'Flogging A Dead Horse'

Since Moonshine's saloon is looking nice and tidy with her new upholstery, we decided it was time to remove all the curtains for washing. We only got as far as removing one in the forward cabin, and realised we were 'flogging a dead horse' with this, as all the lining material was badly mildew stained. The existing curtains have been removed several times in our ownership for washing of which we are pretty sure they are original, and had been re-hung randomly with not realising that they had different drops. After measuring them all correctly, we decided that purchasing some ready made curtains from Dunelm for £55 to utilize the fabric would be the best and cheapest option, and with enough fabric left over for potential mishaps and for making additional tie-backs. In addition 10 meters of 1" white heading tape, 3 meters of 3 pass ivory thermal black out lining material and anti snag branded Velcro was purchased from eBay for approx £16 (the attached curtain lining of the new ready made curtains was a silky material which we didn't like as this was in my opinion too thin). Both the sewing machine and the overlocker have done sterling service over the last week, and the end result is pretty good. We may end up regretting using the thicker blackout material as this bulks the top of the curtains where they are gathered, but this will become more transparent once they have properly relaxed.

The forward cabin curtains have not yet been hung, as we are making a pair of curtain rail stand off's out of hardwood, which need multiple coats of paint. These will compensate for the flare of the hull sides to ensure they don't touch the port lights to minimise transfer of condensation.

We have also made some cardboard templates for both a 24" and 28" LG tv for the boat, to be sited on the heads bulkhead in the saloon to replace our existing dated 19" combi dvd/tv. These will be offered up next weekend to see which is the better size for the space available. Obviously Peter is protesting as he likes his old tv, and would rather put the money towards a new dingy or replace a turbo etc, but he has been given the hard line that he needs to keep his crew happy!

Easter is now fast approaching, and we are looking forward to less work and more play!