Well dear reader, progress has been made on the barge with the foc’sle having been almost completely cleared. The floorboards have been removed and a lot of block steel ballast removed from underneath. The bulkhead needs making watertight, sealing up the pipe and electrical cable holes. I have started the process of wire brushing the areas of the hull in the foc’sle which show a few signs of corrosion, rust treating and then ultimately painting. I won’t be using the needle gun on the hull until Zee is in dry dock.

There are some areas of concern within the foc’sle and additionally I found what looks like a couple of old sea cocks which have been surrounded with cement. This would indicate they were either being strengthened or there was leakage around them. Once into dry dock I will ensure that all the concrete plugs from here and the main cargo area are removed and the hull assessed and repaired accordingly.

You can just see what I think is another sea cock just to the right of the grey bin. These will be removed, plated over and a new sea cock added which will feed the sea water pump for the toilet and also for the Reverse Osmosis unit.

The majority of the hull above the waterline is in pretty good condition as it had been enamel painted rather than oiled. That said I will still be running the wire brush over it all to see what doesn't adhere to the steel underneath, treating and painting.

One item which will definitely need attention is the anchor tube which guides the anchor chain and houses the anchor when fully retracted. It has corroded through near where it joins the hull at the bow and now just acts like a funnel for seawater and rainwater to flow directly into the foc’sle (never the greatest idea). The metal work for the anchor locker will need a good going over and lining with scaffold boards to stop the chain wearing away at the hull and promoting corrosion.

I will take a section of the anchor chain and forward it to a chain specialist to get a replacement chain spec and cost. I suspect it will not be required for some time and the cost will probably need to be deferred since there are more important purchase to be made in the meantime, but long term a longer chain length will be required. Standard chain length is about 120 metres or so which would be more than sufficient. A minimum of 80 metres would be a suitable length so having the extra available would be a safe option, but I would need to make sure the anchor locker is big enough to accommodate the extra. An additional benefit would be that it also acts as ballast so could use some of the very heavy steel blocks to tweak the ballast in the main cargo hold once the majority of the renovation has been completed. I will need to address how the water from the chain locker drains so as to minimise the chances of saltwater remaining in the foc’sle for extended periods. There’s nothing like stagnant seawater to rust your bilges…

The steel blanks for the remainder of the portholes and the skylights have been picked up. More importantly I have the 316 Stainless steel mast plates in order to make the mast removal possible. I have mounted one of them on the mizzen mast but 2 or 3 of the screws (M10 150mm stainless) feel like if any more torque were applied they would start to strip the wood. Bizarrely one of the holes drilled started to leak water fairly profusely…

It seems the mizzen is holding some water. I hope to be able to dry them out and treat before it starts to rot or seriously damage its integrity and strength (if it hasn't done so already).

The mast lifting plate in place. It is an 8mm backing plate, 10mm plate shackle plate, all held on with 10 x 150mm M10 Stainless screws.

Once derigged and removed the masts will be stored in the boat yard and I will start the onerous and somewhat tedious job of sanding them back to wood and treating. With the ‘leaking wood’ (if I can use that phrase) I think it will probably do them a lot of good to be dried out over summer. I have decided on Deks Olje 1 and 2 as my weapon of choice to treat the masts. It isn’t the cheapest on the market by any stretch of the imagination but has a very good reputation. The Deks Olje 1 is a saturation oil which penetrates and treats the wood, and the Deks Olje 2 is an oil based varnish which can be applied directly on top of the saturation treatment. Since this is a gaff rig I am loathed to use polyurethane varnish as this will just crack and then peel within the first hoist of the rig. I have also been recommended International Woodskin as a good option as well. I have a couple of the gaff booms to dry out, repair and revarnish so I may try the Woodskin and do a comparison between them both.

I have a carpenter coming at the end of February to look at the wheelhouse and hopefully we can come up with a design for it. The entire wheelhouse needs replacing but since the carpenter is Norfolk based I need to come up with a plan so that he can work on getting it as close to complete as possible. I plan to have a base rail made up from steel which as close as possible marries up to the steel dimensions of the lower wheelhouse which means he can work on the wheelhouse away from the barge. All being well it can be transported down and the wheelhouse removal can be done quickly with the bottom rail welding in place, grinding and painting before the wheelhouse goes on in sections. Well that's the plan anyway.

There was no electricity on the pontoon today so work was stifled. It should be back on tomorrow so I will crack on with the foc'sle and possibly try some testing in the cargo hold of a small spot shot blaster to see how quickly (and indeed if) it can remove the oil residue from the hull sides.