Bog standard

A brief visit to the boat at the weekend has shown that Dave has made fantastic progress.  All the holes for the cables are in place and ready to start lining (need grommets) and placing conduit.  The toilets are out and the wall between then taken down.  This has left a roughly square room which will be a lovely size for a toilet and vanity unit.  Its one of those decision you make which turned out to be a no brainer.

The toilets though were just the beginning.  The toilet sewage pipes ran down through the floor and into the cabin below before routing down to a seaport in the wardrobe.  Nice.  Who wouldn't want a sewage pipe in their wardrobe!

Dave has done a superb job at removing the pipies.   Turns out they were not steel or copper but lead.    If you can imagine trying to cut and remove a 2 meter long toilet sewage pipe attached to a ceiling made of thick lead then you can imagine the fin Dave had.  It all had to be cut into short sections as the sheer weight of the pipes were unbelievable.  Even trying to lift a 2ft section from the floor was no joke.

But as usual, Dave managed it and came out the other side uninjured.

All other pipes were removed and capped and the cabin ceilings are now all but clear of pipes.  The toilet floor will need concrete to level it but that should not be a big issue.

The pipe below is just one of the lead sink drains.

The main sewage outlet in the wardrobe now capped off.  Had to be done well as this is only just above the water line.  No leaks wanted here.  The sea ports on the other side will be taken off and welded over.  This will free up some space.  This one can stay as it will enable me later to fit a sewage outlet (much smaller) to enable us to pump out sewage from the ship to a boat.

There are a few minor bits and pieces for Dave to complete before we can start the rebuild but we are close.  The porthole fitting will start soon.  I am still waiting for the last 4 portholes which I hope to get in the next week.  We have decided to restore the main ones in the rooms that will be regularly inhabited and leave the rest.  Especially the ones in the bathroom as that will be a wet environment and would require lots and lots of cleaning.

I am still investigating the electrics and heating.  The pipes from the water tank (the thread) has been identified and a simple pipe will join the two water tanks up and enable us to us one pump to extract the water (hopefully).