Thursday 7 February 2013

Mmm – Oven Food Again!!


Monday 4th February to Thursday 7th February 2013

Being without an oven for over a month has not presented any problems apart from having a freezer of food that has been waiting – just waiting.

The new oven that we picked up from Jan and Tom (nb Waiouru) on Saturday had been sitting in it’s box in the cratch area waiting for a space in the schedule. It had to wait until Tuesday, but why that long – surely Monday would have been better.

Nothing seems to interrupt the coffee afternoon – after a big day last week we had lower numbers but still an enjoyable time – plenty of laughs and information passing along from everybody.

Diane was off to the dentist in Stone to finally get her tooth fixed – the crown this time fitted well and the pain had subsided – it was numb from the needle, but later it was OK as the anaesthetic wore off.
Smile is back again - pain has all gone

Tuesday and it was oven day – got the old one out without any problems and the new one needed a bit of further wood around the edges to complete the fit – we were lucky to find a decent piece above the water tank – stored in with the rest of the wood there.

Gas fitting was OK and could be adjusted to fit well.

The unit fitted so well into the opening by the time we finished with the surrounds that we really didn’t even need to screw it in to hold it tight, but we did fix it in.

Gas was turned back on and after a bit of burning off it all went well and we now have a working oven.

New oven fully installed and working

Last week we started the process of wallpapering our walls – it is an insulated wallpaper lining which can be painted – the object of the exercise is twofold – one is to provide more insulation on the walls to reduce the condensation problems; the second to brighten/lighten up the interior.

We have now completed the saloon, galley and dining areas and it has indeed achieved the twin purposes for which we started the project; we still have a bit to do – still deciding if we will complete the whole of the boat.
wallpaper in place

for us it is much brighter inside

A week or so ago Diane found quite a deal of water in the bilge and we were not sure of where this might have come from – checked the water tank area and nothing out of the ordinary; the water pump has not been on any more than when we use the taps; so the last resort was to check around the calorifier, which is in the back cabin, beneath the bed.

This checking was tied in with rearranging how our storage is sorted out – beneath the bed is quite warm because of the calorifier and therefore we decided that it would be better to store the duvets, pillows, cases etc here so that the effects of condensation would be lessened severely and the items which were not affected by the condensation, such as the cassette toilet cold be stored under the dinette seats.

Well what did we find – the calorifier was quite OK, but the shower pump was leaking quite a lot – fortunately we had a spare one and this was installed and tested – again we have a leak with this but much less – there is a third pump that we can install – it is actually a spare water pump for the whole system.

We will resort to this if neither of the other two can be fixed – the original has a perished diaphragm and the second appears to be leaking around the hose connection.

At least we know where the water has been coming from – we had only used it recently for a bath and on a second occasion to wash the dog, so not a lot but most went to the bilge.

The repacking went well and we still have space where before it was full; we managed to part empty another cupboard, so giving us some more space – it was all good to get this done.

It has been a busy week so far; very glad to find the water leak; very pleased to do so much of the wallpapering; and very happy to have a fully working oven.

One last thing - when Mike was here in November to do the galley, I also noted that he was able to install a drop down extension for our bed - I have finally managed to take some pictures of this.

with the extension down


and then up in place - the horizontal piece at the bottom allows
the supports to be pulled or moved back into the side of the bed
base











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