On the water.....

Finally on the water at about 11.15. Everything went well. Only slight trim required.

Canal & River Trust...

Just had a text from Canal & River Trust. Our licence application has been processed and the discs should be with us within five days. That's another step nearer.

11 Days and counting.....

Launch date for us is now the 14th November. The actual cruise date is the 15th due to final trimming/ballast. We are booked into Swanley Marina for 2 weeks because of stoppages and then onto our permanent mooring.  Just waiting for our Licence and Insurance to arrive in the post, hope they arrive before we set off.

Two years and a day...

Exactly one day beyond the two years we have been fitting out Dee O Ghee, she has passed her Boat Safety Test on the first attempt, we are so pleased. Next step is to get her in the water, probably in the next couple of weeks.
We've decided to move to a marina before the weather turns bad, even though a few cosmetic finishes still need to be completed.

Boat Safety...

Fingers crossed for this Saturday's boat safety test. Everything should be ok, just hope we haven't missed something silly. Only have three evenings left to do the final checks.

Electrics...

The electrics were completed on Friday by Ken Wheeler. No more trailing extension leads through the bow doors, we are now connected to a shoreline. The webasto works and soon warms the boat up. Its another step nearer to finishing. Next job is to get our boat safety certificate.

Ecofan...

The stove was lit today and we tried out the new ecofan purchased from Midland Chandlers on their last 20% off freaky Friday, definitely felt a difference down the boat. The hot spot around the stove disappeared and the heat spread quicker, wasn't long before I was down to my tee-shirt. 

The brasses haven't been cleaned for nearly two years and needed a good work over, not quite got there yet but they are certainly looking better.

A visitor from our friends boat moored nearby, shep comes and says hello whenever we are about.

Naming day has arrived...

We have kept the name very hush hush! just in case it changed, but saying that we've had Dee O Ghee pretty much decided on for at least a year now.

Why Dee O Ghee. Well we wanted a name that was unique and we think we may have managed that, we both love dogs but naming it after Charlie sounded like it had probably been used countless times before. Dee O Ghee came from when we used to tried to fool Charlie, If we mentioned the word dog he would jump up and either think it was time for his walk or one of his four legged friends was walking down the street, we then tried spelling it out like dee o ghee not (gee), it didn't take him long to catch on but we stuck with spelling it out. As a joke one of us said why not call the boat Dee O Ghee and that we did.

Cratch cover...

Friday, Corinne was dropped of at the boatyard early because the new cratch cover was getting fitted today, Charlie went along to keep her company. Fitters arrived about 9.30 and had done within the hour. Took just three days from site measure to installation. Pretty good as we had expected a four week wait.

Cover fitted.

Charlie giving it a good inspection.

Time to go home.

Fitting the Cratch Frame...

Yesterday we touched up the paintwork at the front of the boat ready for fitting the cratch frame today. Arriving just after ten this morning and set about fitting the frame straight away, we decided to varnish it instead of painting as first planned, it can always be painted at a later date if we change our minds again.

A dry run before fixing starts.

 

Getting ready to fix glazing.

Finishing touches, Corinne varnishes.

Rotten weather...

It was cold damp and miserable this morning, even inside the boat it was cold when we arrived. Back at the beginning of the year after the squirrel was installed we vowed never to be cold again, gone are the days of wrapping up in loads of layers. So this morning we lit the fire, within thirty minutes it was starting to warm up and after an hour it was too warm.

Last bits of boxing and low level trims were completed today, damn its hot in here.

Back at home we have finally finished gluing together all the sections for the portholes, this took us fourteen days to complete because of only having one jubilee clip that will extend to this size.

Two sections glued together to make a porthole blank ready for turning.

Joinery Stuff has arrived at last...

 We collected the missing items of joinery today, they've been on order for a while now. The table is looking great but so huge.

The cratch frame has been made from sapele not oak as it will be painted to match the boats colour scheme, and hopefully a harlequin design down the centre panel.

Charlie feeling left out and trying to get in on the act.

 This is the cabin, its been on going but for some reason we haven't posted a photo of it progress. The drawers missing in the wardrobe are just some of the items we collected today.

Cupboard Handles...

Corinne couldn't wait to see what the new handles would look like, so fitted some on the galley dresser.

Northwich Marine Electrician...

Last week we contacted a marine electrician from Northwich to come and do the final connections of the boats electrical system. She said 10am, which is a bit early for us as we usually take Charlie out for his walk before we going out. Anyway we got up earlier on Saturday and took Charlie as usual. Rushed about and managed to get to the boat before ten. Eleven came and still no sign of her so Corinne phoned her, no answer. We tried a few times during the day and got the same.
We will definately not be recommending her to friends, very unreliable, inconsiderate and unable to answer or make a call to let us know she wasn't coming.
I will be letting Midland Chandlers know what she is like as they recommended her. :(

Flooring...

This week we have spent our evenings laying the flooring to the dinette and galley, how we have noticed the nights drawing in. Dark by 8.30pm.

Boards have been laid on silicone to stop squeaks and to allow for some movement, secret nailed at random points.

Timber floor finished today, our to do list is starting to get smaller at last.

Cupboard doors...

More cupboard doors went on this weekend, a decision on handle type has now got to be made. We still haven't got the drawer fronts yet.

First coat of oil going on

Then there was light...

In the past we have had to connect the required lighting circuit up to the battery terminals temporarily, now we have light at a flick of a switch. What luxury.

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Engine room floor finish...

Its a good feeling, having finally finished the floor in the engine room. After a failed attempt at sticking down one of the rubber mats we soon got to grips with it and completed the remaining matting with ease.

View from below

View from above

I also couldn't resist wedging the new doors we picked up yesterday into position to get a feel for the final look, should get around to hanging some of the doors next week.

Bits of Everything....

Corinne has finished all the doggy porthole bungs. This morning we went to collect the cupboard doors from the joiners shop, drawer fronts still need to be made, we started to fit the galley doors first with piano hinges from screwfix but gave up soon after because of the inferior quality of the hinges, absolute rubbish. Have decided to look for another type of hinge.

Another little job was the connect the water supply to the toilet and test all the domestic pipework for leaks with an air test that passed with flying colours to my surprise. We had already half filled the water tank last week.



 Next job was to start covering the steps in the engine room, we managed to get two done before we'd had enough and called it a day.

Furniture...

The sofa and dinette cushions arrived today. It turns out a little early but we had planned on being finished for this bank holiday, as usual things have delayed us and we reckon it's going to be a few weeks yet. Hoping to pick up the cupboard doors tomorrow.

 

The flooring is just one of those jobs we haven't got around to doing yet.