Two blog posts in quick succession - holy rusted metal indeed Batman. Sometimes I think I am too good to my loyal readers.

A week of general hard but very frustrating graft has passed. Essentially the movement of ballast, bilge boards etc has continued but I have been trying to remove items which are cluttering the place up. The oven finally went although it was just ever so slightly too large to get out of the main skylight. There is some deity out there who knows how the previous owner got it in (possibly on a very hot day) but regardless of the number, volume and enthusiasm behind my swear words, it just wouldn’t go through. No wonder my parents never bought me one of those children’s games with the different shaped pegs and holes…

Anyway, after much chin scratching and sucking of teeth I resorted to the power screwdriver and then crowbar to remove the hob. It then fitted through the hole. Unfortunately, despite my best attempts to give the oven away there were no takers but it will go to be recycled. Next on the hit list was the hot water tank in the foc’sle.

So, it’s chuffing heavy. I need to remove the metal skin first. Pretty easy and shaved a few kilos of the weight but it’s still too big to go through the hatch. Take the big panel saw and start cutting away at the insulation. Once that’s done, strap up the tank in a ratchet strap and then waste about 2 hours finding the right rope and pulley combo to lift the bleeding thing. Lift it up to the level of the deck but there is still too much of it below the deck to be able to lift it out and onto the deck without slipped discs and a double hernia. It will need to be cut in half.

Now, my angle grinder is a Titan (purchased from Screwfix for the princely sum of about £30) and it does the job. However, I lost the backing plate to the drive shaft as I was changing discs a few weeks ago. Seeing as the cargo hold is like the mines of Moria (for those Tolkien fans) I had 2 hopes of finding it. And one was called Bob… Titan is a cheapo Chinese brand so no product support in terms of spares. To cut the boiler I borrowed a grinder off my next door neighbour. It’s an old one and long story short, the disc is worn down to almost nothing and now jammed on. Borrowed another one and that just stopped working. I swear to god if anyone out there works for a tool company I should be a tool tester for you. I can break stuff just by looking at it (I went through 3 cars in a year once and not a single crash - but that’s another story).

I walked back to the flat, thoroughly dejected and found my replacement part for my grinder in the post. All the way from China and thank Vishnu/God/Thor/Darwin* (delete as applicable) it fits. Next day, finish cutting the tank and manage to lift it onto the deck in 2 pieces. The foc’sle is surprisingly roomy without the boiler and its housing and will be a good place for some of the machinery and electrics/batteries.

The foc'sle after removing most of the paraphenalia. There are steel blocks under the floor which need to be moved in order to get at the bilge and check its condition. Yay, another back breaker of a job :/

Another couple of days spent removing the bench seat and random bits of storage revealed not only more space but a few interesting spare parts as well.

One of 2 cylinder heads which I found rusting under a bench seat in the foc'sle. They will both need a good derust, treating and painting before being greased up and boxed for future. There is a spare hot bulb holder in one and an air valve assembly in the other, so they will be removed, renovated and kept separately.

A pump. Not sure for what but will have a look around the engine and see if it matches up with anything.

Work has slowed a bit this week due to having a stinking cold and sore throat which has sapped my energy somewhat more than I had expected. I have also tipped my hat towards Health and Safety this week by capping the evil looking angle iron supports which push up from the bilge with thick foam insulation. My overactive imagination was thinking of all the horrendous injuries that could occur with a trip and a coming together of sharp angle iron corner and shoulder/crotch/skull. Not pretty whichever option you pick...

I still have the steel grey water tank to chop into pieces but it is pretty thick steel (3-4mm at a guess) so the little Titan grinder will be up against it. For this reason I fired up the petrol compressor, but having stood idle for the best part of 6 months it took a lot of swearing and effort. Plus it is v.v.v.v noisy. I think I will have to create a different exhaust system for it so I don’t have the neighbours throwing abuse and/or molotov cocktails at the barge. With the petrol compressor pushing out over 14 cubic feet per minute of air it should be able to keep up with the demands of the plasma cutter. My electric one just isn’t man enough and with plasma and electric compressor going it tends to trip the circuit beaker as well. Hopefully wielding the plasma cutter like a proverbial light sabre should make much shorter work of the tank. I may even be able to salvage some bits for use as patches over holes in the bulkheads.

The grey water tank. Although the water that came out of it was far from it...

Zeelandia keeps making waves in the Marina with lots of people taking photos. Someone went above and beyond and painted a picture from his first floor apartment overlooking Zee. So, Mr Bower, if you are reading this, many thanks indeed and I hope she will be considerably more picturesque by summertime...