Love me tender...

Bit of a grey cold bank holiday here in the UK, and with also either early or late tides I decided (and decided fairly easily to be honest) to spend my day titivating the tender...

She was in a fairly sorry state so this was not before time... i've always operated on the tennet that i'd rather the tender didn't look like it was worth stealing, but I'm willing to accept I may have taken it to a bit of an extreme...  So, before shot... albeit after I'd sanded down the hull and woodwork..!

Hideous, I think you'll agree..  I got her about 4 or 5 years ago and haven't ever painted her hull...  you can see a poor repair on the side which dates from, err, yonks ago when I decided to use up some epoxy I had left over from another repair...  either way shabby doesn't begin to describe her..

Quick trip to Toolstation later though and I had some Flag Black Gloss, 4 disposable brushes, some nuts and bolts and I was good to go..

Two coats of gloss later and she looked like the following...

I also put two coats of the same exterior wood stain I used on Sparrow on the thwarts, didn't have enough to do the seat...

The yellow foam on bow and stern is a scaffolding pole protetcor/bumper, you see loads of them on the side of the road so i happenned to spot one the other week when I was cycling to work and picked it up for just this purpose.. not pretty but it will stop Sparrow from being scuffed

Next time I have a few hours spare I'll redo the interior..

OK, so she's still as rough as a rat catchers dog, but she looks better than she did!