Preparing for the new season

Having Robinetta in the shed so close to home should have meant we were working on her steadily, but in reality that did not happen. I wanted to give the hull a chance to dry out thoroughly, and in the winter temperatures that took a long time. Then there was no point starting until it was warm enough to paint. Now that it is beginning to look like spring is on the way it is time to get to work.

Julian, Alex, and I all went along this morning. Alex worked on the hull above the water line, removing loose paint, and unfortunately discovered a little soft damp wood  just below the rubbing strake. Hopefully with the paint off that will dry out and a little hardener will be enough to restore it.

Meanwhile Julian got on with removing the decayed wood we discovered in the bulwalk last summer. Not a huge job, and he has already replaced this length once. This time we will use better quality timber!

Alex helped me get the anchor chain out of the locker, something I had been meaning to do for a while but needed help with. I also brought the kedge anchor into the light of day. It is not rusted solid, but could do with some TLC, and the short length of chain before the rope rode should probably be replaced. The same is probably true of all the galvanised shackles. We have not been greasing them the way we should to stop them rusting, and many of the pins are worn.

I decided that all the varnish needs stripping off and replacing. I might go all Deks for the bright work, but that will partly depend how much of the old varnish refuses to come off. The heat gun might be seeing some use!