Have you ever had one of those days where things just don’t go the way you planned and you are thwarted at every turn? Yeah, pretty much that was today’s effort. The last week has been mostly spent moving from Norfolk to Portishead, packing, unpacking, moving stuff into storage and once that was done, trying to get rid of some of the excess stuff on the barge like the destroyed central heating boiler cupboard in the foc’sle.

I have also been moving the majority of my major tools (bandsaw, planer thicknesses etc) into the cargo hold in preparation for sorting and finishing any reclaimed wood. Given that the stairs are small and perilous and there was only me I again had to ‘boy scout’ the hell out of it. Using rope blacks and the gaff boom block I managed to get the major bits of kit into the hold safely. One of the downsides to buying more ‘industrial’ and higher quality tools (especially large ones) is that they are built to last, and hence are hernia enduringly heavy. The planer-thicknesser on its own must be a good 50-60kgs and it has plenty of sharp edges making it a right so-and-so to carry.

The Electra Beckum planer thicknesser. It's a great bit of kit and is big enough for the scaffold boards we will be using for our flooring. That said, it is chuffing heavy and awkward. The upside is it should be able to cope with all the abuse I can throw at it and at the end of the process should still be in perfect working order for resale. I have invested quite heavily in second hand tools, predominantly because I want to do the majority of the internal work myself and without the ability to convert raw pine or oak to panels etc means adding expense and time to the process.

I received a replacement motor for the bandsaw as the motor had been trashed when the storage unit in Norfolk was flooded by a freak storm. Having fitted the motor, wired it back up it then refused to fire up. It’s a pretty simple system so I think the only thing it can be is the door sensor on the bottom door which must have corroded. I will have to talk to the manufacturer after the weekend and see if they have any guidance. 1-0 to Zeelandia…

The next problem was one which I encountered whilst ripping out the interior back in Holland. The old cargo hold boards had been used as a form of insulation between the fibreboard and the steel of the cargo roof. Running along the outer edge of the roof is what looks like an extension which has raised the roof by 5 inches or so, but it has left a lip in the steel into which the boards are wedged. Along the centre of the cargo are a couple of large pine beams which hold the other end of the boards in place. There is no wiggle room so you can’t extract the boards. The pine beam is held in place by ‘U’ shaped steel retainers welded into place to the large steel cross beams and threaded steel rod with square nuts welded to the roof. In short, these beams are as likely to move as a Frenchman living next to a brothel.

I have managed to cut the nuts off a couple of the rods but the pine beams need to be cut into sections now and removed (slowly) as the large cargo boards might be precariously balanced. Ideally I would like to get a chainsaw and cut up vertically into the beam. However, even with my cavalier attitude to DIY and Health and Safety, this is a step too far. I think I will be getting the vibrating saw into action to remove pieces of the beam at a time. It’s going to be a long job… 2-0 to Zeelandia…

Now a chance to try the degreaser on the walls and see if the dried on oil will shift. Not a chance. It’s going to be shot blasting or nothing. I have tried using an angle grinder with a wire brush but the rivets on the hull are difficult to get fully clean and I end up covered in a not so thin film of oily gunk. This is likely one of those jobs I will be throwing money at. 3-0 to Zeelandia.

Disappointingly, although not surprisingly, Zee has started to look a bit tired. The month at sea has taken its toll on all the tiny little cracks in the paint which were fine in fresh water but the salt water has shown up every little crack with a nasty brown rust stain. These will require quick action to ‘stop the rot’ with a wire brush on an angle grinder, treating with Vactan, then covering with an oxide primer. It’s going to be a pain and given I want to minimise the crud going into the water so it’s likely to be one hand on the grinder and one on a vacuum. A shot blasting gun may be another option and possibly less harsh.

The wheelhouse has seen better days. As such it leaks in the rain and the water then flows into the skipper’s cabin and then penetrates into the floor. There is already some corrosion near the stairs which is showing through the steel in the engine bay. It’s not the end of the world but there will be some plating required in the engine room/skipper’s quarters. As a patch up job until the wheelhouse can be replaced I have liberally used flashing tape to patch up the worst areas and hopefully keep the worst of the south west ’s rain out.

Another pain in the groin area are the 2 large black water tanks and the oven in the cargo hold. Having measured them up they are too big to get out of the large window or the stairs. They were obviously loaded through a large hatch which was then steeled over. The tanks will have to be cut into chunks and removed and the oven, well, it will be advertised and if someone wants to take it apart and remove it then no worries. I don’t really want it kicking around the hold while I have to work around it. It’s going to be a while before I start carving holes in the roof with the plasma cutter so the oven might have to go to the recycling centre in small pieces.

Tomorrow is another day and I hope to be able to remove the main beam tomorrow. After that the cargo hold boards will be split into their constituent planks and run through the planer thicknesser to hopefully be the new ceiling wood.

AL1 - Well a quick update on the highly unproductive day. I have managed to get 3 of the cargo boards down but they were a a total b*&ch. The 4"x6" beam has to be cut into sections with a vibrating saw and then that section chiselled out. Yeah, it takes about an hour to remove each section. Anyway, the boards have not protected the steel underneath so it is badly corroded. It shouldn't be terminal but will need derusting and protecting. The boards may be beyond saving but they can be put away for later date.

The derusting has begun at the back of the barge. I have tried to minimise how long I use the angle grinder outside so I don't annoy the neighbours too soon after moving in. The Vactan has done a good job in protecting the rust spots post wire brushing. It looks a bit skanky but it should do the job for the time being.

One of the big problems with barges this age is that they have generally evolved over time. Instead of having planned infrastructure it has been added to, tweaked and modified which means that the guts of Zeelandia look like an explosion at a spaghetti factory. This makes removing the pipes a torturous and slow process, especially when the pipes have been fed through holes in the wooden floor beams.

I now have the compressed air filter and in-line oil lubricator for the needle gun so I will be firing that up in the next few days to see whether it works on the oiled walls. It's fair to say it is likely to be a noisy, dirty, rusty and unpleasant few days.