Tuesday, 28 June 2016
coach roof
Two coats of ivory white marine gloss on the coach roof and cabin sides in between work and rain showers. Will probably need another two so that will be 7 coats in all including the undercoat. I like the ivory colour. Makers her look sleek and spacious. Much better than the dark blue it was painted before. Not the easiest job bobbing about in an inflatable dinghy trying to paint straight lines and avoid being swept away by the tide.
Contrast well with the bright work which has so far had 6 coats of marine yacht varnish. the hull will be dark blue and after that it's just the deck to paint and she's done and ready to sail. I would have liked to have removed al the paint and get her back to bare varnished wood but I think at some point in her life she has been neglected and the coach roof sides - built of heavy iroko - are badly split in places.
Monday, 27 June 2016
Sunday, 19 June 2016
4 hours on my back
Well we've spent the past few months varnishing. There's a lot of wood on a folkboat inside and out and it takes a lot of varnish. So far we've put on about 7 coats and she's beginning to look the part.
Just by the harbour master's office there's a set of drying posts used for scrubbing the very few remaining commercial fishing boats on theTweed. With some trepidation and much internet research we decided to motor up on a high tide and let Chuckle dry out so we could inspect the hull and start applying antifoul and repaint the topsides.
Fortunately all went well and low tide found Chuckle upright leaning against the posts ready for some work. Just by the posts is a small fresh water stream and we used this to wash down the hull to get rid of salt deposits. The hull was in surprisingly good shape. A testament to the original designers, the ship builder and no doubt the previous owners.
In the time between two tides we managed to get a coat of primer and the first coat of antifoul. After that the weather turned and it started to rain ......and rain so we still have to undercoat and paint the hull.
In the meantime I've spent my time renewing the electrics and installing a new switched fuse panel and relocating the engine control panel bought from Japan at ridiculous expense. The old one was knackered and was operated by jabbing a blunt screwdriver into the ignition switch.
In between all of this I noticed the main halyard was lying in a mess on the coach roof. I began coiling the halyard into a neat tight circle. what I didnt realise was that the the halyard shackle had come adrift and my coiling had succeeeded in dragging the shackle to the very top of the 40' mast!
Back to the internet for ideas on how to retrieve it. As luck would have it Chuckle has another halyard reaching to the top of the mast - not sure of its purpose. The boat hook fastened to this halyard, heaved to the top of the mast and then 4 hours spent trying to hook the shackle and bring it back to the deck. This is not easy"
Just by the harbour master's office there's a set of drying posts used for scrubbing the very few remaining commercial fishing boats on theTweed. With some trepidation and much internet research we decided to motor up on a high tide and let Chuckle dry out so we could inspect the hull and start applying antifoul and repaint the topsides.
Fortunately all went well and low tide found Chuckle upright leaning against the posts ready for some work. Just by the posts is a small fresh water stream and we used this to wash down the hull to get rid of salt deposits. The hull was in surprisingly good shape. A testament to the original designers, the ship builder and no doubt the previous owners.
In the time between two tides we managed to get a coat of primer and the first coat of antifoul. After that the weather turned and it started to rain ......and rain so we still have to undercoat and paint the hull.
In the meantime I've spent my time renewing the electrics and installing a new switched fuse panel and relocating the engine control panel bought from Japan at ridiculous expense. The old one was knackered and was operated by jabbing a blunt screwdriver into the ignition switch.
In between all of this I noticed the main halyard was lying in a mess on the coach roof. I began coiling the halyard into a neat tight circle. what I didnt realise was that the the halyard shackle had come adrift and my coiling had succeeeded in dragging the shackle to the very top of the 40' mast!
Back to the internet for ideas on how to retrieve it. As luck would have it Chuckle has another halyard reaching to the top of the mast - not sure of its purpose. The boat hook fastened to this halyard, heaved to the top of the mast and then 4 hours spent trying to hook the shackle and bring it back to the deck. This is not easy"
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