2 October and if all had gone to schedule we would have been sailing off into the sunset! However the late delivery of the shell has put the completion date back - we are keeping our fingers crossed for November.
Still, a lot has happened since we last visited. The first thing we noticed is that Per Angusta has changed colour - the painting has begun. Dave Bishop is doing the paintwork and we met him two weeks ago. Several coats of undercoat going on to turn her a lovely dark blue, with cream coachlines. As Dave has been painting, Darren has had to lay off the sawing at times because of the dust, but has put the time to good use by getting a lot of the plumbing done - the basin is in the 'downstairs' loo and has worked even better than we expected. Darren has also built the cratch frame and our 'picnic' table.
Although we didn't take delivery of the boat this weekend, there was another delivery - granddaughter Isabella weighed in at 8lb 10oz in the early hours of Sunday 3 October.
Click on a thumbnail to see a larger picture
11 October - 6 days earlier than anticipated. On 2 October we were supposed to meet with the signwriter. Suffice to say that we didn't, but went up this afternoon to meet the new signwriter. Dave had been hard at work and the boat is getting towards her final colour scheme. Kitchen sink in now and lots more plumbing done. Also took the opportunity to meet up with Jamie from Morgan Gilder who are making the blinds, porthole bungs and 'bed bumper'. With some pointers from Darren, we think we have worked out a system to keep the blinds tight to the windows without putting a frame all the way round.
(What's a bed bumper? Well, anyone who has been on a narrowboat and slept next to the hull will know that if you turn over in the night in to the side, the cold is quite a shock. Idea is to take some closed cell foam used as a ground mat when camping which will have good insulation properties and cover it; it will then be attached to the hull side so that there are no more shocks)
23 October - the paintwork is finished and she looks absolutely gorgeous. We shall have to be very very careful when cruising on the cut! Got so excited about the paintwork and seeing her name that I forgot to take that many photos of the progress inside. Plus we were planning the handover day - fingers crossed we shall be cruising off into the sunset on 21 November.
Matt the Mushroom Man is now Matt the Varnish Man, I don't know how he can put up with the fumes for long periods. We have two more visits planned before handover day.
