working on the decks

I've been taking advantage of the sunny weather, and have been getting the decks sorted out :) I started at the aft end on the port side, and stripped the canvas off during the week, so it had some time to dry out before I re caulked the seams, and covered it with plywood to make it weatherproof once more!

On Saturday I sanded the planks , and caulked (sealed) the gaps between them


Today we fitted the first 12' of plywood to the deck.

On the left is the new plywood, centre is the sanded and caulked deck, and on the right is some flaky old canvas (which I've now removed)

hot work

We've been mostly working on the foredeck today, I unbolted the steel knees from the starboard side so the plywood can go under them. It's amazing that you can work up a sweat swinging a hammer. Then I varnished the new wood in the aft cabin.
Dad has been busy getting the deck sorted

sunny stuff :)

we folded back the cover from the bow today, as it was far too hot to work underneath it!
Dad has been busy while I was on holiday, He has repaired the stem replacing some rotten timber, and fitted lots of small repairs
I have started fitting tongue and groove to the port side of the aft cabin, which makes it look a lot more finished :)

I'm on holiday this week, so I haven't got any pictures to post, however Dad has been working on the boat in my absence.
He has fitted a new peice of timber under the center of the foredeck to support the anchor windlass, and samson post. This presented a challenge, as the original piece was fitted before the deck was laid, whereas we had to fit it in from below.
I'll get some pics next week hopefully

what shall we do with a drunken sailor?

This weekend there was a beer festival in Southampton guildhall, and I had to go twice!
so I started work on the boat a little later than usual ....On saturday I fitted new timber under the windows in the aft cabin, while dad was cutting new wood to replace damaged bits of the foredeck planking.
When the tide came back in I reconnected the fuel pipes and ran the engine, blowing away the mud which had surrounded the propeller, and rudder.

On Sunday morning Dad got into the tender and gave the rudder a scrub. taking advantage of the newfound hole in the mud!
I got the spray foam out, and filled in the gaps around the windows, in the aft cabin, so I can start putting the tongue and groove planking up on the port side :)I also sprayed the forward cabin with foam, so thinks are looking quite different now.
Dad spent the afternoon working on the foredeck, avoiding the foam flying everywhere

This morning I've been fitting a new fuel filter to the engine. I'm giving it a full service to get it ready for future expeditions.
The fuel system had been "improved" by the previous owner, so I've got to re-plumb it to get the bits in the right order!
Fi painted the ceiling of the aft cabin white this morning, it's looking a lot better,
Tom cleaned up the guard rails on the starboard side, and the bottom of the locker on the aft deck.
This afternoon Fi painted the bit's tom had cleaned, Tom and fitted some studding (threaded rod) to pull the new timber into place in the bow.
It sounds simple, but it involved me standing in the dinghy alongside the boat and Tom on the inside trying to co-ordinate our actions in gale force winds!

Then we stopped for a much needed beer :D

saturday stuff

My friends Tom and Fi came to help this weekend,
I've finished off the ceiling of the aft cabin, putting the last bits of tongue and groove behind the stove pipe, and fitting the last few screws.
On saturday I sanded down the wood ready for Fi to paint it.
Meanwhile Tom and Fi were busy putting up the batten in the foward cabin, so I can put the insulation on soon :)
Then they scraped off some of the loose paint in the bows.
Tom had a look at the wind speed sensor. It's a bit like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle at the monent, you can tell the speed of the wind , but not its direction!