I Felt That

This morning it was confirmed the ballast would go across the rear of the boat between the first three steel cross joist and down the right side of the boat.  This allowed me to make a start on the installation of the underfloor insulation.

However, the first step was to fit roofing felt on the baseplate in all the areas to have ballast.  This area  will require 22 concrete slabs and after scrounging around the yard I could only find seven.  Andy has now ordered another 15, which will hopefully arrive on Monday.

The roll of roofing felt arrived within an hour of Richard (the joiner) ordering it.  The width of the felt was 1200mm and the gap between the floor joists is slightly more than 600mm.  Richard mentioned it was a tough and dirty job cutting the roll in half using a hacksaw. “Would I like to do it?”  “No thanks!” says me.  Whilst Richard cut the roll, I made a start on cutting the original Kingspan pieces salvaged from under the floor down to size. 

When Richard returned with the cut roll of felt I laid it where required.

Felt laid in the three rear most bays.

The felt can’t be laid at the very end of the cabin because that area is occupied by the large blackwater tank.

I could have installed the seven concrete slabs but I don’t want to risk my dodgy back attempting to lift them.  They can wait for a younger man!  There wasn’t sufficient recovered Kingspan to complete the job.  But fortunately there were three more sheets in the timber rack. 

My back tells me I spent most of the day bending over cutting and installing foam insulation.

The row to the right has been left free to allow for the installation of the slabs.  You can also see why the fillets of timber were installed to support the insulation.  Although we have attempted to ensure there is a central isle through Waiouru, there is more weight on the port (left) side, hence the additional ballast on the right.

You might just be able to see in the above photo aluminium foil sticky tape has been used to seal the longitudinal joins between the insulation and the timber.  Eventually all the joins will be similarly sealed.

Tomorrows plan is for a more relaxing day……. I hope!