A very quiet New Year this year for us - a bit different to our usual Hogmanay celebrations in Scotland!

Not many photos this time as the camera was broken.

We arrived late afternoon New Year's Eve having driven up in the camper and the van so we could have the luxury and heating of the camper and leave it up there until the boat was a bit more comfortable to sleep on. Unpacked the tools I thought we'd need from the van and showed Becky the progress as she hadn't been up for a few weeks then settled down for a quiet evening with just the two of us in the camper - wasn't quite our first new year aboard Diesel & Dust! We saw the New Year in in bed listening to the radio with a glass of wine.

Next morning we were going to go for our usual New Years Day walk but the weather was so cold and wet we started work with the grinder instead and cut out front bulkhead so we could remove the water tank to treat and paint the rust. Eventually got the bulkhead out but finally killed the grinder doing so! Gearbox was noisy before starting but was so bad by the end I nearly had to give up due to fear of it breaking up completely. Didn't help that the top cut I made was exactly where the old front deck had previously been removed so in places I was cutting through 1/2" of old weld!

Tank was tight fit but managed to get it out and after scraping the old rust off painted vactan on to treat the rust. By the time we finished it was cold and dark so decided to finish early and start painting the tank area in the morning.

Sunday proved much better weather so decided to have our walk today. Unfortunately the vactan had not dried so crawled in with a heat gun to help the process along! Then left it and went for a nice walk to Foxton Locks and had lunch in the cafe at the top. After getting back the Vactan was still not dry enough so decided to put another coat of red oxide on the roof and one side at of the front half. Used the new electric spray gun this time and it was much much quicker and easier to get behind the angles etc. Only problem was everything in the boat including ourselves got covered in a fine red mist! Managed some photos of the spraying:

Monday and still not happy that the vactan was ok to paint on so sprayed a final coat of red oxide on the roof and other side, and also sprayed a first coat on the roof at the back. Also painted first coat of grey floor paint in one of the front lockers.

By the time we'd cleaned up and loaded everything into the van (why does Becky have to bring so much stuff!) including all the rubbish from dismantling the fireplace it was time to head back to Somerset. Still only 4 days and I'll be up again to do some more work and hopefully take some photos!