I know wot you dun last summer - part 34

Hello ma pals! I fort I give you a summin up of 2012 and get you in da mood for 2013 when we'll be doin more work on Atlantis again! Yes, I know is 2013 already but we gots to wait for Spring before commencin wiv any of dat!

We didn't get as much done on our lady as we ad oped, mainly because of her still bein stuck in the middle of the river! Well, all that has changed now and we has a new moorin up-river where we can get on and off wifout too much trubble now.

Mum an dad decided not much to be done so we spent most time on board gettin the engine in tip top shape for the move and sprucin her up a bit wif some paint!  Here's a pic of the starboard main deck wiv a nice coat of erm ... well .. battleship grey! 

Bein on the uvva side of the river wif no real piles to moor up again (ooh err obviously) so sometimes we was avin a bit of an angle goin on! As you can see dad demonstratin very well ere:

Hmm more lovely paintin by the mum .. on the port side this time. Err sooooo ... more battleship grey then! 

Oooo ere's mum undercoating ... wif .. yes you guess it, battleship grey, wiv a top coat of battleship grey!! Heehee, maybe she tryin to match her hair colour *runs under table*.

Course there's nuffink like a sunbathe on the deck. Even I managed to get involved wiv the paintin! Yep, you guessed it! Battleship Grey is the new look for Borders! heehee.

It is me or is it hot our there! I fink I'll just close my eyes and fink about how much I love battleship grey paint! Av you seen the mess in ere mum!!? Do you like my dog flap?

Looks like someone found the white and blue paint then! Makes a nice change ;).

Because it's a challenge to get on and off Atlantis, we were spending weekends on board. This mum's little stock cupboard (coz we ain't got no galley - aka kitchen - yet) but that is on da list for 2013! Mum very excited about that! Ahhh bless, look at her little cupboard heehee.

Looks like mum is tryin to sneak off downstairs probably for a lay down! I'm watchin er!

When the tide goes out, it really goes! Then we is on board for da night. Even if we wanted to get off we cuddnt. So best not run out of ma dog food or there be trububble!

Hmmmm our lovely cosy (half finished) bedroom. Nice place to relax. It's below decks too so nice and cool in the summer. Room for all free of us heehee.

Relaxin as night falls over the river. I'm cosy on my sofa thank you! We as a little radio wot we can play for entertainment and dad has rigged up batteries so we as some power to run the lights. 

Well, that's a little update on our Summer last year. More about our trip to Scotland and a few pics in our new moorin next time. Bye!

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.

Down the wooden hill to bedfordshire at last - part 12

Hello! Fanx for continuin wiv reading bout our story. Here quick refresher: da year is 2008 and will become known as Year of the Bedroom! Is also known as Operation Wheelhouse!

Now last year we was all sposed to move into our new bedroom but fings bein as dey dus be, it didn’t appen. Wot I fink I explains now is dat boat building time not like normal time. Fings always end up bein more complicated dan first imagined. Sometimes some big problems come up wot dad has to deal wif before he can finish somfink else.

Like the time when they did strip out da bow bedroom in the early days and den they accidentally broke da pipe wot did go from da galley (dat is kitchen remember) to da outside of da boat. It was unrepairable coz of bein so old, so dad had to fabricate new one and weld in place!

Anyways, before we cuds move into da bedroom dad had to have somewhere where he could do a lot of the bedroom preparation work. He needed a big room to build the bed, parts of the walls and make the doors. He did make the doors himself from scratch! They decided that first of all they wud ave to do some work in the saloon to get ready for making fings for da bedroom.

They worked in da saloon all frew da early munfs of 2008 – January frew to March. Was very cold there and to access the saloon at the time, they did av to go outside and walk along the walkway to the back door. 

There was no direct access from the galley or wheelhouse at dat time so it was a cold walk from the galley around the outside of the boat to the newly installed back door in the saloon! Mum and dad considerately put annuva dog flap in for me but I preferred to stay warm in da galley during those winter munfs! Plus I had builded up ma coat to protect me ;)). I calls it da  Larry the Lamb look!

Dey was workin on puttin da walls in place and workin on the doors. Was very cold in there as the windows let in lots of cold air so they work hard and fast to get everyfink ready. Dad was concentratin on da walls and the curves, den he started  building the bed frame along wiv a small wardrobe wot they cuds keep mums clothes in.

Dad didn't need to keeps his clothes in dere coz they too dirty and orrible he say! Is for mum's work stuff so she can keeps it all clean. You can see da wardrobe and part of the bed in dis pic. Not very big wardrobe is it? Dad say space is always at a premium in a boat, even one as big as Atlantis! I fink is his way of stoppin mum buyin too many outfits!

All da walls are gonna be has cherry veneer wot dad dus then stain and lacquer an den polishes (mum dus that bit) to bring to a bootiful colour and shine. Here is da befores an afters pics of wot dad dun wiv da walls to the en suite shower. You can see wot dad dun step by step to get a bootiful colours wot you can sees your face in it! Pay attenshuns, here come the science bit (heehee I nicked dat from advertisement wot I seed one time).

Step 1 - laminate da wall out of plywood
Step 2 - sheath in veneer (North American Cherry and very expensive!) using contact adhesive
Step 3 - give Lex a sossidge (haha just put dat in for fun, so I check you readin!)
Step 4 - stain orange
Step 5 - stain brown
Step 6 - laquer
Step 7 - colour-sand (make it smoove) and polish
Step 8  - do all of dat again (from step 3!) about 10 times

Hey Preston! You has your bootiful walls thusly:

So tick tockety tickety tick ---- bedroom is coming!!!! Mum and me gettin really eggsited bout it too! Dad workin really hard and tryin to get everyfink done quick. I fink I mighta said dat already ;). Here dus be the bed all ready for da mattress wot gonna be put on top! Mum never telled dad til later but she imaginin herself fallin off it! Dad built everyfink himself. He has to custom builds everyfink coz you can't buy dis sort of stuff in da shops. Da more obserbant readers will notice that dad has been testing the bed out (pillows and dad shaped dust!) for size!

Mum not overly impressed wiv da access dat dad has had to hastily arranged! She finkin of those nights when she has to go to the loo up the ladder. Mum an ladders are a deadly mix!! Dad tell mum she just has to put up wiv it! He has not the time nor the inclination to put in a staircase. Deal wiv it he tell her. She get da hump dat is for sure and go off in a strop!

Wot dad dussnt tell da mum is he wanna surprises her. She has to go away for a few days to do some training and he bin tellin her dat the bedroom not gonna be finish for a few more weeks, so she just has to be patient. Patient she say! Ha --- she bin sleepin on a floor for 5 years, dat is patient ain't it?! Harumph and off she go for her trainin.

When she gone, dad an Jared (wiv some elps from da Lexie - mainly testin fings and dat) finish off da bedroom double quick. Dey put some nice lightin in and finish off da wardrobe wif rail and lights inside. They dus some shelvin so mum can put her nice fings on dem like her smelly candles wot she like. Dad get a new telly and dvd player so she can watch her favourite movies in bed if she likes. Dad finish off by puttin in da mattress and makin the bed up all nice. Mum gonna love it we finks!  Don't it look cosy!

Den he and Jared work hard to builds new staircase for runnin up and down as much as we likes! I test it and it is all good! Better than the ladder. Dad was only doin ladder for joke and know wiv mum track record she cant be goin up a ladder in the middle of the night. They finish off da staircase and everyfink ready  for when mum come home. She is now officially got a real bedroom complete wiv bed and staircase access!  Hoorah!

So they offishully move in an spend their first night in their new bedroom. I be in there too but I am free to go up and down the stairs when I likes. Mum has put ma bed nearby so I can sleep in it if I wants but I lie wiv dem anyway ;)). You be pleased to know she has never fall out of dat bed yet! Although she did spend a fitful night wonderin if she would! Silly moo!

Tune in next time to find out about how they finally gets rid of dat old wheelhouse and open up the back of the boat when dad removes the upper engine room.

Abbysinya! (there is a joke about dat but I forgets it now!)

It must be frew da ... round window - part 10

Well hello furriends! Is still 2007 - was a very busy year you know? Dad, never content wiv one or two fings on da go at once, decides to buy the drydock where we was living at the workin wharf.

Before he know where he at, he's workin on Atlantis, Auldyn River, anovva houseboat build and boats comin in and out da drydock. Here he is stick weldin on some fingamabobbies wot is called anodes on a boat in dere. Dat his old weldin elmet he did arsk me to point out! (dog knows why!!)

They decides is time to take on more peoples and dad starts a small boat buildin business. Headin up da team dus be ma favouritest person Jared! We also has is bruvva workin for us he has long hair wot dus be called dreadlocks an he likes to run after me in da yard tryin to steal ma ball! We also has annova couple called Fry and Leela  (like from da futurama - dat is not they real names but wot we called dem for fun). They dus let me eat some of dey samwuches but we dussnt tell mum bout dat! Dat is just between us ok???

Mum dus be workin from ome quite a bit an has set up her office in da galley (kitchen). We is quite cozy in dere although sometime she get wet from da hole in da roof where dad is cuttin away old metal ready to make it easier to remove da wheelhouse. She has to wear her cagule. There be lots of noise goin on too but she dussnt mind, she all fixed up wif appropriate cloavin as you an see! Is dark in there so she has to squint ;)).

When mum is at ome I dus make maself comftibles in da galley as well. Is nice and warm in dere most of da time. We turns the cooker on for extra warmf if it get too cold. Mum make sure she sorts me out wif ma comfy cushion next to her in da galley as well!

Course as we knows, before dad cud take off da wheelhouse, he had to build da bedroom and before he cud do that, he had to finish off da back structure (wot we calls da saloon). Oh, I forgot, fings were made a lot easier wif dad's latest purchase - a big crane! Here he is sittin in da cab.

Dad also used da crane to build the two-storey wooden structure wot would go on top of da lighter he was buildin as a houseboat for a customer. Dey builded da structure on da land by da wharf and then wud use da crane to move it onto da lighter which was moored next to Atlantis. Ere dus be da wooden structure. Dem windows is from China!

Meanwhile back on Atlantis, Dad and Jared was workin on preparing da back structure for da windows. First of all they dun painted da structure so it would be easier to mark out da windows. Then they use a template made of some stuff wot is called MDF and cutout all da steel to form da windows. Here dus be a before and da after shot - can you see dem differences?

Before:

After:

Here's da view from da inside after dey had blasted and painted it.

Maybe you dus remember dat it looked like dis at da start back in 2003 and mum is standin in roughly da same place for boaf photos!

I fink 2007 was their hardest year. They worked really hard and achieved a lot dat year. I hasn't even telled you bout all da ovva fings yet! So I leave it there for now with a lovely sunset over da river.

Bye for now pals fanx for readin ... in da next episode ..... mum and dad get a bedroom complete wiv bed!

If smell-o-vision was real you would be holding your nose - part 4

Now where was I? Oh yeah da year... 2004 da place .. MV Atlantis! We now moved into da second half of da year. The back deck has been cleared of all da steel that was cut off and taken away by da scrap man wot name is Michael. He took da metal to da scrapyard and it weighed in at 11 tons! The money he got for da scrap paid for da use of his crane.

Dad did buy a small hiab (also known as a knuckle boom crane to you machinery types) so he could use it to lift the new steel we needed for da back structure later on.

He also bought weird green boxy fing which happarently is a hydraulic power pack! But of course, we all knew that ;)). It is for many years later when he will be usin it for the crane,  thrusters and stuff like dat.

Now dus you remember back to da bloggy wot did be tellin you bout da stinky bedroom!? Well, mum and dad decide to have another go at it. They bin sleepin in da wheelhouse on a matress on da floor and fort it might be worth trying to get a bedroom fixed up!

It was July 2004 and Mum say dat wakin up in da wheelhouse in da mornin was like bein in a greenhouse! It was so hot they had to sleep wiv all da windows open and no clothesies on! Of course, my suggestion would have been some sort of fan and maybe some curtains!

Da first fing they had to do was to strip da bedroom back to its bare steel walls. So, lots of smashin and hammerin den dragging all da wood up the stairs. Dad did all the demolishin work and then mum would take the wood to the back of the boat and cut it up with a fing wot cuts up wood the name of which I forget! I check dat and let you know in a bit.

Getting the stuff up the stairs was quite difficult as you can see the stairs aren't proper stairs like wot you has in house! Note mum's amusing use of bath bomb to try to cover da smell of 35 years of rotten damp wood!

Ok dad did confirm that fing wot i mentioned earlier is called a jigsaw but is not like da puzzle is fing wot go chop chop chop really fast! Anyway, they manage to complete the strip-out of the room in about two weeks. Here's a photo of how it looked after the strip-out:

By da time August came around, da weather was cheerin up a bit so dad tell mum she can do some paintin. Although the bulwarks (dat is the sides to you landlubbers) were gonna be cut off dad wasn't sure when that would be, so he fink dat it be good to have a bit of paint on dem to protect em for a bit longer. It was nice sunny weather and mum had booked 3 weeks off work so they decide she could paint while he was working on da bow bedroom. 

First of all she had to chip all da rust off with chippin hammer (dis give you big biceps and make your arms tingle).Den she use da grinder to smooth off all da chipping (dis make you arms tingle too). Den she clean off all da grindings and paint da first coat of paint wot is called vactan (dis be wot we in da trade calls a rust inhibitor ;)). Den was undercoat, den was top coat in green . Dis photo show you some of the stages:

But wait ma friends guess what? It is the 12 September 2004 and you are all excited to hear dem words what does finally fall from ma lipsies! They are this: I WAS BORN!!!! Oh yes, I have come from ma mummy tummy and am a ickle puppy wot is snugglin up close to ma mummy wif my brofurs and sisfurs.

Of course mum and dad don't even know i has been born yet. Dey not meet me until after Christmas when I had to go and live on da boat behind them wot was called Jorja! I will tell you about dat next time!

Is nearly October and fings are startin to cool down a bit weather-wise. So they finks, what better time to start work on the worst part of da boat - the fishhold. Mum has managed to avoid goin into da fishhold for over a year but dad decide they are gonna clear it out by Christmas!

I wishes dis was smell-o-vision! 30 years of old stinky oil, dead scallops and heaven knows what else had permeated into da fishhold and it was a terrible place to go even for a minute! Dad decide to stop work on the bow bedroom and work on the fishhold instead to eventually turn it into two bedrooms, one with en-suite shower.

So they start stripping, clearing, hoisting and moving all da orrible fings out of da fishhold. Again, with a ladder that mum seemed to spend her life climbing up and down! Of course, to make matters even worse, the hold was lined out with the thing she hate more dan anyfink in da world - you know what is that? Is polystyrene! Here is the ladder:
















and here is da hatch at da top of dat ladder. Look at all dat polystrene! Mum had to bag all dat up and touch it. Very hard for a polystyrophobic (i made dat up) but she did it. You would not believe da smell of that stuff either! It had years of dead fish and oil soaked up into it! This photo shows only one lot - there was about five times dat much which their friend Jim (with da one leg) took away and disposed of.

Once the hold was stripped they got the walls back to bare steel. They realise there had been a bad fire in the hold at some point. You can see this in da photo here:

Before the hold could be blasted and painted, dad spent two weeks up to his waist in oil and dead scallops in da bilge cleanin dem out. He would fill up buckets wiv da muck and can you guess? Mum had to carry dem up da ladder and pour dem into big container (what is called an IBC). Every evenin mum had to scrub dad down wiv scourer and dettol. Dat's love dat is! This photo shows da bilge. There are 10 separate compartments which dad had to climb down into and clear out!

Once the hold was all cleared out, dad used our new shotblaster to clear away all da rust from da walls, he sprayed da walls with vactan, den primer. Dis was da result and best of all - no more smell!

They had managed to complete da fishhold back to bare walls in record time and decided to have a break over Christmas, mainly because dad's skin needed to recover from spending weeks in da bilges and mum had to rest her newly acquired rugby player legs from all dat ladder climbin!

So they downed-tools and took some rest over Christmas. It would be only a few weeks after Christmas and they would meet me for the first time not knowing that I would one day become their beloved doggie!! Best known to you as Lexie Dogstoyevsky!

Well, that is another chapter completed! And as Arnie says I'll be back!