Rhyddid - live the questions now

Weekend update

Well the work has continued, nothing really justifying more pictures, I am however getting on. The fridge has been ordered and should arrive this week, the flue for the cooker has been ordered and likewise should be here this week. I finished wiring the relays for the heating pumps and now I have all the parts I can get the pumps and thermostats wired this week. I have been to B&Q and bought another 600mm cupboard to fit the microwave under the worktop once the new fridge is in place and the old fridge has gone to a friend to be a beer fridge. Aldi have some 12v under cupboard lights for £14, so I have bought a set and put up as wall lights, they look okay, get rid of the wires poking out of the wall and when I do find some proper wall lights they can go under the kitchen cupboards.
I also got the front doors rubbed down and some more danish oil applied, hopefully they will survive the winter better this year. So there we are, still making progress.

Kitchen worktops and central heating!

Well after a week off I feel that the fitout of Rhyddid is really moving forward again. After buying the kitchen worktops some time ago and having had an abortive attempt to cut them myself I had them cut professionally and finally I have a kitchen worktop and if I say so myself, they do look rather good. I also made a really good start with the central heating, I know it is August, but at the speed things have been happening recently on the fitout I might have heating by Christmas!

For the central heating I am having a number of skirting board radiators along the corridor. The radiator by the back door is mounted under the coat hooks and is on the hot water circuit so it should keep coats dry even in the summer; well it has been a bit damp recently. The remaining radiators are on a single run with the room thermostat mounted in the bedroom, they should provide about 4kw of heat, I’ve no real idea if this is sufficient, the normal calculations for central heating systems really don’t seem to work well on boats. I’ve had comments ranging from, ‘hope you’re getting your wood burner in before the winter, you’ll need it’, to ‘we’ll be down to you for a warm this winter then’. Hope fully somewhere in between would be good, I am hedging my bets though and planning on getting the wood burner in for the winter. It’s not that I don’t trust my central heating, the wood burner looks really good, I want the weight in place so I can get the trim sorted and sitting by a glowing fire with a good book and large malt is a very pleasant way to spend an evening!

I have also got the wiring for the heating pumps in place, I have probably made it a bit more complicated than necessary by having the thermostats switch relays to control the pumps rather then switch them directly, but the thermostats rating is a bit close to the pump load so relays it is. I’ve just realised that this section is meaningless to some of my readers, but it does make the post a decent length and bearing in mind that posts have been a bit scares recently I feel it’s a good thing!

The final job this weekend was to replace the kitchen sink pump, it seemed like a good idea eighteen months ago and to be fair it has worked okay for most of that time, however the food waste from washing up is taking its toll and after one particularly grim Sunday when the pump didn’t work as I emptied the washing up bowl and the content flowed out of the pump box over the floor, yep not pleasant, it was time to replace it with a whale gulper and a little foot switch. Works well so far and no nasty drain odour each time the pump works!

So that was my week off, very productive and no IT, excellent!

Finally some boat work

Well it has been way too long since I did any work on Rhyddid, but at long last I have felt like getting on with things again. After I had to move the cooker I realised I would need to move the pumps associated with central heating and water heating and finally I've got down to it. The pumps are now sitting just above the floor, between the feeds to the skirting board radiators and the hot water tank, this means they are more accessible than before. There is still some work to do on the wiring and all the copper pipe joints need soldering, which will be my first proper plumbing. Anyway I've made a new start and I might have central heating for the winter!

Rhyddid update

Well after the fabulous weather this weekend and the first drinks on the pontoon, hardy folks us boating types you know, I’ve made a bit more progress on the kitchen front. As the cooker has moved next to a cupboard this will mean the side of the cupboard will need insulating, so Saturday was clear the dining room to give me somewhere to work and get the cupboard out so I could make a frame of 1”x1” batten, glue thinsulate to the cupboard and then cover in fibre board. Next I needed to make bracket to take the end of the worktop, so one of shelves from the kitchen cupboards that I held on to got cut up and fixed to the top of the cupboard with an end panel to support it. It all feels fairly solid, just have to wait and see. By the time this had all been achieved, the toilet cassette emptied, the sun was shining and an impromptu gathering was forming on the pontoon, so a quick tidy up and armed with a particularly fine Argentinean red, I adjourned to the pontoon; well it doesn’t do to rush these jobs you know!

So Sunday dawned and after church more work on the kitchen was the order of the day, well morning at least. As I had moved the cooker I realised that the floor under the cooker would need some bracing, so moving the cooker (all 270kgs) to one side I used the slats from the window blinds to brace the floor. As I had the floor up, I took the opportunity to extend the bracing I had already put it place to the heavy use areas. All in all a pretty productive weekend and a bit of socialising to boot! Plans are afoot to buy a patio heater between a few of us so we can enjoy the social side a bit more.

Finally an update

It has been way too long since I posted, but to be honest there just was not much to say. Progress on the fit out has been non-existent or if anything backwards. To start with the shower was clearly leaking so during the freeze a couple of weeks ago when I started using the showers in the marina and found I didn’t need to change my routine much, I took the plunge, or rather a hammer and chisel, and started removing the tiles. Not good, the shower has obviously been leaking from day one, the floor underneath the tray will need replacing and the bottom 30cm of the bulkheads round the shower cubicle will need to be cut out and replaced. Then having found that on a Sunday morning the person who I hoped would make a flue for the cooker and connect the diesel arrived with some drain pipe to make a template for the flue, after much twisting of 15 degree bends and measuring, there is no way I can achieve 50mm of clearance between the flue and the wall, necessary for boat safety, so the cooker needs to move. So last Saturday, Dave kindly arrived to help me swap the cooker and freezer. In best NLP practice of always looking for a positive out of potentially negative situations, I will gain more storage, an extra 300mm of worktop and it will look much better with the front of the cooker facing you as you enter the boat. I can also move the pumps for heating and hot water to a much better location than they were in. It will mean running the pipes from the cooker boiler under the floor, but that gives me an excuse to buy a battery circular saw to cut the floor. Yes I know I could probably borrow one, just put it down to being a male thing and retail therapy is always good for you.

I decided a few weeks ago that even though they are more money I would put in a 12v fridge and freezer. It just seemed daft to convert 12v to 240v to run the fridge and freezer. This meant I needed more DC circuits and less AC circuits, so this weekend I have removed the Traveline that was included with the engine as I really don’t need it and have put in regular consumer units. The energy solution AC change over unit has a high load output which is only available when the generator or shore feed is available and a low load output for battery only running. The only thing that really needs a decent load is the washing machine so I have put a 4way unit on the high load output and a 10way unit on the low side. More taking things out, but I end up with a much tidier and safer install and reusing the AC distribution panel for DC gives me 22 dc circuits, enough for anyone!

So I am hoping that I have finished undoing things and I can start making progress again, we will see.

Rhyddid location

I have been asked by a couple of people if I could show them where Rhyddid is moored, so courtesy of Pin in the map is the exact position of Rhyddid.

Google map location and Google earth location

Marina life

I know it has been a while since I last , seems I keep saying that. The move to the new mooring went well and the people about me are really friendly. As far as my liver is concerned maybe a bit too friendly, fortunately I now cycle to work so I can at least cycle off the excess drinking.

The view from the front (bow!) is very nice, as this picture taken this morning shows.

Work is progressing and I have started on getting the inverter working. The batteries are connected to the link box, via the kill switch, and the inverter has a DC feed. So, weather permitting, I should get mains to and from the inverter this weekend.
I have ordered the roof fitting for the cooker chimney and once that is in place I can get the cooker plumbed in and get some heating! Not a bad thing as autumn does seem to have arrived.

I'm on the move!

Yes, tomorrow I am off to a new mooring at the Thames and Kennet marina. I dropped the car off there this morning and said hello to my new neighbours and very friendly everyone seemed. I finished the tiller arm this morning and unlike my friends in fixed homes, no packing to do! Just start the engine, un-plug the shore power then untie the ropes and away we go. The river is rather busy this weekend, it being a bank holiday and also the Reading Festival. So will take some pictures of the journey, not that it is that far and the new view from the front deck.

Finally an update

Yes, well it has been too long since I last updated, the bathroom took much longer to finish and it still needs some work. I suspect it will get a rebuild some time in the new year. Because I didn't want to post saying I'm still working on the bathroom and just didn't bother and work was getting me down so I didn't wont to write about anything else.

Anyway work hasn't changed, but I have started to do the outside paint. I went for Ivory White in the end. I will do some black trim as well, I just really want to get some paint on before the winter.

Also I am on the move, I am moving to the Thames and Kennet marina on the bank holiday weekend. It isn't the cheapest place, but it seems very friendly and has all the things needed like water, power and elsan disposal on hand.

So not much news after so long, but I will make an effort.

Bathroom tiles

A really good weekends progress. The shower cubicle has tiles on all three walls, floor to ceiling, the shower is plumbed in and the tray is inplace. Now all I have to do is wait for the adhesive to dry and I can start grouting, another diy first. As this is my first attempt at tiling I have to say I am rather pleased, the only bit that really needs some more work is round the shower taps. So home via Wickes to get another box of tiles, downside of walking everywhere is I can only get one box at a time, Then on with tiling and yes I am finding it as boring as everyone told me I would and there isn't space to swing even a small cat.