Whats Happening ?

More bottom boards go on.

Barry continues planing and setting the bottom boards in place.  Trevor drills and counter-sinks holes for the bolts in between continuing the  mucky job of  applying bitumen and sizzle between the joints.  As usual it is not before cutting tools, clamps and people have a liberal coating of the stuff.  While all this is going on Adrian is running his circular saw along edges of damaged planks in preparation for planing.

Carol decides that he will separate a pair of lifting strops which were knotted together.  When the joined strops were last used for lifting the knots pulled up extremely tightly and undoing them will take considerable effort but before the end of the day he succeeds, rolls the separated strops up and tucks them neatly away in the shed.

Norman and Bob begin setting out a platform which will be used to roll the finished  but up-side-down lead tub-boat base out from under its shelter so that it can be lifted by the crane and turned over.  This cannot be completed until the bottom is finished since the boat needs to be jacked up and scaffold planks laid in underneath it on which rollers will be eventually placed.  I the meantime Adrian tries starting the crane which needs to be moved alongside the new platform.  Unfortunately the batteries are flat and the engine will not turn over.  Trevor attaches an emergency Battery booster quick start to thew batteries and Adrian tries to start the engine again, this time successfully.  He runs the engine for a while, working the various levers and clutches  and once happy that everything is functioning well begins to travel the crane towards the position required where it can lift the base.  Although the crane is woking well it still proves difficult to steer bu eventually it is in the right place where it is switched off until required again.

Once they have completed a as much of the platform as they can Norman and Bob direct their attention to removing overburden from the next section of wharf wall to be rebuilt.  Norman starts up both Kubota and dumper and begins digging.  Bob  sorts the reusable stone from the debris which is taken to the far side of the site and dumped.  Having finished crane driving and sawing Adrian lends a hand and takes over driving the dumper.

At the ‘close of play’ a considerable amount of progress has been made on several ‘fronts’ and the gang go home tired but satisfied.