Cupboard, Bolts and Lighting, very very exciting.

Derwent6 is now the next boat out of the workshop at Fernwood and they have all hands to the pumps.

Rob and Chris have done a great job on the interior and Ken has carried on with the paintwork. We were also introduced to Simon the new guy on the team, who seems a really nice fella.

We had quite a nice shock when we walked into the saloon and saw the galley just how we imaged it.

As you can see the glass cupboards are fitted with their lights inside and underneath, and also the LED down lighters are now fitted in the roof.

The corner cupboard in the galley has now been changed from a hinged to a slide out version, due to the fact it wouldn't open fully and has allowed better access to the two drawers behind. This is held in place by the bolt to stop it sliding out on it's own.

The cream cupboard door fronts have also arrived and the cooker has now been ordered.

Also Sam has started on getting the engine wet fitted, which means fitting the engine cooling system to the central heating system and adding the fuel pipes, propeller etc.

Just as we imagined it

This is the Dayroom cupboard which we are thrilled to bits with, and it should hold all our bottles of booze!!!You can see from the original drawings that it is starting to look how we imagined it, and it is getting exciting now. We wanted a chunky style with a solid feel to it. We were going to have an arched top section, but on seeing it square, prefered it this way.If you look closely you can see that there is a small cupboard behind this for the storage of the fly and perspex screens.

In the bedroom the top has been done to the chest of drawers and the headboard infills have been done.

In the galley the two cupboards going on the bulkhead have been made up and as you can see from the drawings should look fab.

Oh! and the port side exterior has now been painted and Andy Russell the signwriter, has got the panels for the side doors for Roses and Castles.

Sink into the sofa

Things are moving on now. The two seater sofa has now been made up and with a squeeze will seat four, and the water tank has now at last been fitted.

In the galley on the starboard side, the tap and splashback has been fitted, and plug sockets and butler sink drainer installed. Also the integrated fridge has been fitted.

There is a corner cupboard fitted but this does not open fully, so we will have to redesign this to be a complete slide out unit with shelf behind it.
On the port side of the galley there has been a change to the width of the unit top. This has been altered to allow for a 500mm four burner gas hob to be fitted, and the cooker will fit under this. The drawers have been fitted, but all the units are still waiting for the doors.

In the Dayroom the corner cabinet has been started by Chris and should look great when finished. Behind this, will fit the perspex and fly screens for the side doors.

In the bedroom we were a bit disappointed to lose some of the space above the wardrobe as this had to be taken up by wiring, but it looks fantastic now the chest of drawers are in place. We're just fanatical about every nook and cranny!

The headboard has now been made and will be attached to the engine room bulkhead. As Julia is demonstrating, the height of this will be determined by the height of the memory foam mattress when made.

As for the exterior, the basecoat has now been applied to the starboard side and the water intake cap fitted in the gas locker.

Also some good and bad news about the signwriting and Roses and Castles for the engine room. As you may or may not know we have been trying to get hold of Andy Russell who is one of the best traditional signwriters in the country. But Andy has been doing a bit of Thai Boxing and fractured his skull. He is now on the mend, and has managed to book us a cancellation slot for the middle of September. This is very lucky, as he is booked up till 2010. Get well soon Andy.

Derwent6 Walkthrough

Here is the latest video of a walkthrough of Derwent6...

Hold on tight!

Bed and Breakfast

Things are really starting to move on now!

The Galley and the bed base has been fitted, the roof has been painted, but as you can see the water tank is still not fitted. We went up to confirm appliances and radiators, which will be ordered shortly.

The Butler sink has been fitted with the wooden worktops, and the cupboard you are looking at slides across to meet the other side to create another work surface.

The fridge will fit along side the sink and on the other side a draw and cupboard. We still have to finalise the taps and drainer, so another job next week.

The other advancement is the bedroom, which now has the base fitted with it's sliding mechanism to allow it to pull out to a five foot bed.

You can see that the leg pulls out with the frame. The mattress will be made out of layers of memory foam which will fold down under the gunnel. There are two drawers with space behind for long term storage.

The overhead lockers are now starting to look the part,with space for socks, pants and T shirts etc.

The Roof has now had it's first coat of paint, so you can get some idea for the colour.

The side doors have now been made up for painting, so we need to find a painter to do the Roses and Castles.

We have also got to find another gas hob, as the one we first picked is to big and does not have a flame device on all four burners. (just when you think you've got it sorted)

Anchor's Away

We have just picked up the 20kg Anchor for Derwent6. We have gone for a folding type which is very light and can be stowed away very easily. It comes in a small yellow bag and takes about 30 seconds to assemble.

We were very lucky with the price as they let us have it for last years price's and as we collected it there were no delivery charge's. This anchor can be used with weighted rope, so a chain does'nt have to be used. They also threw in a key saver floating key fob, Good service don't you think!

As for Derwent6 and Fernwood, we are up to the boat next week to see the progress, and we can't wait!!!!!

That's all Folks!!

It's been a busy week, with our music tour for the year, but it has now come to a end. So not much time to see the progression of Derwent6.

We went to see Bon Jovi at Twickenham (which was the best of the Seven shows that we have seen this year) and got right on the barrier again.

And on Sunday (for a change) we saw a group called Show of Hands who are a Folk group who perform at a lot of the festivals around the canals. They were performing in Sevenoaks, a town local to us in Kent and were brilliant !!!!!

Afterwards we got to meet up with Steve Knightley and Miranda Sykes from "Show of Hands"

Thanks for a great night guys!

"The tank don't fit" but the engine does.

Progress is going in the right direction with Derwent6, but not without a few problems.

One of them being that the tank was measured to go under the cratch floor and when arrived appeared ok, but when it was time for it to be fitted, found out that it didn't fit through the bow doors. Lucky it fitted through the stern doors. Here it is now in the saloon waiting to be fitted.

The floor has been laid and made to look like a old floor to give the boat some character, which is difficult to build into a new build. Hopefully this will give the boat that warm and cosy feeling.

The reason for going up this time was to pick the tiles to go around the wood burner in the saloon. We laid them all out on the workshop floor and picked out some to go on the outside edge but to be honest we were happy with all of them.

The overhead cupboards in the bedroom have been started and the roof butted timbers fitted.

The galley units are now being installed, so we are now getting a feel of the size of drawers and cupboards in this area. The bed was being erected out in the workshop as was the dayroom furniture.

The engine has now been placed in position (dry fit) and the centaflex coupling fitted. This engine is a kabota which has been tried and tested for many years normally on building site machinery, but this one has be marinated by Beta and will be the heart of Derwent6. Attached to the engine is a 5kv Generator which will give the 230 volt power to all the appliances.

The laminate for the bathroom had just turned up so did the butler sink.

As we left the roof was being painted, and a proto type of the portholes had been supplied to check for size and hole drilling locations.