Windy

It seems like ages since we've been to the boat. It was supposed to be dry in the afternoon but windy. It rained hard on the way but the sun came out as we crossed the Strood and it was lovely when we got to the yard. The boat seemed quite dry but not dry enough to put a coat of undercoat on the hull. We decided to have lunch first and I snapped a few atmospheric shots from the yard and then we walked to the Company Shed. This is the view from the southern end of the yard near the house boats looking south.

The wind was incredibly strong. It blew us all the way to the Shed. We started lunch with a 1/2 dozen native oysters. Lovely. Then Alison had the lobster soup and I had mussels and we shared a salad. For once we were organised and had brought some bread and wine. A truly sumptuous lunch.

We popped in to Wyatts on the way back and bought some paint and bits and pieces. Then Alison go to work bailing out the boat. The bilge pump had blown a fuse at some point and the boat was full of water - right up to the floorboards. At least that means that Paul's caulking is working - there wasn't any running out of the hull! I got to work sanding the bulwark cap-rails in the bow. Once she was dry Alison did some cleaning and preparation in the fore-peak and then we put the covers on and came home. I took this picture of the bolts Paul replaced in the floors in the bow - the ones we didn't get done when we first bought the boat. We had them done just in time!

It was really windy all day - nothing like they are getting in the south west but it howled in the rigging of the boats around us. As the afternoon drew on it got stronger and stronger. On the way home in the car there was one gust on the A120 that nearly pushed us into the crash barrier.