Continuing work

This was the view of the repaired bulwarks on Monday evening. Julian had filled all the gaps with linseed putty, which in theory needed 30 days before it could be sanded down and painted over. We gave it 2, then Alex began to paint over on Thursday, getting on one coat of grey metallic primer, one of Pre-Kote, and one of Toplac before we left on Saturday lunchtime. I shall have to see what state it is in by the Autumn!

The rest of Alex's jobs are less problematic. Robinetta's hull above the water line got all necessary coats back in October, so should be good and hard for the upcoming season. This week below the waterline got all bare wood (of which there was very little) coated with three coats of primer, then a full coat of anti-foul.

Meanwhile Worm got 2 coats of Woodskin inside and out, plus two coats of underwater primer and a layer of antifoul.

Julian tidied up the wiring in the cockpit locker, and the hanging locker with some trunking, then spent a good bit of time trying to make the  depth gauge communicate with the tablet that holds our back up electronic charts. If anything goes wrong with the chart plotter we have no way of knowing our depth at the moment (I keep thinking we should get a sounding line...)

Julian also fixed the mast head light, so our all round white light is back in commission. It was too cold outside to do anything else to the mast, so he removed one of the deadeyes to work on at home. It cracked in 2014, and we brought it home then to glue back together with epoxy. This glue has now partially failed, so Julian is thinking of making a new one.

Looking inside the hanging locker at the hull makes it very obvious that this is the one area of Robinetta that has not been painted since we bought her. It makes an interesting comparison with the rest of the hull! The wood is dry and solid, just very awkward to get at.

Meanwhile with the paint on the other side of the cabin all touched up I installed the work surface and put the rest of the galley back together.

Work surface and sink back in place

crockery rack re-installed

First gimbal in place, plus the tea/sugar shelf

Stove on its gimbals

Stove in its normal use position

I do not know how often we will use the gimbals, but having them, and a pan holder to hold the kettle in place, makes me more confident about making tea when under way.

The port holes facing onto the foredeck now have their glass back, which is set into fresh mastic and sealed round. We used the same mastic as holds Robinetta's depth gauge in place so we know it's waterproof! We also used this mastic on every gap and crack in that bulkhead. The teak got ten or so coats of Deks no1 before we replaced the glass. It is very like Varnol to use, but has not gone as shiny, so I suspect we still need more layers before we put on any no 2.

Julian, Alex, and I spent over 100 hours between us working on Worm and Robinetta this week. Some of that was unproductive, trying things that did not work, cleaning up between jobs, making tea etc, but we did get a lot done.

Winter in the shed

Julian and I drove up to Largs on Saturday, with Alex, which gives us eighteen "man days" to spend on Robinetta and Worm this visit. We are half way through the week now, and the work is progressing, but there is always a lot to do! I made the new galley work surface at home, and after some fitting on site I could prepare the galley area to fit it. The paint needs touching up, so the work surface will not be put in place until the end of the week.

Julian had prepared the thru-hulls and their fittings at home too, and we now have a self draining cockpit again. He had also cleaned the other thru-hulls and replaced them. I bought a compass at the ExCel boat show, and Julian fitted it in the cockpit, including wiring up the light so we can use it at night. Not that we are planning night sailing, but you never know! Another task on Julian's list was tidying up the wiring, and he is in the middle of that.

Julian's first job was filling the gap in the forward starboard bulwalk, which took two days. Meanwhile Alex preparing the rest of the bulwalks for painting as well as touching up the primer below the waterline.

Alex's main work in the first couple of days was preparing Worm for a fresh layer of Woodskin inside and out, then painting it on. The temperature has not got above 5C, and even at 23C Woodskin needs 24 hours between coats. Hopefully leaving any second coats until the end of the week means the first will go off enough for the second to adhere properly.

The low temperature means that any varnish will take a long time to go off. The Epifanes teak "varnish" on the forward bulkhead was put on in 2009, and is beginning to peel. There is no way to give it enough coats to last under the current conditions, so I have decided to change it for Daks no 1, which can be multilayered on wet on wet (like varnol). Unfortunately that means all the varnish has to come off, so I have spent a lot of time sanding.

Apart from sanding I have repaired a couple of  bits of minor internal wood work, which have suffered through normal use. Nothing major, just screws and hinges that have come apart in the last couple of years. Hopefully they will all be done by the end of the week!