Home sweet home

It's been very cold on the boat. I have a woodburner and an Eberspacher diesel heater but it's too clammy for me right now. Since I live half on and half off The Promise, I've decided to take a trip back to Plymouth town, catch up with a few old mates, see my designer chappie and warm up. It's not as bad here as further east but winters and me aren't best mates. I'm a sunny sort, comes from my ancient Gascon genes I'm told but who knows; perhaps it's age and desire for comfort. Early in the refit I found myself a "room" in a converted ship container. Fine in the summer, cool, a tad noisy in the rain but the previous tenant had made quite a nice home in it, and for one room, albeit made of alloy and steel, cosy. As the boat dried out, and once amenities had been restored, ie the galley fired into life, existence took on some semblance of normality, or what passes for it living in a tin can at the back of a shipyard somewhere in France.

Now, two years in, replanked, new laminated floors, hanging knees and breast hooks, refastened and caulked, The Promise is more like her old self. Bearing in mind she'd been rammed, sunk and towed slowly as a submersible filled with air bags to somewhere she didn't know. I'm waiting for spring before the paint goes on anywhere as I'd taken the time to have every inch scraped off and scrutineered. Any suspect soft spot was exposed, dug out, refilled or replaced. We hammer tested the whole hull and checked hull moisture and density but found her old oak fine and hard; this due to over half a century in salt water. Right now she's as bare as a baby's bum and actually pretty smart in her natural wood finish. Pretty but impractical; The Promise will be once again primed with Blake's best universal aluminium primer and coated over and over till we get to a decent top coat which may be something other than black. Don't get me wrong; I'm not going soft and I haven't seen any lifestyle decorating programs on the telly, but I'm allowed to change and might paint her... grey!