So, having replaced all the lube oil injectors and checked they worked ok I was pretty chuffed with myself. I found suppliers who could cut and make the bits required and they seem to be performing perfectly. But, I found another water leak. I had a look at where it was coming from and thought I had found the cause, a leaky gasket around the water transfer pipe between the exhaust manifold and the cylinder head. So, pipe off, rubber sheet ordered (thank you eBay), cut to size, high temp silicone sealer applied to all surfaces, pipe reinstalled and allowed to cure for 24 hours before starting her up again.

New hand cut gasket vs old 'snot, horsehair and biscuits' gasket. One of the advantages of old engines is that you can make stuff and in general it works. One of the bad things about old engines is that often you HAVE to make things as there are no spares. Swings and roundabouts...

Lo and behold. Fixed. Except it wasn’t. It wasn’t event the cause of the leak. You had to get right behind the engine while it was running to see it was actually the gasket between the exhaust manifold and the cylinder. Now, to say this is going to be a ‘child without a father’ of a job is an understatement. The exhaust manifold is held in place by about 20 bolts, probably weighs 60 kgs at a rough estimate and has numerous oil and water pipes hemming it in place. Add to this that even if you could lift it over the engine, it's probably too big to get out of the engine bay, so it's an in situ repair. The leak is unlikely to sink the barge but it’s another overly complicated job which takes many hours to effect a minor repair. I may have to just live with it for the time being and rig up some form of collection bucket/bilge pump combo. Get your woggle out, it’s time to boy scout the living crap out of this. Again…

Having started to strip the rear cabin I can tell the flooring is not in great condition. I suspect there is an area which will need cutting completely out and replating. You can see from the engine room that temporary repairs have been made with some board and pop rivets. I would describe this as a "Kim Kardashian" - looks good but serves no purpose. More importantly I do not want to delve to deeply as I suspect that some of the steel is so weak it will give way if trodden upon. It's only the wooden flooring spreading the load which stops it buckling and giving way. I need to be prepared to hack out large sections and cut the appropriate sized steel plate with angle iron reinforcing in order to make repairs. I have a good contact in Bristol for steel so will no doubt be calling on their services for plate steel supplies. Some of the steel under the sink is in iffy condition too, but I will wait until the cabin is much emptier of rubbish before I start prodding.

Flooring under the sink has obviously suffered from minor leaks and drips over time.

Pipe connection from the walkway outside to the water tank under the skipper's cabin has seen better days. Derusting and some overplating will do the trick.

On a nerdy technical note I have received my fast freeze 6013 welding rods. I was having a great deal of trouble getting even a halfway decent weld on my steel patches on the bulkheads. With some trial and error and practice pieces I think I have found the best way to weld vertical fillets using about 100 Amps and starting at the top and working down (known as a ‘vertical down’ weld). The problem I have with the ‘vertical up’ weld is that the pool of molten steel around the arc droops away so it look like a small toddler’s nose with a cold with these snot like rifles in the weld. With the vertical down the arc tends to keep the pool in place and as it deposits more steel provides enough time for the flux to solidify and hold the weld in place to cool. I can’t wait to get onto welding on the flat which is much easier and provides some lovely looking welds. Ok, nerdy bit over…

The rear cabin has received the sharp end of my crowbar and recently I demolished the wood panelled dividing wall between the bed and the rest of the room. This has given me enough space on the bed to pile up all the wood I have managed to Womble and provide a little more work space. Once I break through the floor (with either a foot or intentionally with a power tool) I will be able to remove the steel water tank lurking beneath the cabin.

I have saved some of the photos from the skipper’s cabin which are a nice link back to the history of Zeelandia and show her during her working days as a freighter. It’s always nice to keep some of the history and since she is approaching 100 years old I think it’s important to keep as much of her past alive as possible. Her engine is one of the best links to the past and once we are safely converted and happy living on board I will turn my attention to that in order to solve some of the minor problems and niggles which are bothering me, but until then I have more important fish to fry.