Sunday 16 March 2014

Another beautiful weekend

Another weekend working on the boat. Julian came with me on Saturday, and Alex on Sunday.

Julian ordered our new cooker last week, an Orego two burner spirit stove. It arrived on Thursday, so our first task was to have a look at how to fit it into the galley. We've worked out how to do it, but at some point I'll have to properly redesign the galley...

I spent most of my time rebuilding the anchor locker and sail locker in the forepeak, with occasional forays outside to help with bits of painting and varnishing.

Julian put the trim back round the bits and took apart the thru-hulls. He's going to try to get some polishing grit to make them work more smoothly. Bronze tapering cone thru-hulls need more maintenance that we've been giving them. He also took the trim off the top edge of the cabin facing into the foredeck. Alex stripped and varnished it the last year we were at Shotley, but the Epifanes has not fared well and had peeled off in many places.

When Julian was stripping the varnish he discovered that the trim was loose, so he took it off to check for rot. It  was sound, as was the wood beneath, so he cleaned it up, and screwed it back, bedded in new mastic. I put a fresh coat of epifanes on on Sunday, and will have to do the same every visit for the next five! I also started varnishing the cap rails in the foredeck.

I'm doing an experiment with Blakes Woodskin as a possible replacement for the varnol that I can't get any more, so I put a layer on the bits and their trim. I'll see how it looks next weekend.

Alex painted the topsides with a second layer of toplac, put Pre-Kote on the grey metallic primer on the bulwarks, and put a first layer of anti-foul on the rudder and a second on the hull. The weather was almost perfect for painting, just a touch too windy!

Paul has started rebuilding the cockpit, so everything looks on target thanks to the good weather. Only outstanding job that needs doing ASAP is the mast. I've got to get the yard to move it so we can fettle and dress it before launch date!

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