Friday 21 October 2016

A Trusting bunch...

Boaters that is... well to be more specific, a bloke called "Steve" (aka  the barnacle from canal world forums).  Let me explain.

Last week, I was browsing various topics on the boards and came across one about solar panel mounting brackets.  Within the posting was a link to some brackets on Ebay - oddly enough, I have the same ones already in my 'watch list'...

They were to be a back up plan if I couldn't be arsed ran out of time to make my own.  In short they were aluminium and £38 a pair (we need 3 pairs)...

ANYWAY - back to the posting...  a fellow forum contributor made a post referencing this barnacle chap, saying that at some point in the past, he'd made a batch that were much better quality.  I sent him a message and he got back to me to say he did have a few pairs left and I could have them at £30 a pair.  I duly sent him our address and requested paypal details so I could make payment.

IN the post this week, a rather heavy box arrived, containing said items:




4 pairs of very well made, stainless steel brackets - MUCH better than I could have made and not a sharp edge in sight!

He even included a tub of various fixing that might be useful.

I did of course log on to thank him and request payment details again... to which he's replied there is no rush as he's not gotten around to sorting out a paypal account yet.  

HOW Trusting is that? - Very much appreciated though.  Top bloke!

Also this week, whilst work HAS been (and continues to be) all consuming, I have managed to make a few fender hanging brackets on the band saw at lunch time.  We had a bit of nylon left over from the Ghost train we made last year so I downloaded a photo of one from midland chandlers (sorry fellas), printed it out and then traced it on to the nylon and then cut it out - the result being this:

I challenge anyone to tell the difference between this and one costing a fiver!

The final thing that I sorted this week, is the water-borne lacquer from Morrells.  It was recommended by the joiner fitting out the boat and it was a bit of a struggle via internet means to find a supplier, doing it the old fashioned way, i phoned their head office direct who put me in touh with a local stockist and today on route (strangled I admit) home from work, I bought 10 litres of the 10% sheen - it should give a nice mat finish to the birch lining at the same time of giving stain resistance.  It worked out just short of £80 inc vat.... it had BETTER be good 

You may notice I've still got the anchor rope on the lounge floor behind the sofa... I think it's fair to add "splicing ropes" to the lists of jobs I'm rubbish at.... at this rate, it's going to end up a granny knot!

Tomorrow morning, (Sat) we're making our last visit to the yard to go through the boat handover...  I need to transfer £10k each day to the builder for a few days as it's clear, I'm not going to be able to get to the bank before Thursday now.

Until next time


1 comment:

Andy said...

I use window sealing stip on the inside of ny hangers to protect the paint. ...only use them when moored as they snap easily when a fender touches the side of a canal or lock when the boat is moving or scrape the paint if yours are stronger than the MC ones.