Friday 24 September 2010

Now you see it.... now you don't - part 13

Hello! I am here to tell you some more fings bout developments wiv regard to the Atlantis and our journey of turnin her from stinky fishin trawler to beautiful trawler yacht! I fink I said last time we are in the year 2008 (aka Year 5) now.  Operation Bedroom - check! Operation Wheelhouse - check!

You can see all da ova posts ere and there includin when me and mum an dad first got togeva and how da whole boat fing come about in da fing on the right wot dus be called da Archive!

Any road up enough of this twaddle. Let us continue wiv dis bloggy and tell you wot appen next! Mum and dad (and me) was very appy wiv our new lovely bedroom. Dad had builded little seat fing in da corner and mum put ma bed on there for me to relax in. You can see ma bed in the corner ere! There was lots of dust in the room too as you can see, mum slowly vacuumed it all up but we woz all sneezin for a bit!















Dad had put in some lovely stairs wot we could use to go up and down whenever we liked! Mum was mostly usin them for going to toilet in the night - we did larf me and dad - coz mum didn't like to wake us up so she buyed a headtorch for her nightly trips to the toilet! Heehee. Interestin to note: dad did not use headtorch, he just turn on the light and make us all suffer! Tsk.















Now dat we all comftily sorted in our new bedroom dad decided to top off da luxury wiv brand new 32" flat screen telly and delishush heater so me and mum can watch our favourite filums and be all cosy! 

Now he cuds to turn attenshuns to removin da wheelhouse.  When they originally buyed the boat, they had fort they wud just refurbish the wheelhouse becoz dad was not sure he was skilled enough to build new one! Err hello!! Earf to dad ... earf to dad! Are you mad or what!!! So mum say, yes do it!  

Ere dus be pictcha of da wheelhouse wot we gonna get rid of! Oh look at dis photo and you will see ma bestest pal wot dus be Jared in da corner.















Mum an dad also say they be so appy to see the back of da wheelhouse as it ugly and remind them of freezin winters and boilin summers tryin to sleep! First of all they stripped da inside back to da bare metal on the back wall. Dad's plan was to cut the back of the wheelhouse off so they could easily remove everyfink inside. He had to decide what instruments we woz keepin like da radar, depf sounder and dat kind of fing. This photo shows some of the early walls comin out - dad is pretendin he is gonna get rid of it but woz mum wot dun it all!















First fing he dun was to pull out da walls at da back. Then he just cut the back off! Just like dat! Well maybe not just like dat but pretty quickly!! He was using his gas axe as it can be done wifout worryin bout burnin dat ova parts coz they all bein disposed of anyways! Wot is Gas Axe I hears you arks? Well, I tell you! It dus be a Oxyacetelene cutting torch.  It be called dis becoz of it run on gas  air an it cut fings really quick.















Once the back was off da wheelhouse, was possible to start removin da rest of all the fings inside like da walls, seats, shelvin an fings. They did use big sledge hammer to get rid of lots of fings. I was not impressed dat my beanbag had taken a bit of a kickin!! Pftttt dey forgot to move it! Mum didn't seem to appy bout her rug eiva ;)))). That is dads for ya!















More strippin work continued frewout da week. As you can see the wheelhouse was built to a high quality! heehee. The more they pulled out the happier they woz wiv da decishun. Speshully when dad did find holes all along base of da wheelhouse dat woz filled wiv builders foam. ;)).

During the removal phase dad had to make sure he knew if there was any wirin and cables wot he had to keep for da new one as well. Here are some wires wot he had to fink about (rather im dan me):















Dad wanted to get the wheelhouse off in a munf (dat be four weeks to you landlubbers - oh no wait we seafarers also says dat!)  becoz he didn't want to have too many sleepless nights worryin bout da structure. He was also worried becoz we wud have huge hole straight down to the engine room so he was concerned about da weava too. They agreed that they wud work until it was done and mum took some time off work to be there every day and elp wiv what she cuds. Of course, dis did include relaxin wiv da Lexie ;)).

Dad wod work on smashin everfink up and den mum wud take it all to the shore where they wud put fings in skip or, where possible, burn the wood.

Every time mum goes off to make a cuppa or some lunch or wotnot dere be more stuff to get off da boat!  Not sure she was expectin so much of dis! She had to walk across those precarious planks! As we all know only too well, not somfink mum too good at! Den down the ladder,off the boat to the shore, then back an do it all over again! Many times. She was certainly gettin a workout dad say to her! Rassssspp she say to dad.















Slowly but surely da wheelhouse started to get cleared out an dad cud start finkin bout cutin the rest of da wheelhouse off!

Ere dus be front of wheelhouse. This dus be tidy compared to ow it started! Mum did get very sore hands and arms (even though she was wearin glves) coz of all da fibre glass around. I was not allowed in dere for obvious reasons. Dus you see dat fing on the right hand window? Dat is a whirly fing wot go round really fast and was so dat if was raining the helmsman could see frew it! Dat was the fishermens wot had that.















Here dus be some more of da wheelhouse comin out. You can see here is da fibreglass wot I telled you about wot give mum da itchy arms. It also did make them cough a lot!
















Ere dus be da bonfire wot they woz puttin all da wood on. Here is just a small pile of da wood wot mum piled up on da shore. Dat is mum and dad powerboat behind wot was 007! Or James as mum liked to call it ;).















I fink overall did take about 2 weeks to completely strip da wheelhouse. The weava was not great eiva but me an mum did av some R&R walkin around enjoyin da mud! Well, I say we, I mean me!! Heehee. Dis ma muddy boots and ma sheep look - all da rage in 2008 I can tell you.















More in da next chapter bout wheelhouse removal. Mum become da family crane operator and dad realises he can do anyfink if he put his mind to it. I continue to enjoy walks and relaxations wiv da family.

7 comments:

  1. Wow this looks like quite a project! I am sure my mom and dad couldn't do anything like that!

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  2. I think your muddy boots sheep look iz rilly cutes!

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  3. Dat picture of you is the greatest. M thinks you look pretty dirty - I think you look like you had a really good time. We still shake our heads dat you are so talented to tear apart a boat/ship and put it back together again! Yikes!

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  4. I duz like yoor muddy boots and sheepie look a lot. I duz lik readin yoor blog Lexie.

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  5. Ow dad learn to do fings like dis? Eh? Not sumfink you can learn in a skool I dont fink...

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  6. Wow wat a lots of werk, but I can see it will be wonderful !! Thank you all for sharing this wif us lexie HUGS xxxx

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