Unfortunately, the saloon table had also been damaged and poorly repaired as part of the fire that had happened on the boat a number of years ago. We tried a couple of fixes but nothing really looked very good. We were really looking for the wow factor that made you think it was something special as soon as you came into the saloon. Now some people would have just said that was enough and lived with it…….but every time we would have come down into the saloon it would have been there and we would have seen it. Maria was keen to have a wow when you came into the saloon rather than a “nice boat, shame the table is a wreck!”. 
We looked at a number of options over a long period of time. Removing the poor veneer on the table showed more fire damage and the original wood was blackened from fire. We had success previously with the walls of the saloon being re-veneered and so we tried that, although the main part of the table was fine, there was a problem where the veneer got to the edges where the fiddle (grab rail on the edge of the table) was. We looked at whether we could put a fill in the corner so that the edge of the veneer would not show but everything we tried couldn’t deal with the very tight curves on the corners of the table.
The overall design of the table is very good and the workings were still ok too. In the end we were starting to think that we would need to have a new table built. Our berth in Ipswich Haven Marina was adjacent to the Spirit Yachts area – the yacht made famous in the James Bond film Casino Royale. 
This unfortunately meant that Maria wanted something that wouldn’t look out of place on one of these. We spoke to a few people and Kevin was recommended to us. Kevin discussed options and he agreed that he could do something special with the existing workings of the table that would be a centre point of the saloon and would give Maria the table that she really wanted. Kevin spent a lot of time on the table and designed it with two compass roses when the table is extended with the fold out insert in place. When the table is smaller it has a single compass rose. Kevin quoted for the work and we were happy. We subsequently found out that he is a bit of a perfectionist, hence why Maria likes him so much 🙂 and he took the time to do a really good job even though it coincided with the birth of his child. He cant thank him enough. While the job was being done, Kevin had left us with a plywood top to our table base so that we could still use it while the work was being done. In March, the work was complete and despite having to delay the install for a week because we were away, the install was ready to happen on the 19th March. Kevin had offered to send photos through but Maria was unequivocal in her desire to see the table for the first time when it was in place.
We are really, really pleased with the results. 
The table looks magnificent and we are glad we decided to go for the contrast with the rest of the wood in the saloon because it makes it even more of a centrepiece. We have yet to see whether Kevin will decide to do some other projects for people, it isn’t his day job, but we can safely say that his attention to detail, eye and workmanship are fantastic and if he does choose to do more of this we are sure he will be a huge success.
deserves a special mention for being so amazingly helpful and kind to us over a number of years. He is one of the leading estate agents and works at 
with a bathroom, seating area with fireplace, dressing room as well as the bedroom itself. This is the last part of the build to be started and the stones that comprise the round houses has been delivered and the work will start as soon as the weather improves enough. To the rear of the trulli is a private ‘English Country’ garden with a grassed area. This will be our little homage to our home country with all other aspects being from our adopted home.
Moving round to the front of the house, there is a large entrance area with seating which is flanked by the kitchen and study/additional bedroom. This part of the build are all lamia with curved ceilings. In front is the lounge area with a small games room to the left, with our pool table from the UK! Between the kitchen and dining room is a staircase down to a small basement which will have a storage area and some gym equipment, useful for people who can’t resist the pasta but still want to get into their clothes at the end of the holiday! 
From the entrance to the right is the corridor that leads to the remaining bedrooms, study, main bathroom and garage. The two bedrooms that face the rear of the property have star ceiling designs, as well as their own private seating area under shade.
not for diving. Finally there is a jacuzzi within the pool which maybe a good spot to watch the games for those less energetic.
This area can be used as another private sunbathing area although some of the roof is sectioned off for the solar panels that help to provide the power for the house. The roof also offers stunning views of the surrounding countryside with the entire area covered with Olive trees and a few small houses dotted around. One of these is the piccolo casa. A self contained one bedroom apartment on the other side of the driveway.
The upgrade was to use the toilet version of this pump. This is equivalent to the more powerful of the two grey water pumps but has a much wider pipe, let’s not linger on why that is required for a toilet pump…..
(the ones that disguise screws and make them look like the headlining or woodwork. These had jammed across the pipe together, which was little wider than these at the bend. This stopped all flow, especially as they had been packed in with hair and assorted other gunk. On cleaning this out we put the whole system back together and tested.
gets you one of these stainless steel little puppies that fits the plug hole perfectly, has a very fine mesh that catches rice grains etc and looks like it is standard fit. So all those problems could have been averted for less than two pounds….
of course throws the compass off 😦 . we looked at the design of the standard steering column and were a little confused. Engine hours is important to keep an eye on but does this really need to be on the helm? We decided to move it down below. There were also some redundant switches. By carefully rearranging the steering column, with Olly from Seapower’s help, we were able to come up with a better design that also fitted in the chartplotter and the control panel for the Forward Facing Sonar. The radio bracket has been moved 
away from the compass and the new remote control for the autopilot has also been mounted on the pedestal. Another change was removing the standard key to start and replacing with two buttons. At the end of the day the keys are all standard and so add no security but can handily (?) break off in the ignition at times. We just need to make sure that the ignition is switched off from the master control down below to avoid someone taking Mariadz away. Finally we added LED lights to light up the table when needed.
Mariadz 