Painting the Gas Locker....

This 'living on a boat' malarkey is one exciting thing after another😉...  I'd been putting off doing the gas locker for ages now - ever since I finally got around to doing the rear lockers, I've had a nagging prick to my conscience that it needed doing.

The sun was out for a short while this week so I twisted my own arm and set to doing it.

I'd forgotten how heavy those lumps of old train track were - having put them up front to alter the trim of the boat long before I had my hands operated on.  To be frank, it was a real a struggle to get them out...more so, because when out looking for the cat the other day, I slipped down a bank and landed on my left wrist/hand which is STILL giving me jip.

Having cleared everything out, the true extent of the water entry became apparent...

The holes each side that are there to allow any escaping gas to go overboard rather than into the boat, have been getting regularly submerged now that everything is on board ... and more so than ever when the poo tank  black water tank is over the half full mark.   Luckily, as I'd recently emptied afore mentioned tank AND we were low on water, it was a good time to do it.

Despite the sun being out, it wasn't tropical so after "waiting" for it to dry out naturally, I gave up and borrowed a hair-dryer to speed up the process.

I got a wire brush and spent a long while scrubbing it down,  it out and finally hoovering it.

Once it was nice and clean I applied fertan to the rusty bits - leaving it to dry, before applying the 1st of 3 coats of yellow Hammerite.... why yellow again? - it was cheaper than any other colour in Halfords for some reason...  

Reaching the very front of the bow was a pig - I could have done with being a contortionist ...  Anyway, it's done now and I took the opportunity NOT to put back all the steel ballast I'd removed - opting instead just to place a couple of lumps to port to off-set the toilet tank as it fills...  

LEAVING the ballast out has brought the escape holes clear of the waterline again - thus removing one job from the list when we go for blacking in the spring.... I had been planning to drill new holes higher up, weld up the original ones and make some kind of false floor to lift the gas bottles up.  This is no longer necessary and even in the event of full water AND toilet tanks, there's still a good 50kg of ballast that could be removed if necessary....Time will tell on that one.

I've also put a couple of padded mats (exercise type) under the gas bottles and train track so as to reduce the risk of scratching paint off again and encouraging rust to form.    

WRITING of rust - if the weather is amenable this week, I'll really need to sand down some scratches/scrapes on the outside of the boat and sort them out with rust killer and paint .... it's amazing how quickly it can begin to look shabby.  The roof ALSO needs another coat on top of the non-slip stuff I applied the other week... before those jobs cane be done though, the whole boatt could do with a proper wash down... which I may do at the water with the hose pipes rather than rig up the submersible pump and hose-pipe like we did on our last attempt.

Until next time...