dad cleaned up before christmas.
Its in grey primer at the moment, soon to be white like the rest. One of the next jobs will be to tidy up the messy wiring in this area

Meanwhile Juan put a coat of varnish on the seat bases in the new galley. There will be a table between them.

We're back to work, after the festivities, I've replaced a section of the gunwale (the upper edge of the hull) on the port side. It's the odd coloured section, halfway along the side of the boat, painted in grey primer.
It is a 6"x3" piece of timber runs along the edge of the deck, and takes all of life's knocks and scrapes, I've replaced this bit because it had been badly repaired, and I'm about to fit the second water tank, blocking access to the its fixings.
Dad has come to help this weekend, and has been sanding and painting the sides of the aft deck.

Happy new year

I've been a bit busy recently, but I have been chipping away in between the mince pies.
Having removed the old galley, I've been sorting out the woodwork that was behind the fridge. The timber where the hull meets the deck needed a section replacing, In the first picture I've cut it out ready to put in new wood


And here's the new wood in position

Whilst we had some nice dry days, I've fitted the repaired bulwark on the starboard side, (The light grey bit in front of me) and today I fitted the chunk of wood that protects the corner of the hull. (the black bit in my hand)
During the evenings, I've removed the old galley completely, and re-worked the plumbing to get it out of our way.

out with the old :)

We've been repairing the old bulwark from the starboard side of the aft deck,
(the bit of wood that extends the side of the boat upwards to keep the waves out)
you can see the new peices of wood I've glued in place in this pic:


I've also started dismantling the old galley (kitchen) to make room for the new heads (toilet) I've moved the cooker to the new galley (just out of shot in the second pic)

I'm ready to move the cooker into the new galley, it will go in the space at the end of the worktop. the stripy white square is the stainless steel splash-back/heat shield to protect the wood from all the heat and low flying food. this evening I fitted the small door to the cupboard under the cooker.


We've also been working on the aft deck while the weather is good. We've been doing the fiddly bits of woodwork to cover the exposed structure on the insides of the hull with plywood. It's a lot easier to explain with a few pictures, but it was dark when I finished, so there's no pictures i'm afraid :(

We've been working on the aft deck this weekend, dad fitted some plywood to cover the inside of the hull, where is is visable above the new deck, which makes it a lot more water tight.
The new galley (kitchen) is coming together, I've been making the cupboard doors, here's one half finished,
and here is 3, knobs and all!

and finally here's a picture of the whole boat, just in case anyone was womdering how she is looking at the moment

We've had a productive week, I've got the rudder guard painted and back in place, which was involved walking the plank whilst carrying it!

We've just replaced the aft deck (the little deck at the back of the boat) Later I'll extend the side decks backwards to make seats/storage on both sides
I've been working away down below on the new galley, hopefully we'll be able to use it soon

Now all the ballast from the stern is back in place, We've been putting the Aft deck back together. This weekend with dad's help I put the deck beams back in place, and added some new woodwork to support the new plywood deck.
Juan gave me a hand, painting the rudder guard (aka heavy duty bicycle rack)

The new galley is starting to take shape, after some tweaking, I've fixed the worktop and sink in place, so I'm off to get some plumbing fittings :) meanwhile dad has been Putting all the freshly painted ballast back in place at the stern, so we will be able to start replacing the deck soon.

Here's the new sink, almost ready for a test run with some dirty mugs

I'm starting to assemble the new galley (kitchen) which involves a lot of head scratching, especially when the wind'e blowing so hard that the bubble on the spirit level is moving!

I've been fitting the worktop for the new sink, Juan is trying it out for size

watching paint dry

The most exciting thing to see in Southampton this bank holiday Monday, I've got some nice wet paint to watch!

I've just painted another section of the bilges, as we slowly work our way aft, cleaning and painting the inside of the boat.

grand designs

Mudlark saw a some visitors this weekend :)
Tom came down to help me, he removed and cleaned up the last (nearest the bow)
window on the port side. Then we put our thinking caps on, and built a cardboard mock-up of the new galley, to see if everything would fit in. the fridge is the box on the left, the sink is the flat piece in the centre, and the cooker is on the right.



whilst the tide was out on sunday morning, we replaced the pipe between the grease nipples and the rudder bearings, which got damaged when the stern was repaired.


And then I painted the next section of the bilges with primer