Launched....

....and.... no leaks! 💪💪

Got to the club about 9:30, parked up and transferred the last of the seemingly huge quantity of gear that I'd cleared out at the end of last season - it seems to get bigger every year! All the cabin cushions, outboard, blankets, cockpit cushions, fuel, boom, new jib...

Cup of tea later, and the guys with the tractor and hoist picked her up and plonked her on the mud right at the bottom of the slipway..  practically a carbon copy of where I'd been the year before last so I knew I'd be away soon but there was still a decent wait for tide so I cracked on with some other jobs..   I stored the builders planks I'd used to sit her on, tomorrow I'll do the same for the other bits and pieces...

Next job was to fetch the tender, tie that off on the back of the boat (for getting back from the mooring), and then return the trolley to the pen... 

Cup of tea and a bacon butty later, and it was time to jump on the boat as the tide was beginning to make its presence felt..  with no support for the nose I had to keep weight in the cockpit and over the keels, but I had time to get the cockpit sole up ready for launch as I was still unsure about those sea-cocks (and it's not just me by the way, one of the guys had replaced a stern gland this winter and he'd been down twice to check already! 😀)

Floated off about 20 minutes later, and ten minutes after that I was on the mooring, but not before having checked at least a dozen times there was no leakage!

Had a snooze, tidied up, sorted out the warps/ropes/crap, splashed beer on boat, sea and (inside) me for a good season, and headed for home...  I'll go out again tomorrow morning to have another check...

Just need to get the mast up now.. 

All done... final jobs completed

I lost the  weekend as I had family down, so I snuck in a half day today to finish off a few of the remaining jobs..

First on the list was the fore-hatch which had  hideous, garden gate type, galvanised hinges that had rusted solid, meaning that opening the hatch involved actually bending the hinge rather than it acting as a hinge...  no good...  especially as that's my route to the anchor until I can get a chain pipe installed..

The idea was quite clever, the post plate is bolted to the deck, and then the long flat section is bent at 90' to attach to the edge of the hatch, and then bent 90' again to attach to the surface of the hatch..  the problem is that a marine salt environment had done for the simple pin hinges...  so 20 minutes saw me having unbolted the post plate from the deck, I then removed the entire hatch, and with the assistance of two large adjustable spanners on almost minimum setting, copious quantities of teflon spray, and brute force and ignorance I got the  hinges working again. I then reattached them to the deck.... job done... for now... need to make sure I keep them lubed - next winter the hatch will get proper hinges...

Next job was putting the pick up buoy on the mooring, was expecting to row out to do this but managed to cadge a lift on the club work boat which was out helping out with the launches today...job done..

Back ashore and the next job was a quick scrub and wash of the cockpit and side decks which were looking grubby after a winter ashore - the deck cockpit have a layer of ingrained dirt which I think will need some pukka/strong cleaning products at some point (oxalic acid in solution, or the like) but for now she'll do...  she's clean, just not immaculate....

Last job of the day was some varnishing...  the wooden board at the back of the cockpit, the tiller, and the step into the cabin were all looking a little tired, if not flaky... rubbed down, wiped over with white spirit, and then given a coating of an own brand, exterior, high gloss varnish... hopefully they'll be dry in the morning!

....and that's it... done everything I can...  she goes in tomorrow...wish me luck with those replacement sea cocks!

Job #17 - Boat name... done!

Absolutely delighted with these... been putting it off, and putting it off, as I was worried about mucking them up, and in the end they were an absolute doddle to apply...

.. a beautiful evening so I slipped out of work at an earlier hour than I usually do, and managed to get all three done... 

Excellent instructions with these, including a plastic spatula - I passed on the soapy water sprayer - basically because the transfers were so small that I didn't think it would be an issue - and I think I was right to do so..

Stuck the whole shebang (basically it's a 3 layer sandwich with a sheet to which the letters are stuck, the letters in the middle, and then a sheet of sticky material on top) to the hull with some masking tape after having got the straight with a spirit level..  Walked away a fair distance and gave them Mk 1 eye ball to make sure they looked good...

I then took the backing off leaving the vinyl lettering stuck to the sticky facing material (it's like one sided sticky tape but made from greaseproof paper - sticky face is inwards) and then carefully smoothed the entire surface of the facing material down using the spatula to get rid of any air bubbles. Final stage was to peel back the facing material leaving the lettering on the hull...  job done...

...these were provided by Funky Monkey [clicky] at what I thought was a very reasonable price - I especially like their WYSIWYG web page so that you can actually see what the end result will look like..

Chose that font almost only because of the fancy W...

I reckon she looks 100% better than she did at the end of last season....

New jib/genoa arrived!

Oh yes... 💪👏👏

Got a phone call from Arun Sails last week to let me know that the new sail was ready to collect, so I popped down Saturday morning to get it..

Couldn't help asking if I could lay it out to see it in comparison to the sail I was using last season..  here it is on top of the new one...  blue stripe is the UV strip on the old/smaller sail...

Strop to extend the head....

I reckon at least 30%  bigger... that's a real driving sail...  looking forward to trying it!

Last of all, for reference, details on size.. I find it  kind of comforting that they still work in feet and inches..

Launch is a week on Thursday (17th April) and I still have some work to do (nose repair, and name decals to go on) but the weather this weekend was rubbish (wet and windy) so I'll be keeping an eye on next weekends weather..  I have visitors though so I may go for a cheeky day off..

An old friend...

Jelly Bean Phil contacted me this morning, as he'd just spotted this on eBay..

That's me and my youngster on a sunny Sunday afternoon down at HISC a few years ago - very happy memories.... I wonder if it's normal to feel a little happy, and a little sad, when you see tangible evidence of a much loved former boat??

Onwards and upwards - I hope the new seller has a successful sale!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sailing-Yacht-Boat-/131157118329?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276#ht_595wt_1156