Friday 14 January 2011

The disappearing wheelhouse (again) - part 15

Hmmm I bet you dus be wonderin wot appened to ma bloggy! Or maybe not .. heehee. Well wot wiv one fing an annuva I did get bit sidetracked.

Last time I did tell you bout how we ad started to remove da old wheelhouse, tellin you bout all da fun an games mum an dad ad tryin to do cranin in the dark.  You can read all about dat in this previous chapter!

They finally admitted defeat and decided to wait til the followin day to finish off removin rest of da wheelhouse. Next mornin they hooked up da crane ready for the removal of the last parts.















Den on goes the kettle and time for surveyin dat stuff they had craned the night before. I was asked to assist wiv dis most impawtant task. Ma ball did come along for security reasons that I am unable to discuss wiv you at dis time wifout the appropriate clearance. I got to admit, I dus look a bit confussled hee-hee.















After a quick safety check to make sure everyfink not gonna roll over down into the river or fall on anyway (especially me!) was time to move back onto the remainin part of da wheelhouse that needed removin.















Me an mum trotted off to set up camp in da crane once more while dad prepared for more cuttin. Our pal Jared did come along to elp out as was a Saturday an he wasn't goin a work dat day. Can you spot em?















First dey cut the remainin wheelhouse in two and lifted off da front part. We dussnt av no photo of dat coz da camera run out of battery at dat point and mum ad to put em on  charge! Den the final bit still welded has the exhaust in it. Dat come all da way up from da engine room so dad had to make sure he cut it down there as well. Ere does go da exhaust stack!















The final bit! Goodbye smeggy old wheelhouse. No more sleepin on dat freezin floor or wakin up in wot felt like a greenhouse in summer! No more horrible smelly mouldy carpet, no more rotten wood, no more trippin up dem steps and banging your head (mum of course!) on da hatch!















Den, before we knows it, Atlantis has no wheelhouse any more. Don't she look weird! Here dus be the before an after, jus in case your forgotted wot she was like!

Before!















After! (Oh and dat big wooden fing behind Atlantis does be a houseboat dad buildin on a lighter for a customer but dat is annuva story).















Hmmm, wonder wot is gonna appen wiv all dat scrap I hear you ask? Well da funny Gypsy man (he is a real Gypsy I not bein rude) come around a take it away on his truck of course! We fort his truck was gonna have trubble but he dun a couple of trips.















So dat was it, there was a few big scary gaps where da wheelhouse had been removed and dad had to cut away some of the plates to get to fings so for da moment we did cover it wiv a big tarpaulin to stop da worst of any rain goin straight down into da engine room.















Me and mum (well mum mainly) was banned from goin up there for obvious reasons! As in, she wod forget that there was a huge hole where the tarpaulin was and walk on it then fall 15 feet down into the bilge! I wonder, dus you fink dad was right to ban her? We dus!

Tune in next time to see if she fell down the ole! Catch u laters, alligators!