Getting Julian Housed

What a profitable and productive weekend that was; it really feels like I'm on that downward slope towards the leaving day.

I didn't bother coming to Blackpool on the Friday night as I wanted to have a little lie in on Saturday and I knew I was staying up til late Sunday after the annual Christmas meal at my business partner's parents house so it was around lunch time when I arrived and went past the garage to find out if Thomas was ready; he was, and the keys were taped in their usual place however I just grabbed the keys and legged it in Julian to the studio as I had more MeekAid mixing to do. This was done without a hitch and I set off walking and collected Thomas.

Basically, a new engine

I have not yet had to pay the bill as Chris hasn't totted it all up yet, but he left me a hand written list of tasks which had been completed and I must admit I'm a little scared of how much it will all cost. Rather have him fixed than scrap and buy a new one which could have any number of other problems, that is my attitude.

So I'm back in Thomas and this means I can put Julian away and solve the leakage issue which has been getting steadily worse and worse.

The first task of the weekend was to tidy the unit; I had piled all my stuff up on one side of the unit and it was becoming a little tangled and jumbled with other items being added to the pile. It also was in the way for when Julian and the trailer were going to be in the unit. My idea was to place pallets around the edges and back of the room (to keep my stuff off the floor as this unit also has some problems with leaks) and thus also divide my stuff into "furniture", "boxes", "gardening stuff" and "vinyls".

Toy stuffing. Yes, really...

First of all, I removed everything that wasn't mine from this half of the unit, dragging huge bags of toy-stuffing left over from years before when the unit had a cuddly toy factory in it. I also removed a large amount of waste wood, and dragged a pallet load of plastic trays out of the way.

With the space clear I was then able to arrange the pallets and move my stuff into a far more organised layout.

Right hand side of the unit

On the right wall I put my chairs and the table legs; I'm still questioning whether these should come with me and I may end up leaving them in storage at the studio, or even selling the lot. I have also put my packaging material here, and the saw-horse which I will be using in the next couple of days. Finally, my bikes are now stood up at the far end.

Back of the unit

At the back of the unit (right to left) I have my boxes of books and cds, gardening equipment and then other gardening stuff like plant pots. The middle pallet has things I definitely want to take, the plant pots pallet will be used as packaging and space fillers to stop vibration, or will just be left behind.

Left hand side of the unit

Finally in this little walk around, I have my furniture which I am definitely taking with me; the desk and a guitar amp and some flat pack shelves. I will be packing things inside the desk drawers etc so they will take up very little space, ultimately. Far left on this picture is the pallet with my vinyls on it.

The only things not in the unit now which I am taking is my TV and my whisky, and a couple of other small flat pack items which I am taking. Also, there are a few electrical items such as my amps and speakers. There is not much else left to bring over and soon I will have to start actually putting things into the trailer and truck to see exactly how it'll work. I still need to buy the tarpaulin and I'm not sure what size to get so that is waiting for this to be finished.

Having done this inside I climbed onto Julian to try and work out how to take the roof box off; he was too tall to get into the unit with it left on. Typically as I climbed up the gales started and it rained really heavily however I was able to work out that the straps which were wrapped around the box were there more for appearance sake so I removed them. In the wind I was not happy with trying to get the box down from that height on my own so I left it and, with help from Dan, it was removed very quickly on Sunday.

As always I slept very well in Julian, only disturbed by Rambo howling for his toilet, and then the swingers leaving from one of the other units in the early hours. On that, the final one didn't leave til about one pm! Hah!

My purchases

The morning was blustery and I had a quick visit to B and Q to grab a load of stuff. I had worked out what I needed to buy to fix the Laycorn boxes together in pairs and I also knew exactly how much external ply I needed to line the trailer. Finally, while I was there, I picked up some gear to dry and clean the top of Julian, and a load of super heavy duty silicon sealant.

The Laycorn Boxes on their frame on the trailer

First task, though, was to sort the Laycorn boxes out. My plan is to have them stacked together in pairs, and join these together with bolts and big washers. Upon investigation I found that two of the boxes were already drilled for this so I was able to very quickly attach these two together.

Bolt, nut and washer

The other box needed drilling but this took very little time with the high powered driver and within short order I had the boxes firmly joined together.

Drilling the second pair

I did discover a slight fail after doing this; I had planned that the spare wheel from the trailer would be put inside one of these boxes however when I went to position it so I could drill through for the spare wheel bolt, I found that it didn't fit. I must have mis-measured or not read my handwriting correctly but never mind. The wheel can go behind one of the seats in Julian.

Julian being reversed in (not very well this attempt)

With all this done my next task was to get Julian into the unit so he could be out of the weather and I would be able to start resealing and making him finally ready for the long journey.

Julian in his new home

It took a few stop-starts and go arounds but with very little fuss I was able to reverse him easily into the space I had cleared next to the trailer. I can get the trailer in and out without moving Julian, and vica versa.

Loose sealant, and the gap in the roof edge

As soon as he was in I dragged the big ladder and went on top to find out exactly how much of a problem with missing sealant I had. It was pretty bad; almost the entire rim of the roof is missing it's sealant or, if not missing it, there are cracks and it is disintegrating. No wonder so much water had been coming into the living space.

I went over the whole roof with a cleaning mitt, wiping the excess water off and trying to clean it as best as I could. Then I went inside and used the towels I had bought to try and squeegie the water out of the ceiling and also mop up the puddles on the floor; yes it had got that bad last night. Finally I opened all the windows (leaving the fly screens in place) to allow it to air and dry out so I can hopefully avoid too bad a damp problem.

So there you are; Julian snug and happy in his new home, and I will be back again over the Christmas holidays to finish off all this prep work; I have to PVA the wood for the trailer, then cut the one outsize board to size and attach them to base. I also have to clean the roof of Julian properly and apply the silicon re-sealant. I need to work out also how to fit both roof boxes onto Julian and finally I need to practice with the packing.

One other little thing; I have bought myself a petrol generator which I have been considering for a while. It will come in really useful inside the unit (I can hook some arc-lights up to it and work with the shutter down which will keep me much warmer) and also when I arrive I will be less reliant on their being electricity. Finally it will certainly prove most useful to have when I am settled over there, what with the size of the land. I can drag it to where I'm needing it rather than having to have massive extension leads.

So there you are; busy busy busy.