After craning a 35 tonne boat out of the water, lifting a three tonne engine seems like a much simpler exercise. Still the engine needs to be fully unbolted and all the extraneous bits – exhaust, water pumps, random bits of piping – removed. There is also, rather unhelpfully a big bar welded across the deck in the path the engine needs to be lifted which also needs to go.

Some of the extraneous bits…

We (and, to clarify, by that I don’t actually mean me) are also in the process of removing the deck furniture that sits on the margin plank. This means the rotted wood can be removed, the metal lip underneath blasted and painted, the margin planks replaced and the deck furniture re-bedded.

These have been numbered clockwise from one to six, b for now or s for stern. Must not forget this.

Now to heft the palettes and debris away from the side of the boat so the lorry can pull up alongside. Hopefully I’ll be getting muscles out of this adventure as well as a tan and some grey hairs!