A sticky situation

Well as the title suggests my latest arrival at Steve Hudson's yard coincided with the first coat of varnish being applied. Tiles, shower fittings, TV mount and a microwave were first unloaded from the car before a progress photo shoot. This was thankfully managed without getting stuck to the furniture. The saloon and galley had already received the first coat and the bedroom was next.

The pace of work seems to have slowed a little but I guess the finishing touches to the woodwork can take a while. Filling trim between cabin sides, ceiling and floor has now been added throughout as have the interior doors. Seen here the base for the BMC stove together with surrounding molded trim.
In the engine room, couldn't resist taking the tarpaulin off the engine for a photo. A very neat although larger than anticipated box step has been constructed to protect the top of the gearbox, interfacing with the double doors from the BMC. The price I have to pay I guess for having a minimal length engine room. Box can just be seen at the bottom of both photo's. The engine looks very comfortable in its near complete 'ole. Some thought will have to be given to shoehorning in the second alternator between engine and cabinet though, given the tight space.

Just doors and trim have been added in the bathroom pending tiling, but the bedroom now has a substantial shelf over where the radiator will be sited. The fold out dressing table extension has been added although seems to be waiting some form of support. This is to accommodate my laptop. The overhead cupboard now fitted will incorporate downlighters. Finally there is now a the shelf between side cupboards over the porthole matching the one in the galley, as can be seen below.

Slightly distorted image of the bedroom taken with a fish-eye lens. The folding saloon table and support can be seen on the bed, awaiting fitting after varnishing of cabin sides is complete.

Seen here is the neat folding semi-circular galley breakfast table, one and a half inches in thickness! The now wood trimmed doors will have glass panels that fold in from the cabin sides to create a window when its a little chilly. We plan to have two stools at the table, but will have to find storage for them when not in use.

Saloon doors now have their wood inner cladding. This will be later painted and decorated with roses and castles as will the galley and rear doors. The shelf above the radiator can be seen lower left, matching the one in the bedroom. Note how the American oak has taken on a lovely glow after only one coat of varnish.

The saloon stove base has been created with heat proof material lining the area above ready for tiling. I know there has been a recent change in the safety regs for installing them which may account for this. Note also the chimney collar surround in the roof above.















Steve seemed enthusiastic when I showed him the Klaxon horn and soon had a template made up for a suitable support bracket to be welded to the lamp mounting. We also discussed mounting the articulated TV bracket I had bought, on the cabin side. It will allow the TV to fold flush when not in use, although the tumblehome of the cabin sides will need to be accounted for so its level when in viewing position.

Paint scheme was discussed and it seems that there is one boat ahead of mine to go through the paint shop. This after the present one leaves. This will probably mean the projected finish date is put back to March. Also discussed was the tiling patterns but expect to be able to see the results when I next visit just before Christmas.

Distraction

As alluded to earlier in this blog a secondary interest sprung up in the form of buying and restoring vintage car horns. Since the first Desmo one I've learned something of the history of various marques. Interest has moved towards the motor driven types where a spinning serrated rotor acts on a hardened steel stud riveted to the centre of a spring steel diaphragm. The resulting sound is best described onamatopoeiacally as awoogah and typified by that heard on many vintage cars. Early versions were manually operated directly, usually with a push button driving a flywheel, but later an electric motor was used so they could be operated remotely. Both sides of the Atlantic the Klaxon brand name became synonymous with the generic type.

Having acquired a Klaxon Klaxonet, I was impressed with the quality of construction as well as the sound. When I learnt of the existence of the big daddy A1 model, also known as the model 20 in the USA, it became a must have. Its monster size and weight, 8 inches across the trumpet and nearly 4Kg, fitted in well with the OTT image I planned for my boat.

These horns are very rare particularly the long trumpet versions, but do appear very occasionally on eBay, although usually with unrealistic starting prices. I did eventually manage to acquire one privately though.

This particular horn is a long trumpet French version from Klaxon's sister company in Paris, probably built in the 1920's. Strangely it doesn't have a model name, just Klaxon being displayed on the plaque. Many of the British built A1 models had a mounting bracket supporting the bottom of the motor and attached to the lower part of the trumpet flange. This one has the bracket incorporated in the trumpet flange which is reversible and better suits my needs.

Solid brass construction apart from the brass and copper plated underslung motor suggests yet still more polishing experience. Although the plating on the cast iron motor housing is worn, I have just polished and lacquered that part for the moment. The sound is vicious, almost frightening in intensity and not dissimilar to a very angry duck, which sits well with its future location on the water. Just need to find a place to mount it now.

Although the recording (on my phone) doesn't really do it justice, you can hear it for yourself


Needless to say interest in the Desmo one has wained and its already been sold on eBay to help finance this purchase.