Weekend Wrap-up - Dulcinea

So instead of writing each individual day I am going to summarize the last few days into one post. As per the last blog entry we were full swing into redoing the kitchen bench and already had the read head pulled apart and a coat of paint on the hull to hide the gross colours and stains from before. Friday we got right into the bathroom, first a lot of staring, then a lot of ummmm, how do you think we start, what shape do we start with on the floor...it was going to be a long day. But eventually we had cut some 50x50 timber and fixed it in place before cutting a plywood floor and before long

we were into it and things were taking shape at a mad rate of knots. The floor went in, the raised floor for the toilet to sit on, then some framing to support the front cabinet panels...and before long we were installing the bench top (in the nick of time before it got dark). When it was too late to use power tools we turned our attentions to the flooring, I decided to use stripwood (vinyl) flooring identical to the stuff i have at home as its pretty easy to work with, looks good and is hard wearing. What seemed like hours later we had all the floor laid and the toilet just sitting in place so it looked finished. That was enough for that night.

The next day we had a slow start and after some hot drinks we were back into the bathroom to plumb up the toilet and sink. It then occurred to me that we should have run the wires for the electric toilet before we put the flooring down and it was a bloody nightmare to try get them from where they had been terminated (above the fuel tank), through the wall, under the new double floor and up into the wall!) but we managed and had the power, water and waste done in no time...oh and in the process discovered that the seacock for the water inlet was seized shut now and the handle broke off when I tried to operate it, lucky I had the van in Havelock and had a new one onboard to replace it with. Then got all the plumbing done for the vanity/bowl without a hitch and I was shocked to find the pipes all lined up perfectly (turns out the seacock for the sink drain comes through at 45 degrees to the bowl which made it so easy to connect up, no heat gun needed to make new angled bends). Then it was onto finishing details, fitting all the old trim and new bits. We did have to head to Blenheim for an angle/corner trim but a good chance to get out for a while and grab some lunch from good ol' K-fry. By the end of the day the bathroom was finished off with a coat of polyurethene on the benchtop. Good day all round I think.

Our last day in Havelock before having to return to the real world, for some stupid reason I thought it would be a good idea to take off a section of the toe rail (aft and to startboard) becuase how hard can it be to get it off? its leaking so surely there is nothing holding it on other than the bolts. So we pulled down ceiling panels left right and centre, undid about 70 nuts and bolts and stuffing most as the heads had been previously chewed out. But it wasn't until I began prying the rail off that I realized in many places that half the deck was ripping off too...not good!!! but we were committed now and kept on going. It finally came off but I was left with 70 holes through the deck that would leak as well as large sections of the deck (only a top layer of glass and fairing compound) missing but still not great. I quickly made up several batches of filler and got to work smearing the stuff around like I was icing a cake...at least it would stop ingress of water. Then it was time to literally throw all our personal belongings into the van, strap the toe rail to the roof and head for home as time was getting on a lot now.....sorry Roe for the late arrival home.