It's been several months since my visit to Caterham Gatwick and placing the order, but that has provided some time for continuing the research into the build experiences of others and to make some preparations.
I called James in the sales department at Caterham to get an update. He kindly told me that my kit was in production but their supply chain was still suffering from the effects of the Covid lockdowns around the world. Deliveries of various components were still unpredictable. I can sympathise with this having had some direct experience with the issues, but he seemed to imply that no delays were visible on my order at the moment - fingers crossed!
In the meantime, my garage needed a serious makeover to banish the spiders, unused shelving and various other items. I want to do the build in an organised way, and in as clean environment as practical and therefore everything was cleaned down and the walls were whitewashed.
I also chose to lay a vinyl floor and on the basis that it would suppress any dust from the concrete floor, be slightly warmer through the Winter months, and make items such as the chassis and engine hoist much more manoeuvrable. I chose tiles from Duramat (https://duramat.co.uk/product/durastud-grey/) for the job. They are 5mm thick, easy to lay but very difficult to cut. The recommendation was to use a hacksaw or chopsaw - but I found that (1) scoring deeply with a sharp knife (2) folding the tile to open the scored line and (3) cutting down the fold line was effective. My son and I had the floor laid in an afternoon and the edging tiles were completed the following morning.
Very pleased with the result - but for now the wait continues ......
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