May 2007 continued.

Tuesday 8th May. The final parts of this long saga were now coming together with Pauline and I meeting our local carpet fitter at the boat. He had many years ago worked on boats being built in Nottingham, so he was keen to see our pride and joy, and help us complete it. He brought loads of sample books of carpet fabrics for us to choose from for the saloon / bedroom and cushion flooring for the galley / bathroom. With the final decision made over which pattern to go for, he said he could fit the new carpet and flooring a week later.

Friday 11th May. Next was a run up to Ledgard Bridge Boats, to pick up the brass curtain rods and curtain rod ends. It was nice to see the guys and Marie, because it was now over a year since they took our boat in after the Heron collapse. We in fact have now known the Ledgard crew for far longer than the original builder of our boat.

Tuesday 15th May. Just has promised, we met our carpet fitter at the boat and helped him offload the carpet and cushion flooring. Now the next question I had, how was he going to fit these rolls into our very narrow boat, "with difficulty", I was told. He was right, it was a work of art to see him work with these difficult rolls in such a confined space. Getting in the roll of cushion flooring took the two of us a lot of pulling and tugging, coming in through the stern doors, through the bedroom, into the bathroom. The front end of the roll was in the galley and the back still in the bedroom, it was like manhandling a giant snake. With the help of a couple of cups of coffee and some hard work, it was finally done and looked really great. It was now looking nice and cosy, it looked fantastic.

Saturday 19th > Tuesday 22nd May. The final job to complete the boat was planned for a couple of days stay at the boat, this was delayed because of the bad weather we had been experiencing because I wanted to do some outside work on the boat. The first job was of course, the curtains, they had to go up to complete the boat and 21 months after we signed with Heron's, "Ebinka" was finally FINISHED. The dream was now ours, we and our family could now start to enjoy what had been so hard to achieve.

I came back to earth with a bump because all those little bumps we had while getting used to our boat were showing signs of rust. The inside of the boat looked good but the outside was showing a few battle scars and I remember someone saying to me, that when you own your own boat, "there is always something needs doing". So with a couple fine days weather, I have now with the help of a paint brush, got "Ebinka" looking spic and span again. We are ready to take her on our first cruise.