Well here we are just over a week since we moved Kildare back to the BCLM and almost exactly two weeks till she and President head off for the trip to the National.

So how are we doing??

Well the biggest single thing is that, with the Engineering team now confident that Kildare can be ready, the Committee has made a decision that we ARE DEFINITELY going to the National Rally. The first leg of which is 13th-19th August - BCLM to Banbury and second leg 20th-25h August - Banbury to Beale. It will be a close run thing but we will be there.

In broad terms we have done an amazing amount, but we still have a lot to do.

In the following, I have not specifically credited the work done, as it would take too long, however you know who you are – thank you very much for your time and effort especially as a lot of it has been working outside in some of the hottest days of the year.

To start with the floors have been cut to size, screwed down, sealed with gaffer tape and then, in a brand new concession to luxury, been covered with polythene and then new terracotta vinyl floor covering. Very posh, albeit a little hard to handle in the heat.

The electrics have been largely re-instated, albeit there are still on or two important bits to do.

The new stainless steel IKEA kitchen units have been assembled and positioned and in one case finally fitted. The same type of unit is being used for the washing facility in the bathroom and again is ready to fit.

We have now largely finished the painting of the interior of the boat, all the running gear and Nick’s new storage unit for the personal gear boxes.

The cooker, bath and fridge have all been cleaned and are ready for fitting, the bath with a new shower control.

The water tanks are in their new positions with new filler pipe and overflow on the back tank.

The old bunks are back in place, we ran out of time to make the new wooden ones in time for the National – a winter job now. The mattress covers have been cleaned and repaired also.

The new side and top cloths have been fitted with brand new strings and the new stand position (moved to accommodate the revised bunk arrangement) has been verified. We’ve also added, for the first time on Kildare, girth strings to keep the top planks even steadier. We should now be able to endure the worst of British weather without the secondary shower coming through the cloths !!

The increased headroom under the cross planks is noticeable and the trim of the boat seems to be close, although we won’t know for sure until everything is in and the water tanks are full. We have spare ballast if we need to re-ballast a bit.

However we still have a lot to do:-

The gas and water systems need to be installed, together with the build of a brand new bathroom configuration. This including the partitioning required and bath surround is the single biggest collection of jobs remaining.

The electrics need to be completed with wiring to the cooker and bilge pump. The lights need to be secured into the top strings and connected daisy chain fashion. Improvements to the system have been held over until the winter.

The bilge, water and shower drain pumps need to be refitted, rewired and re-plumbed.

Two of the kitchen units still need to be fixed and plumbed in following the completion of the gas piping and then the cupboards/racks can be finally fixed into the units. Once all that is finished, we will lift in and secure the fridge and cooker.

At that point, all of the general gear from Brook St will need to be brought on board, including mattresses, as well as the plastic chairs, Z beds and folding tables for the dining area.

As we get closer to finishing with tools, we badly need to have a good clean out of the back cabin and all its drawers/cupboards etc.

There will inevitably be one or two non-essential things which won’t get done (aft bulkhead of forecabin maybe?) so please bear with us until the winter to put them right.

We will be holding Working Parties this coming Thursday/Friday/Saturday so if you can help it would be great to see you.

To help plan numbers if you can let me know you are coming on 07779 157165 that would be great

Given all the work over the winter, President is largely ready to go although we have one or two improvements in mind for the winter, BUT before we go to the National we need to arrange a coal delivery and loading, so helping hands for that would be great.

Thank you for your patience with the restoration, I hope you will be pleased with the result and that Kildare will be a bit more liveable than before. We will be having a blitz on tidiness and as I am one of the worst offenders, it sounds like I will be getting my hands slapped (or worse !!)

Looking forward to seeing you at the BCLM or out on the Cut.

Bob Crompton