Struggle over.

It seems ages since I blogged but it's not because I haven't wanted to. It's just because there has been nothing much to report. With a little under 3 weeks before we set sail again it's been a manic time of visiting friends and family plus trying to get on with all those jobs that need doing before we leave, oil change being one of them. The weather had also been against us because one of the tasks that was an absolute must before we left was to fix the PTFE to the back hatch slide. When FS was built the boat builder, for some reason, built the hatch out of solid steel and for me to try and move it was nie on impossible. Wood was fixed to the underside which meant we got copious amounts of condensation dripping down every morning. We still haven't resolved this problem but Ian is talking about sticking foam to the wood in the hope that this might be the answer. So with today's forecast good, the first thing we did this morning was remove the hatch. The amount of mould on the wood was staggering, far more then we had first thought, so armed with bleach and brush I set out to remove as much as possible.

After bleaching

and before

  Ian then started chiseling out the wood in readiness to insert the cut PTFE. Little did he realise what a mammoth task that was. Out came his fancy Erbauer multi tool, started on the first of the cutouts but try as he might, made little headway. Thats when he realised the blade was blunt. Another trip to Screwfix and he was back in business. With Ian being a perfectionist it has taken nearly all day to channel out the four sections. Doing my bit, I kept him supplied with coffee.
                                                                                              
Finally with the light fading we placed the hatch back on the slide. What a treat to no longer have to put my shoulder to it and heave upward just to get it open. Now I can move it one handed. The wood inside will have to be replaced at some point because the mould wont go away, but that's for later when the weather improves. Another job well done and ticked off the list. 

Using the

Two more to go

All finished