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Enter a key word to search for posts:Maintenance
Posted on: Wednesday October 21, 2020 at: 3:40 pm
It is always necessary to keep on top of maintenance with a boat. Recently, the roof of the “dog box” was showing signs of age. The double glazed panels had moisture inside them and the paint was also starting to peel. It is only two years since I last touched up the paint, but as we were on the move all the time then, it only got a basic touch up, and it is subject to all the extremes of weather.
The term “dog box” may be a puzzling one. As far as I can discover, it refers to the fact that if it was a kennel, it would be big enough for a dog. I will leave it to your imagination what a pigeon box is, and I sure hope I never come across a horse box!
Back to the maintenance then. Having removed the complete wooden and glass top, which was very heavy and awkward to lift, we took it back to the house in Mumbles, where we have a garage I can work in. I dismantled it and sanded all the wood down, then gave it several good coats of “10 year” stain (deep mahogany). Then I fitted two new glass units.
Water pooled on the plastic
Meanwhile we had covered the hole with tough plastic, but it wouldn’t last forever, not least because it gathered the rain in a big pool. This is just one night’s rain as I emptied it out when we arrived the night before. So it was important to get the top refitted before winter.
New parts about to be fitted.
These are three of the four parts about to be put back in place. The fourth will be put on top once these three are fitted. It was a careful balancing act to piece together. As mentioned – they are heavy.
All back in place and shiny as new
And this is the complete top, all back in place and watertight. I took the opportunity to replace the seals, which are fitted to the main body, while I was at it.
As Brandy Pad is now four years old, it was also time to have our boat safety inspection. This is sort of like an MOT for cars, but is mainly about safety onboard. Is your gas system safe with no leaks, is there adequate ventilation inside the boat, are there enough fire extinguishers? Without a certificate we cannot license the boat or use it on the canals. I am pleased to say it passed without difficulty, although it turned out we did have one of our fire extinguishers in the wrong place.
Well done you two. After the hull, I’d imagine that’s the last place on the boat you’d want to leak!
How long are you staying on the boat? Do you have to choose your “tiers”carefully and are you avoiding Wales during the “circuit breaker”? All this new vocab!