She's in!

There i was making and installing insulation panels Monday when the phone went, "Rog its Tony - you about tomorrow?" "yeah" i replied "okay John and I about if you want to fit this engine" at this point i knew i was a mile off but for some reason said "yeah sure come on over".

Suddenly it dawned on me how much there was to do to get the shed operational, that meant digging out the scaff tower from down the back of the garden where it was now grown in and in pieces.

Then cut the sheet of 25mm ply i had left over from doing the keels to fit across the cockpit as well as build a stud frame in front of the companionway hatch to support the roof and a lintel timber to take the block and tackle as well as brace the shed roof and on top of  all of that finish insulating the compartment of which i had attached the second panel! 

Still nothing like a bit of adrenalin to get things accomplished, 10 years ago it'd been a couple of grams of you know what but today its simple - nerves!

By this morning (Tues) all i had left to do was build the braces having worked into the night i got the engine transferred onto its installation crate and built the scaff tower around it. By 8am i'd been to screwfix bought yet more stainless bolts and been whizzing round like a blue-arsed fly doing the last bits to the boat. 

Still when the guys showed up i was sort of there or thereabouts, i explained the plan to which everyone nodded then got on making the braces whilst Tony and John got the engine hauled up the back of the boat.

Great blokes to have around, very zen - the pair of them - nice and calm, no shouting just quietly diligent, i need people like this around me in such times as i'm the one - whilst trying to style it out externally - internally i'm over-thinking everything wondering whether we're gonna pull the shed roof down or what happens if one of us gets hurt, should i put more ladders out etc.

When i walked back up the ladder with one of the braces Tony' sat cross-legged in the cockpit looking like a student revising for an exam (reading Calders tome) and John was marking up a bit of wood for me to cut to turn into a support for the prop shaft, absolutely ice cool.

All i can say - and its with a huge amount of gratitude to them both - is it ran like gravy, by the time they left my place  the engine was in, aligned with the feet nuts done up loose all there ready to be bolted down tight tomorrow.

Have to admit had a bit of a play with the couplings and bolted them altogether as well as sliding the prop shaft back and forth from outside just to make sure i wasn't dreaming, it really does all line up.

I'm well chuffed with the time i put into making the original jig to set the bearers and rails up with.

It paid dividends today along with the crate as we slid the engine off that and down onto the rails it was with very little adjustment that the engine lined up.

Today will go down in my diary as a memorable one, for it was a year ago today i started building the workshop, i remember thinking (at a low ebb) around that time.....mmm; chainsaw or workshop?

After today i'm Glad i chose the 'workshop' option..................