Page 80 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

feet long, 10 feet wide and weighed over ten tons dead weight, literally leaped out of the
water and in an instant was beside us on the slip.

THE BOAT
To give you some idea of the interior we will begin in the bow where there was a good
sized bathroom with sink and cupboards under.
Hot and cold running water and a 'sea toilet'. I have made some mention of the toilet
arrangement but it will not hurt to explain again here.
When Vesta was built there were no regulations regarding evacuating your toilet into the
water direct, this is called a 'sea toilet'.

Now of course things are different and all inland waterways have strict regulations
regarding this to prevent the whole system becoming totally polluted. As Vesta was to be
used mainly at sea or in tidal rivers the sea toilet arrangement was still quite suitable.
(In this bow section, we were to create a 'chain locker' where the anchor chain, essential
for coastal water cruising, could be stored and fed out on to the foredeck of the boat by a
curved hawsepipe.)
Picture shows Vesta at Lincoln sometime
later> It clearly shows the pulpit system
on the bow for security. The avchor is just
below that...under Helen’s feet!

Coming out of the bathroom we enter the
main saloon with long bench type
upholstered seats down both sides. For
sleeping, the backs of these seats
dropped down inwards, on a swivel and
became single berths with the interior of
the seat backs being the sprung 'mattress'!

A folding table was available for here and
stored in a sliding arrangement at the end
of one of the seats.

Now we came into the galley / kitchen with
work top on one side and fridge under.
Opposite was a full size gas cooker.

Alongside was a sink and drainer.
Above the sink was a multipoint gas
water heater that fed hot water to all the
sinks.
Up four steps now into the large centre
wheelhouse. This had a folding roof
and side structure which would take
down easily, so the vessel could pass
through the lower bridges on the
Norfolk Broads.

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