Who Do You Think I Am?

Your a dog!
Yesterday Mr & Mrs DIY needed to take the van/truck to collect some gardening stuff from the plant shop, Oscar (dog) who normally is the first in line to go for a ride, was told to get in the back.
Normally he's allowed to ride up front, decided that the back was not the right place for him, sniffed, walked away and sat on the front step to wait our return.

What Happened To Global Warming?

We have had Summer, then Autumn which with a few exceptions was very mild, then an early spring, the blossom has started to come out, the daffodils were blooming, and we seemed to have missed winter altogether.
Then just as we were thinking about the arrival of an early summer, NZ, was hit by a polar blast, direct from the Antarctic for the past week.
Almost all of NZ was covered.
A big surprise, this is the first time our little village of Martinborough has had such a dump of snow, the last was over 70 years ago according to some locals.

The Big Jigsaw

Trying to remember how I was planing to reconstruct the cabin lining, that I had cut out and fitted, deconstructed, then painted over 4 months ago, was a little like putting a giant jigsaw together,
I had numbered all the pieces so it would be a simple matter to rebuild it but in the rush to get it finished, 'someone' had painted over the coding system, oh bother!
Many hours of crawling around on the floor and the lining is back in some sort of order.
Luckily I have the gallery to set it out. I only had just got it back after emptying all the stored furniture. and now it's once again changed from a gallery to a boat building workshop.
Mrs DIY is 'really pleased' with the change.

Back To The Project

Well I've decided to redo the electrics again, didn't like the way I had done the original fix.

The cabin head lining problem has been solved, I'm using wooden T& G, this will make sure we won't have the the return of the Westerly sag!I think it will work better than the original vinyl lining, plus it will give some extra space to run the electric cables to the mast and the main cabin lighting.

The NZ $ is very high at the moment, which means all the imported bits have come down in price, so had a big spend yesterday and purchased the 2 radios, one for communication the other for music.

Had a call from the 'nice man' from Volvo letting me know that the new motor was now on 'special' sometimes things do go in your favour.

Electrics

The progress on the boat has been a bit slow, over the past few months but I've started the 'interesting job' of new electrics.
The wiring has been all stripped out with all the bits that had been added over the years removed, installing, new board, wire, switches and lighting system (LED).
The LED lights in the boat, if they are all switched on will draw less than one of the original lights.

Progress...

Well the end of March has come and gone, and still the 'little' side project is not finished.
Every day I head off to Wellington and the 'project', which is rapidly coming to a finish.
I passed the key inspection by the building inspector and now with Steven's help we are fitting the drywall, the ceiling comes first. (see earlier post, 24 March 2009)
We should have this finished by today (Friday) then we will fit the internal doors, so we will be able to get on with cladding the walls.
I will get some pics of the progress for my next post.

1917 - 2011

Last week we said goodbye to our father. the following is a copy of the citation he received when he was awarded his DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross)

BYERS, Flying Officer, Ian Hamilton, DFC.

NZ428186; Born Shannon, 30 September 1917; RNZAF 16 July 1942 to 24 December 1945; Pilot.

Citation Distiguished Flying Cross (Imm) (2 March 1945): [61 Sqn RAF (Lancaster)]

Also DFM – F/S G F Cartwright, 1800047, RAFVR, Wireless Operator.

One night in December, 1944, this officer was pilot in an aircraft detailed to attack Giessen. Just as the bombs had been released a shell burst very close to the aircraft which sustained much damage. A few minutes later, the bomber was struck by a stream of bullets from an enemy aircraft. The mid-upper gunner was killed. His turret was set on fire, the port wing also caught alight, sending a long trail of flames along the fuselage. The wireless operator (air), with complete disregard of his own safety, made great efforts to subdue the flames in the mid-upper turret. His hands were burnt but he worked heroically. Finally he succeeded in quelling the flames. Fortunately, the fire in the port wing had now died down. Thereupon Flying Officer Byers, who, during the most harassing period had displayed the greatest coolness at the controls, decided to attempt to reach allied territory. Ably assisted by the fixers the wireless operator obtained on his wireless apparatus, he reached an airfield where he effected a safe landing in the face of great difficulties. This officer displayed skill and courage of a high standard.

What I've been Doing

The boat has had to take a backseat for quite a few weeks, as I've been rebuilding my daughters and son in laws, very old cottage in wellington.
Old is a bit of an understatement, it was almost terminal, everything had to be done, new walls electrics, plumbing and on and on.
The electrics and plumbing, will be at the first fix stage by the end of next week, well that's the plan.
The boat is supposed to be in the water by now...

What a Week!

It started with some Irish friends coming for a visit, they had been staying in Lyttelton (the epicentre of the big NZ earthquake) unfortunately they were delayed in Wellington for a couple of days due to David ending up in Wgtn hospital, very fortunately as it turned out.

They missed being in the middle of NZ"s biggest disaster by 2 hours.

When I phoned to find out how they were, David was being given a speeding ticket halfway on the way back to Christchurch.
You could say 'just the luck of the Irish!'

A Bit of History

Just a couple of pics to show how far 'TC ' has moved along.