Job #7 finally completed...

Two or three hours on Sunday saw me finally finish #7 on the list of work items for the winter ("Rip out old cabin lining below the shelving - take back to GRP, prime and paint - extend the paint into the quarter berths, and forward as required")

Blimey - hard work or what, but the paint is now slapped on - two coats on the sides (upper and lower), and three coats for the forepeak. All I need to do is scrape off some of the surrounds and it's (mostly) done... I say mostly, as I've left one area as is as I'll need to scrape it right back in order to do the deck repair (that's #18 on the list) anyway. While I was at it, though, I also did the anchor locker surround - what can I say it almost looks smart down there now!

Next on the list is that fibre glassing for the deck repair (#18 and hence the picture) - happened to speak to Jellybean Phil [click here] last Friday, the man is a diamond and has expressed an interest in giving me a hand... given that I've never glassed anything before, and he's done this exact job before, it was a huge weight off my mind... I know what I've got to do, but it's always easier when there's two of you to exchange idea's and thoughts... looking forward to it actually as I can see this GRP skill being very useful, there are one or two other places I can use it on at the moment.

Elsewhere, the subject of A frames was aired while chatting down the boat club on Sunday (it's not all hard work.... on Sunday they had Banks Bitter on so there was a pint of that and the opportunity for a chat whilst waiting for one coat to dry!) - one of the guys has offered me the loan of his handy billy [click here] which would save a significant amount of £'s - we may still manage to crack #12 - and if we do launching from the club side of the bridge, rather then the heart in mouth trip up the main road is a distinct possibility... I think we may well have to give it a go...

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Getting there...

Grabbed a couple of hours on the boat yesterday - the only good day of the weekend.

First coat of paint went on down below - in the end I went with SWMBO's suggestion of using bathroom paint on the grounds that it is made for humid/damp conditions, and also has mould resistant properties - both of which I guess are perfect for a boat! It looks a million times better even with just one coat of paint - I'll put another on next weekend and hopefully remember to take the camera as well..

Elsewhere, two jobs are crossed off completely - jobs 13 & 14 are done. An excellent half an hour at Seateach, who have a giant carousel of tiny draws all containing various stainless steel fastenings - very useful, and helpful people as well. Either way it all resulted in a bill of £2.96 (!) and all the fastenings required... I'll do that again when I need to!

This week I need to get the order in for job #18 - I'm going with epoxy for it's extra strength - slightly more expensive but money well spent I think. I need to get in touch with Jellybean Phil before I submit the order to ask his advice..

Launch date is tentatively set for March 21st...

Separately, some awful news from Phil - apparently Barley II broke loose from her moorings last week - she was the boat in the for sale section that had just found a buyer... really, really hoe this turns out OK. Phil thinks she may have filled with water...

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Oh yes!! :o))

Took the final exam last night, and passed... an excellent way to spend a winter, keeps the mind on sailing matters, nice bunch of people, and a pint after the class each week - what's not to like! The instructor says he's planning to do Yachtmaster Theory next winter and I think that based on this years course, I'd like to give it a try....

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Separately, the sugar soaping is complete and as launch day is getting frighteningly closer I plan to slap on a coat of paint this weekend if the weather is suitable.

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Even more separately, my mate Rod sent me an email yesterday asking me if I fancied doing the Round the Island Race this year... it's the 80th Anniversary so is going to be a mega event. No surprises on the answer - if there's an email equivalent of biting your arm off I sent it!

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Lastly separately, Jellybean Phil tells me Barley II has sold - this is excellent news as it very much looks like she's going to be done up and sailed again - she's going to Windermere I believe, which will be a bit of a change for her (yes, we all know boats are inanimate, really..) Best of luck to the new owner...

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...and even yet more jobs done....

...another good weekends work last weekend, as I finally completed the cleaning and scraping - not too bad really - three weekends work, maybe 6 or 7 hours in total...

From this:

to this...

..and this...

.. not much difference on the sides really, but the forward bulkhead is considerably better...

Next step is to clean off the surface (either sugar soap, or the SWMBO's steam cleaner) and then slap some paint on - currently leaning towards Julian's suggestion to use Dulux Weathershield exterior paint, but slightly undecided on colour... will almost certainly tidy up the grey surround to the anchor locker/forepeak with some more grey, but for the main body of the cabin I don't want to use white, will probably be cream/magnolia as it's a bit easier on the eye....

While I was working, Peter, one of Papillon's earlier owners popped by with his other half - got to show him inside and he sat in the cockpit one more time - we need a longer chat but from what I can tell Papillon has been cruised extensively in the Solent.... looking out of the window today, bring on the summer!!

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