MFV BF494 'Pansy', an old Motor Fifie Conversion

In a fit of Pique today, I decided to investigate the deck... a bit.

First impressions... grey deck paint, possibly with a coat of green underneath. An hour later I came to the conclusion the deck has been tarmaced!! Started gently, little bit of a going over with a belt sander. Anyone know where you can buy a new belt sander cheap?? So time to get tough. Angle grinder with a new flap wheel on, that lasted marginlly longer than the belt sander, and I'd still not seen any wood. so stick a proper grinding disk on. that went the journey quicker than the flap disk. Right, time for the big guns - Electric plane. lots of noise, the grey disappearing rapidly revealing what I am now convinced is green tarmac. With the blades on the plane fully extended and all my weight on it, I managed to remove about 1mm of the stuff when the thought of buying a new plane as well as a new sander caused a rethink.

Blowtorch then. So, fire it up and let rip, finally the stuff is yielding, well a bit, not enough to reveal any wood, but enough for the green goo to go critical and set itself on fire. Very wierd stuff. little lump the size of a 50p burning merrily blow it out and then....poof... in to flames again. Its Green, Its bloody hard, its full of what I guess are small beads of glass (or possibly kryptonite)

Ok so the deck is a hybrid made from tarmac and un-blow-out-able birthday candles. I had at this point though removed enough, in an area the size of a fag packet, to try attack it with a chisel and a mash hammer, and finally the stuff started to move. the good news is the wee bit of timber underneath looks sound as a pound. In places the 'tarmacandle' is nearly 10mm thick!!

Rather more depressing is the fact I estimate its going to take maybe 2-3 hours per square yard to remove. and another hour or 2 to clean and sand the planks and reseal. must be 50 square yards maybe. The whole new deck option is starting to look really attractive

Can you still buy Napalm I wonder?