The First Lock

No, not that sort of lock, don't think she is quite ready to brave one of those types of locks just yet. A lock for a door silly!

Kathlyn has been quite happily moored stern end into the pontoon, so it has been easy to get in and out by undoing the padlock on the stern doors and getting in. Now she is moored bow end in (is there a technical term for bow or stern end in?) I suddenly realised that I could not get into the boat using the front doors. I still had to go along the length of the boat on the gunwhales to get in the rear doors.

So time for a bit of woodworking and the fitting of a lock to the front doors. Please notice the handy work and the careful positioning of the lock in the front door in the quite narrow wooden frame. I was quite pleased with myself.

I then started thinking, always a bad idea. I can now get into the boat from the bow all very well, but it still leave the rear hatch and doors locked from the outside. This means that if I want to move the boat, or escape in a fire I can't get out the rear doors. Not very good really. I also can't quite work out how I can lock the rear doors and hatch from the inside that actually makes it secure! All the options seem to still leave the hatch to be able to be lifted up and pushed back.

So one step further forward and another little challenge to work on. Still pleased with the first lock though, and didn't get stuck on the sill once!