The Port at Lagarde is getting quite busy at the moment so we offered to relocate the boat to Xures about two kilometres away while we choof off on our road trip. We thought we'd just take ten minutes or so to fit the new door lock and be on our way pretty much first thing.
We soon discovered though, that we needed to modify the lock to make it fit more or less where the old one did and all should have been simple but we had to make a new shaft so that it fitted the new door thickness, and we still thought we'd get underway by morning tea time
After that we found we had to make a new striker plate in stainless steel, then chop a mortice in the aluminium stile with the only available tool; a wood chisel. Had that gone well we could have been on our way just before lunch with a bit of luck, but the mortice didn't look that flash so we made a new cover plate to tidy it up well enough, thinking we'd be right to go while everyone is at lunch.
Of course that was when we found the escutcheon plate didn't fit so an hour or so of filing it to fit would probably have delayed our departure till after lunch time.
By afternoon tea, the lock was finally fitted and working and looking like a bought one so with collective sighs of relief, we fired up Mr P and began our small migration just after afternoon tea time.
It was a great feeling to be moving again even if it did mean saying farewell to Lagarde for a time, but somehow it was an even greater feeling to have another ten minute job crossed off the list.
1 comment
I have a handyman friend who is like this, but, regrettably, I pay him by the hour.
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