Spring is here

After a long winter hibernation (and a lot of work), Jorvik Rose has finally emerged to bask in the wonderful British spring weather... some sun and a good dose of rain! She came out of the shed just over a week ago, in time for us to show her to some visiting friends from Zurich, followed by a bracing walk along the shingle bank to Hurst castle.

We are really very happy with the outcome of all of the work that has been completed, Jorvik Rose looks like new on her topsides, with her new cork decking, windscreen and railing. The new deck is really really 'sticky' in wet weather which is really great, it means we will have a good chance of staying on the boat in bad weather!

We have now started to refit the headlining and now she is starting to be cosy and warm again inside. As we refit the headlining, we have been fitting LED lights in an effort to keep our future electrical load as low as possible. This week we stayed onboard for a night so we could get as much work done as possible - so far we have installed the forward and midship cabin headlining, as well as the forward and aft heads (toilets) headlining and lights. As we don't have curtains (these are another upcoming project), we were woken very early by the spring sunshine blazing into our cabin.

The electrical system is now also completed and we now have a much more efficient modern inverter charger system, galvanic isolation, separate bow thruster, generator and engine start batteries as well as a larger domestic battery bank.

Another job that we have started is to install a new diesel air heater. When we stayed on Jorvik Rose last summer removing the old teak deck, we had to run the heater a few times as the early mornings were chilly. One morning the heater filled the cabin with white smoke, a sure sign that there was a problem... Unfortunately the heater is original and 25 years old so is no longer supported. As a result we now have a new Webasto Airtop EVO 55 heater to fit in the steering compartment.

Our first job was to run the control and power cable loom from the chart table control panel to the aft steering compartment where the heater will be located. So far, we have removed the old cable loom and pulled the new cable through into the control panel cabinet.

We plan to continue next week with installing the remaining headlining and continue with the installation of the heater. The next stage is to find and remove the old fuel pump and cabling and refit the new. This means that the cabin floor boards will need to be lifted.

It feels really great to have Jorvik Rose back and to spend time on her. Although we have a lot of work that we still need to get through, it at least feels like we are making some progress.

Until the next update, fair winds.