De-construction

Has been the general theme this week.

First it was the central heating plumbing.  Then the space I had planned for the toilet tank proved to small by about 40mm.  It would have fitted if it was offered in form the inside out, but there is a bulkhead in the way.  It wouldn't fit from the engine bay because of the geometry of the swim which I must admit I hadn't considered. There was 3 optins to fix this.   Get another tank made, get the current tank altered or remove the step I put in the porch I made a while back.  All of these options had appeal and otherwise, but eventually it was clinched when it became apparent I could get a bigger calorifier in if I removed the step.  That and it was the quickest and cheapest option.  It will mean a different design of internal staircase, but thats not a problem at all.  So armed with trusty plasma cutter, out it came in about 1/2 hour.  All I have to do now is remember its not there and that forgetting this will result in a painful reminder.

While the plasma cutter was out I cut the hole out for the stern tube.

Today was so cold the frost on the boat didn't thaw all day.  Its been so cold that the water I had in the fuel tanks form a while back was frezzing up so I decided to drain it out of each tank.

You can just see it coming from the drain points each side

With the plasma cutter still out I enlarged the holes for the diesel filler caps I have chosen. Finally I have mounted the Mikuni heater so I can finish the C/H plumbing.  

The SS mounting bracket was spot welded in 4 places and to me these seemed to keep it together so I took it to a friend with SS welding set up and got him to fully weld the joints .

My plan was to run this up to test it then take it out again, but I think it might be pressed into service  with a temporary tank to keep me warm inside the boat while I work on it as the winter is defiantly settling in.