Encouraging progress

Here she is in the paint shop with lots of bare metal.
The bow and stern have got undercoats and primer on them and look so different! All neat and tidy. The guys have used 17 gallons of industrial pain stripper. Not the most environmentally friendly of processes I've ever seen.
Unfortunately, taking the paint off has revealed a few horror stories where hatches have been cut out and then later filled in so the roof looks a bit like a patchwork quilt. The bodywork man has done his best but in the end we've decided that a high gloss finish on the roof was just going to look terrible because it would have ripples all over the place so non-slip paint will be the order of the day. This is probably a good choice anyway because it is rather easy to slip on wet, smooth surfaces.

The sides are less of a problem but have still required some good old filler to hide previous shoddy workmanship.

There have also been a couple of really nice surprises. There is a hatch in the side of the kids' bedroom that we thought was welded shut but it now opens perfectly and will be lots of fun in the summer months.

On my way to the boat yard I called in at Midland Chandlers and picked up the new inverter, hot water tank, wood burning stove and various other bits which are all now on-board ready to be fitted over the Easter holiday. I also met up with my sister who delivered the new fenders. Very smart.

And finally for today... Timescales. Graham didn't want to be pushed but he knew that I was going to ask so after a little tap dancing he's promised to be done in 2 weeks. Slightly longer than hoped for but not massively. Once the painting is done she needs to stay in the heated paint shop for a few days to get the paint to harden properly but during that time my dad, Josh and I will be able to stay on board and start work on the electrics and other things that need to be done for the boat safety certificate.

More soon.