This week has been mainly about getting some paint on in the heads, galley, main cabin and quarterberth. 2 coats of undercoat and 1 of gloss - frankly it gets a bit tedious after a while, but it's gotta be done, so there's only one thing to do - keep at it!

I've written earlier about my investigations into charging Bosch 12v cordless tool batteries from the boat's batteries, and these investigations have now been brought to a successful conclusion with the release of this week's video :-)

Finally, the big news that Hazel has released an EP of her self-penned songs. 5 songs in total on the EP entitled 'Fallen Too Far'; artist name, Hazel Brown. It's available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all good digital sources!!!

Building a boat involves quite a range of different skills, and this indeed is one of the fun challenges of such a project - trying to do as much as possible of it yourself. Of course, there's a line to be drawn somewhere about how many parts you make yourself and what you buy in ready-made, and we all draw that line based on our own preferences...

Welding is something I've done on and off for several decades, unfortunately more off than on though. I often feel like I'm starting again when I pull out my very basic welding kit. Anyhow, in this week's video, both Kerry and I do a bit more stick (arc) welding practice, and, largely speaking, it goes well. There's that idea that you need to put in 10,000 hours to something to get really good at it, and there can be no doubt that we've put in significantly less than that, but we're keeping at it....

Perhaps obviously, one of the goals of sail boat life is to get away from it all and live 'off the grid'. Our experience in Miss Molly I showed us clearly just how possible this is, and gave us plenty of opportunity to practice the sort of simple living that makes such a lifestyle entirely possible on a small sail boat. Back in those days, cordless power tools didn't really exist, or at least were not particularly good. When it came to working on the boat whilst at anchor, everything was done with hand tools - which, most of the time, is perfectly possible, comfortable, enjoyable... However, on the odd occasion, something needs doing that needs significant endurance or perseverence if done with hand tools; on these occasions, it would be nice to be able to reach too a power tool. 

Nowadays, cordless power tools are a significantly improved, and I am particularly fond of the Bosch 12 volt professional range (their value for money impresses, IMHO). What is needed, however is a method of charging the batteries of these tools whilst at sea. An inverter is the obvious answer, but that involves expense and inefficiencies. Surely, it would be better to be able to charge the 12v batteries from the 12v boat battery system.

Up until recently, the chargers that Bosch supplied were an integrated transformer/charger unit that you plug into the mains. However, this year, they brought out a new and significantly cheaper charger that has a seperate transformer and charger. The transformer is a 220 v a.c. in and 12v d.c. out model feeeding into a very simple charger unit. The obvious thought is to cut off the transformer, fit a plug and plug it into the boat's 12v d.c.system. This I did, and this weeks video, along with boat building progress in the heads, looks at the initial results of that.

It is indeed that long already - doesn't time fly?

But, progress is good; she's coming along pretty much to plan. The goal of getting significant amounts of interior work done this winter has been successful - I'm currently working on the heads -- worktops are in, the new sink has arrived and will be loosely fitted tonight ( all being well!), the floor is sealed in position, the door frame is in....

And at the moment, I think I'll just continue - at least until Easter or so - and get as much of the interior done as possible.

Here's a look around the boat after 2 1/2 years of building :-)