Yet more holes

We were up early and took the opportunity to call my dear old mum back in Perth, Western Australia on Skype.  After an hour of discussing the latest family news we made a second Skype call to Trevor (old family friend) in Adelaide. South Australia.  Trevor reads the blog so there isn’t much I can tell him about progress on Waiouru.

After that it was time for the regular Sunday walk through the countryside.  Jan had some items she wanted from Sainsburys so I decided the route would take me via Tadley where I could stop and do the shopping at the local supermarket.  She had asked me to buy a zucchini.  After walking around the vegetable area all I could see that looked like a zucchini was a cucumber; so I bought one.  Apparently they aren’t the same thing.  Look the same size and colour!  Oh well…… I’ll eat it anyway!

The route was approximately 16km (10 miles) so not all that long.  After all the recent rain much of the ground was very wet with Padworth Common particularly inundated.  In some places it was necessary to divert from the footpath in an effort to avoid the swampy paths.

In the afternoon Jan and I drilled more holes through the hull.  This time it was ¾” holes for the vanity and galley sink skin fittings.  The spray foam is so thick on the shell that I had to use the longest drill I could find in the workshop to punch a hole from the interior of Waiouru through the lining, insulation and steel shell.  Whilst attempting to clear the spray foam from around the hole I snapped the blade off my trusty Leatherman.  I was almost enough to make me weep!  The Leatherman has been my useful companion on backpacking trips through South America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.  I’ve also used it almost every day when building Waiouru. <Drat>

The technique we have developed for fitting the brass skin fittings is for Jan to hold the fitting flush against the exterior of the shell whilst I slip the washer and nut onto my index finger.  I then push my finger into the skin fitting from inside the boat.  Using my other hand I slide the washer down my index finger and onto the skin fitting.  The same is done with the nut except it’s threaded onto the end of the skin fitting.  By doing this we eliminate the possibility of the washer and nut falling down between the plywood lining and the spray foam.  Once the nut is threaded onto the end of the fitting I push the fitting from inside the boat so it’s proud of the hull.  This enables the adhesive to be smeared around the thread and flange on the face of the fitting.  It’s then pushed back against the hull and the nut is tightened from inside the boat.  Finally, all the excess adhesive is cleaned off the exterior of the hull.

This next photo show a mock-up of the vanity.

The tap and bowl have yet to be fixed to the granite and plumbed in.  However we now have the waste skin fitting installed.

After walking around Waiouru it appears we have one further skin fitting hole to drill.  It will be for the washing machine waste pipe in the back cabin.  However we’re not going to drill that hole until the location of the washing machine is finalised.

Today I remembered we still need to paint the second coat of two pack black on Waiouru.  It might just be a suitable task to do next Sunday when we have the yard mostly to ourselves.