A good week - fitting out.

[nathanlee]

Part of a complete boat rebuild, I bought a foam mattress from benson's bed. It was an ex demonstrator model, and I got it for just under £100. Not bad for a king size mattress, I thought - really good quality foam too.

The intention was to get it cut to a template shape, then recovered. However, my mother, bless her, offered to help reduce costs by unpicking the stitches, then using a marker pen to draw out the paper template I made of the forecabin.

She then took it upon herself to ask a chap at her work, who was an upholsterer in a former life, how to cut foam. He said in the absence of a hot-wire, an electric carving knife would do the trick. So, dearest mummy has now cut the foam to shape, and is asking the textiles department of the college she works at if they would be so kind as to sew the cover back on. Bargain!

Further to that, I've found a fellow forumite to do some woodcraft for the galley at very reasonable rates. More on that, with his permission, when said job is done.

As soon as boat #2 is complete, or near to, I can make a serious effort to sell boat #1, and life will be rosey and all headroomy.

Anybody else had any fit-out joy of late?

 

[rob2]

It's always a great feeling when things just drop into place. It seems strange to me that whilst everyone is strapped for cash, there is little of the help between owners that we used to get in our club - people just expect to pay someone to do things and are often disappointed with the results. A few years back a friends husband volunteered to make new covers for all the soft furnishings on a boat. They turned out nicely made with piped edges and buttons - we didn't even know he had a sewing machine. Likewise it used to be common practice to just ask others around you in the yard to help raise or lower a mast, but now no-one seems willing.

When we still had manufacturing industries in the UK (pre-Maggie T) it was easy to get almost anything made, painted, fixed by an expert associate as a normal exchange of favours. Homers always took priority in the workshop! The circle of useful friends has been narrowing ever since, so I'm particularly glad to hear of your success/good fortune!

Rob.

 

[Seajet]

Well I know what you mean, in fact not many people seem willing or able to work on their own boats, let alone help others.

However I'm happy to say my all-volunteer club still has plenty of people who help each other whenever possible, I was one of 6 out on the mud checking moorings last week, and we all help raise each others' masts etc, including some quite sizeable boats & rigs.

Possibly the best example recently was when a boat was sunk at her mooring, which generated a rapid response by a lot of members going to quite some trouble to raise the boat and tow her semi-submerged through the moorings to the club hoist; true, one idiot reckoned we 'shouldn't get involved due to liability', but happily he was completely ignored, one member said it all, " the way I see it, there's a boat and owner in trouble so we help " !

That one who objected to helping has pretty much ceased to exist in my and a few other peoples' opinions...

 

[nathanlee]

Volunteers. Yes. I was trying to get the engine out of the boat a couple of weekends ago, and really struggling to get the half coupling undone. It was properly ceased. Managed three bolts, then the third allen bolt stripped its head.

Along comes a fellow boaty who just finished work and came to give me a marlin spike he had spare. "What are you up to?" he inquired. "Oh, just struggling with this".

A few minutes later, he returned with an angle grinder, then spent a very uncomfortable half an hour of engine room contortion sorting the whole mess out for me.

Best folk in the world are you boat lot.