We then paid Alan, his son John and welder Nikki, + a couple of other helpers to work on Thomas for the next few months doing all the things that we just couldn't afford to pay anyone down south to do.
We also travelled up every other weekend from Berkshire for an insane numbers of months to work on the boat ourselves. Simon's friends Mallo and Rich were great and provided help and sanity. We got the kids to help a couple of times too, but it's amazing how quickly they learn to hate the idea of being on the boat when you make them paint and scrape in the cold.
Alan and Lynne Pease also allowed us to stay in a nearby property when we were up there, allowing us some actual rest and a bath, for which I will always be grateful to them.
Once the rubbish and steel tanks had been emptied out,
an enormous job, Alan's team started to construct a
deck over what had always been an open hold.
We wanted low curve over most of the hold, but a flat
deck section toward the bow.
Meanwhile, Simon helped to clean out the inside of the
hull at the bow, under the crew cabin, so that it
could be sealed and have concrete ballast poured in.
There was so much dirt and oil and dust and rust around, it's hard to explain how disgusting it was to try to clean her up. Sweeping was an endless and filthy job. Richard and Mallo came and helped out, which shows just what great mates they are coz if it'd been me I would definitely have made some excuse and got the hell away from there!
Alan also made a staircase for us and they cut a hatch in the well deck and mounted it for us.
Meanwhile, we started the huge job of chipping, scraping sanding, priming and painting the exterior. Damn, she takes a lot of painting!
My other big contribution at this stage, was to cut a door in the (already far from watertight) steel bulkhead between the hold and the crew cabin. Apart from the practicalities of being able to move between, the only living space on the boat and the main area, this door means that we have an escape route in case of fire.
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