February 2018 into March was bitterly cold in the UK with quite heavy snow, so Lawrence carried on working inside the boat. We found that we had just enough Belgium rustic oak floor boards left to complete the floor for the new planned galley. We extended the 4 inch joists to cover the area, levelled them and then insulated under between them with 2x layers of aluminium bubbles. Then laid out the boards to get a simulated chaotic pattern before squeezing up the joints and securing them with 2” brass screws.We used the floor board clamps that we had from doing the pine floor 15 years ago so they worked well again. The only slight problem is the very hard oak and relatively soft brass screws which broke easily if the pilot hole wasn’t just right.

The next job was to fill the rustic knot holes, sand smooth and then coat with hard wax finish.

The The finished floor was beautiful and is ready for the kitchen to be built.