Sunday 24 January 2016

An open day

Saturday 16 Jan - a crisp, cold and clear winters day, our first port of call was to Bluewater Boats open day a really good run up the motorways saw us arrive in good time.

Sonia Louise has now got both fuel and water tanks fitted and the front bulkhead in place, the bow area has really taken shape.  A lot of seam welding has taken place along the rubbing strakes.

We also discussed some of the stern seating area and how the top of the cabin will be shaped to the seating either side, with some soft curved lines, as well as the options for a 'ticket/book' slot - both now confirmed through photos and chalk lines - thank you Russell.

The narrow style Dutch Barge has now moved into a different shed and is at spray foam and first electric stage alongside a Andrew Wolstenholme and Branson boat which is in a more advanced stage of build.  The paint shed had a wide beam in and the shed next to the steel shed had a nearly complete wide beam, the woodwork always catches our attention, this boat gave us some ideas for our TV mounting and chimney flue.

The day seamed well attended and the car parking area full.

After confirming some toilet options - you cannot avoid the subject - and discussing things of an electrical nature we adjourned to the pub, handy being 5 mins away! mind you there is a good choice around the area, this just happens to be the nearest.

Our next port of call was to a showroom for flooring options, handy as an afternoon tea stop, we came away with some samples and will mull these over. When we have a sample of the wood being used in Sonia Louise we will see if the colours work or if we need more of a colour contrast, we have plenty of time to think this over.

We could've called into the granite supplier too but thought we'd looked at enough today, again we have plenty of time for choosing but have had colours and preferred options in our heads for a while, we just need to see if everything will tie in together.

So that's it till the next visit, plenty of reading to do yet Wi-Fi and connectivity our current bedtime reading (well Martins at least).

Yeah, photo added, the engine bay looking as empty as it ever will!

The engine bay coming on nicely, weed hatch in situ.