Alarm went off. Tilly left in charge, note in the window for the Postie, today would be a warmer and dry day for doing jobs on Oleanna.

Last night we’d banked the stove up, it hadn’t lasted but the boat did still feel quite warm. Heating turned on, fire lit but not too big as I planned to create fumes today.

I started to sand the floor concentrating on areas badly marked. Our floor is engineered oak so I know there is plenty of wood that I can sand. Where the pullout corner cupboard is in the galley, bits of grit get under the plinth and scrape the floor, leaving lines. I’d wanted to take the cupboard out totally. I knew how to undo the drawer runner, but to get it actually out and somewhere completely different in the boat would be hard. The handle would need removing and then there might still not have been enough space to get it from under the overhanging worktop, plus it would be heavy in an awkward space. So I’ll just have to make sure there’s no grit in future instead of being able to trim the plinth down by a couple of mm.

Mick disconnected the old battery for ease of access into the engine bay, then cleaned off the Fertan on the battery tray and left it to dry. Oh hang on, I’m a day ahead of myself in the engine bay! The fertan went on today. I know he’s been busy out there in the engine bay, but all the days seem to be melding into one!

The Shed cupboard was cleared out and a damp trap was left inside and the door left open, cupboards take ages to warm up when the cold has settled in.

I carried on sanding the floor, a general sand all over in the main cabin, then just a bit at the bow steps where the leaking water pump had stained the floor slightly last year. Far worse staining had happened inside the hoover cupboard! We also seem to be getting some condensation dribbles under the gunnels from the gas pipe maybe, we might look at lagging the pipe, but you need to be able to see that it’s a continuous pipe for the Boat Safety. Hmm!

Mick had a chat with Alistair and the cables would be ready for us tomorrow, Thursday. Mick tinkered away in the engine bay, sorting cables, labelling them and getting ready.

Windows had a sand along with the Houdin shelf and the wooden top to the drawingboard slot, the galley side of this had a few black marks on it. These were most probably caused by drying chopping boards having been left against it and the oak oxidising. Time to try out Bar Keepers Friend, this contains an amount of Oxalic Acid which can be used to remove stains in oak, but this would wait for tomorrow.

The floor got a good sweep and then a wipe down with white spirit, mask worn to avoid the fumes.

I now had a decision, should I use Danish Oil on the window frames and shelves? Or should I use an oil based varnish, I had some yacht varnish. When it rains our windows, unless closed, let a certain amount of rain in. The wood around them having lost most of it’s protective layer of laquer or varnish a while ago. I’ve touched them up with Danish Oil, but this hasn’t fared too well. Other places where Tilly sits also have to endure being wet due to her not wiping her paws when she comes in. As I thought about this, all I could hear was Frank saying ‘Danish Oil!’, but my head was saying Yacht varnish. The satin varnish won, the oil would be used on the floor though.

By now the day light was fading, I could do varnishing and oil, but it would be quite late by the time I’d finished and Mick would be trying to work in the dark, so we decided to call it a day and head home.

Today there was one parcel with our neighbour, a wonderful jiffy bag full of part used colourful yarn from my friend Bubbles. Her mum used to knit socks all the time, but dementia has taken that skill amongst other things away from her. I’ll make good use of the yarn in my socks. Thank you Bubbles!

0 locks, 0 miles, 5 windows, 2 shelves, 1 hatch surround, 2 glazed doors sanded and cleaned, 1 floor sanded and cleaned, 1 mask face, 2 soups, 1 parcel, 1 happy cat, about bloomin time you spent some time with me!