Fixing the fire

It's got to that time of year again - time that we need to put the fire in again.
Every year I promise myself that I'll make sure it's all sorted and ready to light before the summer and every year I get to October and think 'Oh rats! Still haven't overhauled the stove yet'

This year it needed completely re-sealing at the chimney end - the rain was finding it's way through the roof collar and leaking down the flue inside. It was only when we took the collar off the roof to re-seal it that we found out it was because the flue had completely rusted through where it joins the chimney collar. Back to the Uxbridge Boat Centre, where it was originally made for us, to see if they could fix the rusty section. Of course they could; they are nothing short of amazing when it comes to fixing boat things!

The mended flue is now happily back in place, with a new set of grate bars, all the stove joints re-sealed with string and cement, and a couple of coats of stove black to finish it all off. Even the chimney and collar got a new coat of black engine enamel. I did buy a new chimney for the outside too but when I came to put it on I realised that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the old one.

Anyway - it's now gently glowing in the corner giving off it's lovely waves of heat and flickery light. There's nothing like a newly lit stove to make you feel all smug and satisfied with your world.

For those of you that are into details our stove is a Much Wenlock with a top chimney and back boiler, made by Coalbrookdale Stoves, forged at the historic Aga foundry in Shropshire. According to the manufacturers 'These beautiful cast iron stoves are assembled by hand, giving each one a personal touch and a unique quality. When you invest in a Coalbrookdale Stove you are acquiring a piece of history'

Let there be light...

Today I finally got the first two of my roof hatches in! It's only taken about five years, mostly because it took us forever to find someone that would actually make the frames for us. My woodwork is so not up to anything that complicated - especially seeing as I really didn't want them to leak every time it rained. Then I had to strip down our poor old rusty roof and paint it. I wish I could say I'd done the whole roof but with the weather we've had this summer there just hasn't been time. As it is it's taken a solid week, £60 of primer and £45 of topcoat to do just over a third of the roof, but it does look good now.

Even better - we finally have lots of light inside the boat. We can look up and see the sky, or the stars (or the cat looking down at us)

And only a few kitty paw prints in the fresh paint to annoy me.