Ripping out the old chemical toilet - and generally clearing up the heads area, I generally re-appraised the entire heads area. I decided to alter the existing cabin door to swing around to be a door for the heads - then tabbed in a new teak ply partion to make a proper heads compartment. It's also big enough to utilise a side as a wet locker, I think. As a bonus, the door still swings back to almost its original position, so can still be used to separate the two cabins. I felt it was more sensible to have separate heads, than a toilet stuck either in one cabin or another.

Toilets do seem quite cheap - but to plumb them in well will cost you ! - I settled in the end for a Blakes inch and half seacock - price was good at 90.00. Seems a lot - but a gunmetal thru-hull, hose tail and DZR ball valve, which is the cheapest, good, equivalent, would have been about 55.00 anyway - but the biggest problem with that was the unwieldy size of it all - in an area where things are likely to get trampled on. The Blakes is so much more compact for where I had to place it. The intake is a gunmetal thru-hull, DZR ballvalve, setup

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While on the masthead unit - I thought I ought to change the original bolt that held the main shroud tangs. I seemed in good nick - and was 8mm stud. Frighteningly, with just a 12 inch adjustable spanner, with the unit on my lap, I managed to shear the bolt off either side. This sort of left me committed - and managed to drill it out with the pillar drill eventually. So I have upgraded it to 10mm stud. Above is the new fitment, with the old tangs, which had plenty of meat around them, drilled out to 10mm. I did the same as I did with the boom end - lock the two nuts together, then drill through on the pillar drill for a split pin. Easy one end - you then have to fit it up, lock everything off - and carefully mark the position of the last nut in relation to the stud. Bit awkward, but worth it - it's a nice looking way to lock off a nut.

My Mother sadly died over the New Year period - and although I have been to the boat a bit, despite the atrocious weather - I havn't had the time or the inclination to put any new stuff on here.

The next week or so sees an end to the job I'm doing at the moment, a Church Restoration contract - so in a couple of weeks time I'm set for about six weeks off work. This will hopefully see the boat ready for the water !

Despite being adamant that I was not going to introduce any extras to what I was already committed to - with discounts flying around while the boat show was on - I weakened on the new foward hatch, and the Jabsco sea toilet.

The hatch is a Vetus - and I was swayed by the size - at 450 x 450 it rates as an escape hatch, but fitted in with my planned modification to the hatch area. The whole area around the hatch was a mess - where the original grp hatch had been badly removed and made good. Basically, I layed up a new grp tray on a simple mould, with a flat area for the new hatch fitting - I then jigsawed out the old stuff - and introduced the new panel. It's now been epoxied in with four layers of glass tape - and its also through bolted at the rear and the forward joint. I just have to grind up the outside jointing and tie it in with white gel coat filler.

Also had a reappraisal over the original mathead light. With the wind vane going on as extra weight, the whole lot seemed a bit heavy. Nobody seems to make a small tri/anchor - so chose an Aqua Signal all round white, rated for under 12m - then topped it with a Lazilas tri cololur, with a similar rating. Pity Aqua Sig. don't make a tri in that range, but this works quite well. Weight wise - these two weigh in at 170 gms - my old Tri/Anchor unit, plus its braket was 750 gms. The spinnaker bail, which also has a lug for the vhf ariel is alluminium alloy, etch primed and spayed with meatallic cellulose car spray. I also made a much lighter bracket for the Nasa wind vane.

So what else have we done ?

Picked up my new genoa - and my main, which has had an extra reef put in. Genoa was made by a local sailmaker in Clevedon - I had black uv on it - as the sprayhood and mainsail cover are black - and he has done the main stitching in black.

Bought the Ratsey & Lapthorn storm jib which has been in the 2nd hand bin at Uphill yard for about a year - brand new unused, had it reduced down to 75.00.

Also - bought a 2nd hand cruising chute for 80.00. Excellent condition, red, white and yellow radial head - 27.5 on the luff. A cheap sail to play around with.

Made up some white vinyl covering strips for the inside of the for'd cabin windows and also the new hatch surround.