Fingers crossed, there's a new steel front deck & front doors going in as I type, replacing that lovely bit of shuttering ply you can see above. It'll probably rain, though, or something.

I did a trip into Paddington on Tuesday to Travis Perkins - despite being right next to the canal, once I'd found the one guy who knew anything about wood (not to mention customer service) they don't have any trollies, and he had to get special permission to help me carry a big sheet of ply down to Tortoise. I wanted to get some timber too, but found it easier to buy it in B&Q the following morning and carry it over myself. Anyway, that, and the 12.5% central London markup they add will mean I stick to Warrens or Albion Timber in Brentford as usual. I did get to dispose of some rubbish in the skip, though, and hoisted out a lovely set of metal drawers of all sorts of shapes & sizes, which turned out to be Mick's which he dumped a few days ago.

Having acquired the ply, I could replace the temporary side floor in what was to become the toilet 'room'. Having done that (and got the battening from B&Q) I put in the only internal bulkhead on the boat, separating kitchen from toilet - a simple frame of 34mm sq timber around the edge and a couple of cross braces (one in the right place to support the Morco water heater, too). I also fitted a plinth for the loo itself (the outer thirds of the boat floor slope, remember). I can't help speculating how long it'll be until I put a proper door on this - coud be a while - but an old shower curtain will do fine for now, right? ;-)

Once the front & the stove are welded, and I can finish off the lining around the front, and hopefully rationise the stash of bits of new & old ply I have - especially old, which however have come in useful over the months. After that it'll be building the galley unit and she'll really start to feel homely again. I'm keen to build the galley base as a unit removeable in one piece, rather then bodged together screwed to otherbits - of course it'll be screwed in, but I like the idea of it being removeable easily if necessary. I'm not entirely sure why as there'll be easy access to all services (run under the gunwhale bar the waste outlet, of course), but at least it'll make sure it's solid.

I've also been reading up about lead acid batteries & alternators; I need to do some volatge measurements, I think. I've also been working on stuff for the cycle powered sound system which is eriely crossing over into this territory...