I've just tidied up and put the first coat of varnish onto the new timber in the foward cabin, it's nice to be putting something together again :)

Meanwhile dad has been chipping away under cover on the aft deck, cleaning out some old timber that needs replacing

filling in a few gaps

Whilst clearing away some rotten wood at the stern, dad found some well preserved old newspaper which had been stuffed in a gap, dated may 7th 1999

The transom (back of the boat) has had a thick aluminium sheet fitted over the top of it to add strength, this newspaper was rolled up and stuffed behind it! Mudlark was sold by the navy in 1998, so the date on the newspaper suggests the Aluminium was fitted after this date. presumably by the next owner.

mudlarking properly

Dad suggested it would be a good idea to change the anode, it did indeed need changing, look at the new and old ones in the photo...


However, this did involve me spending and hour and a half messing round in the mud under the stern, lying on the liferaft. I think Juan found the sight of my legs sticking out from under the boat quite amusing, though he didn't get a picture :(
The corroded anode is the one I fitted last april (there's pictures of it if you dig back through the blog.

chipping away

Dad has joined us for the weekend, last weekend he removed the planks from the aft deck, and this weekend he's started cleaning out the mess they concealed. I think it will keep us busy for a while!


Meanwhile I've been working in the foward cabin, replacing the timber below the windows. In this picture I've offered it up to mark where to cut

windows

I took a break from the woodwork, and replaced the cracked glass in the window above the new timber on the port side. Luckily the window frames at the bow are in better condition, so I managed to re-use the original fittings.
Dad has been working on the aft deck, removing the old planking, so we can sort out the woodwork below
One new window, the cover gives everything a surreal green tint!

We've had a busy weekend, Dad's been working on the aft deck, removing the tired old planks. We've also just re-fitted the renovated guard rail to the port side, unfortunately it's too dark to take a picture now!
I've been fitting new timber on the port side of the foward cabin, here's a pic of the latest piece of the jigsaw

We've taken a break from the painting to do some woodwork. This weekend we replaced one of the beams that supports the deck on the port side.
It had been hidden behind the toilet and shower until I demolished the "bathroom"
last month