The deck has been sanded and, after all the effort that went to putting in new wood, prepping and sikaflexing, it is really looking amazing. Given the age and the variable quality of some of the planks, they have some up pretty well and look rather smart. 

 

 
Some close up shots of the seams. The teak is orange when first sanded but quickly weathers down to a silvery grey. The sections of new wood are inevitably neater but the overall look is pretty smart and uniform.

   
    
 
It has all been pelleted to cover the bolts where existing pellets had popped out, and to cover any random holes, and the extra beading is round the hatches. This means that finally – FINALLY!!- she is watertight!!

  

  
Last week, Dug popped by to see how we were getting on. He was the skipper of beta III when she was used as a tourist boat on the Thames around Kingston and Hampton. It was a bit of a treat to take someone round the boat who had had hands on experience of how she works and could tell us how she was laid out back when she was a tour boat – we now know where the bar should go, not to try and sit on any railings and the importance of keeping that engine polished. Also good to have a visitor who can see the joy of the project through the long list of half finished jobs and doesn’t think I am stark raving mad! (Or at least was polite enough to hide it!!!)

Dug has promised us he will return and he is been warned that, when he does, we will be handing him a paint brush or persuading him to give the rudder shaft an overhaul! You gotta tap up anyone who has plenty of hands on experience, right? 

Some photos below that Dug took. It was a real blue sky day.

   
    
    
Yours truly striking my best boat pose!

 

  
All the teak is now in the deck (yay!!!), as are all the deck lights and fittings (yay!!!). The whole thing has been filled to within an inch of its life with bale upon bale of caulking cotton and sikaflexed in place. The hatches all have heading round them to ensure they are doubly watertight. It has been pelleted and we are half way through sanding. This means IT IS FINALLY FINALLY WATERTIGHT. No mean feat and a real labour of love. The hull has started to dry out and we are well on our way to getting the inside refitted. HALLELUJAH!

Next on the agenda is yet more hoovering and scraping of the bilge ready for the paint sprayer!!

Below are the only remnants of teak after the rest had been put into the deck, used as beading or turned into pellets. 

  

And looking blimmin fantastic. Hard to believe it is the same boat. Or even a boat at all. More luxury yacht now than rusty-hunk-a-junk. Massive round of applause for Ian the carpenter for pulling it off. It looks fantastic and all the panels can be removed for easy access to the bilge. Now to roll it out to the rest of the boat!

   
    
 

Things are still chugging away on the good ship beta III. Lots of jobs to finish up – the caulking of the deck, putting in the last of the teak etc etc. And of course more hoovering of gunk from the bilge. But in big news the floor has started to go down in the aft cabin. 

  
This is an ingenious design where iroko sits on every other of the existing metal beams with rebate cut in to take pieces of plywood. These are further reinforced with pine sitting underneath on the alternate beams. The beauty of this is that the iroko is tough as nails, the plywood as cheap as chips and the whole lot is easily removable to access the bilge. All the plywood panels can be lifted and the supporting grid is easily unscrewed. Magic.

   
    
 
As the whole lot is underfoot, it needs to be varnished to stop it marking. It looks a little yellow but this will tone down and we might put some tinted varnish on the ply to bring the olive closer to the iroko. The last pieces are going in this week and it is starting to look pretty darn amazing. 👍🏼

Smelling delicious.

   
 

Yesterday I was invited to an open day at the pontoon which forms part of the Lambeth fire station to check out londons working fire oats. The chaps were super friendly and has a whole host of photos of beta III that I’d never seen before. The hallway was a treasure trove of fireboat history with a tonne of pictures and info about fireboating history in London.

   
 
They mostly do rescues from the station with fires making up quite a small proportion of their work. After a tour of the pontoon and a chat with the guys who work there, we were taken on a trip down the river on the fireboat. This was A LOT of fun as we sped past the Houses of Parliament, the London eye up to tower bridge.

   
    
   
The front of the boat has a ramp that lowers to get right up to the shore which meant, when the river got choppy, it was quite a wet ride.

  
Big thanks to Jason and team for the invite. 

I popped along to the open day at Lambeth fire station yesterday where they house the fire floats currently in use. More on this later but including wait to share some new photos of beta III that I have never seen before. The new angles, particularly the top down shot, answers a lot of questions about what went where and when. 

   
    
    

Mostly by creeping up to people and licking them while they are using power tools, standing in the way, and traipsing through the sikaflex.

  

   
Woot woot! Bolted firm on to the deck so she’s looking increasingly seaworthy! 👍🏼