Mike began by completing the rear deck surfacing - he is rather disappointed with yesterday's results as one of the two pieces has not properly adhered in the middle and there is a visible bump. At least it seems to be quite firm and perhaps it will flatten with use.
Learning from that experience, the adhesive on the two small remaining pieces was applied slightly differently (and not as suggested on the container) with a much more satisfactory outcome.
Christine also suggested that we use the left over material to cover the steps up into the roof to make them feel a bit safer when it is wet. That task went much better to plan! We also used the old mat which sat just inside the back steps (we bought a replacement with us this time) to fit under the locker lids to see if that will prevent vibration noise when under way. We will have to wait for another visit before we can give it a go but this also has long been an irritant and a previous attempt to resolve did not last. (Just don't look too closely at the locker contents!)
Time then to go shopping - not that we had a lot to get but enough to fill a couple of large shopping bags. We did need some more potatoes . . .
In the afternoon we needed to clear the visitors' bunks as we have had a text asking if Alice and Jess could come and stay for New Year's Eve so that Adrian and Joanna can go to a party. When doing work on the boat there is a tendency to use one of the bunks as a temporary resting place for tools and components which normally have to live buried deep under one of the bunks or seats.
Christine requested that the main cabin table should have a new varnish - we picked up a tin yesterday and so today was the time to do that. It needed several coats before we were any where near satisfied with the result. But it does get heavy use, not just as a dining table, office desk but many other activities take place here. (OK, so this picture was taken the next morning when the varnish had had time to dry properly!)
Early evening when we tried to put the television on it started with a signal but quickly refused to do anything more. There has been a suggestion of an intermittent fault for some months so now Mike spent a while trying to track down where was the problem. Our new sat finder proved its worth by showing that whilst there was a good signal coming from the aerial itself, nothing was arriving at the outlet in the main cabin. Eventually he thought that he would need to get some more materials to investigate - we had bought a new fitting for the outside of the front cabin where the fly lead from the dish connects to the built-in lead, but we had not fitted it.
Sadly, during the investigation, Mike confused the radio aerial with that for the tv (silly really as the latter is original and hidden behind the panelling whilst the other we fitted and is visible at the back of the cupboards all the way through the boat! Sadly, having re-assembled it the radio works even less well that before - it has never been anything to rejoice about. Fortunately, we have now discovered how to connect a mobile phone to a bluetooth BoomBox speaker so we can listen to radio stations that way.
Whilst all this 'stuff' was taking place, Christine, in addition to preparing tonight's meal, has been reading a book which she has been asked to write a review about. Autobiographical works - this one about someone's experience of caring for his mother whilst she developed dementia - are never easy to review especially when the writer's emotions figure very openly.
Christine pressed for an explanation of the tv problem and in the the middle of showing her what the situation seemed to be, Mike tried fitting the new connection box. It was apparent that there was corrosion not only of the outer sheath of the co-ax but also where it had been connected to the old box. There was just enough of the cable to clean up the sheath and to make a better connection to the new box. With not too much hope, we then diffidently tried switching on the set and much to our surprise it worked straight away! (Photo taken the next morning also reminds that some sealant around the cable entry is needed now!)
This meant that we now had to finish the job by re-attaching the connector box to the wall - of course all of this had had to be done in the dark with Christine holding the large lantern torch. Even with that, some parts of the job needed a second one to shine into dark corners!
At least it meant that we would not have a rush in the morning to go in search of components and to conduct further investigations.
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