All done...

All done indeed... me especially... 

 
After an exhausting week or two she's finally afloat, and not leaking...  took some effort to get there though...

So starting with the list of things I wanted to get done...

1/. Another coat of paint on the hatches - then fit to the boat

What a pain in the nether regions this one turned out to be - so having applied two coats of epoxy, then rubbed down, sugar soaped and painted (Dulux "Once" - as it is self priming, oil based and gloss for hard wearing), you could imagine how delighted I was to find that patches on one of the boards were still tacky 4 days later..  😒

What I couldn't understand was that one of them was unaffected - either way - it was a cool/cold shaded garage so I went ahead and fitted them to the boat thinking some warm weather and UV might help

...you'll note the finger marks between the hinges

Still no good - and tacky to the point where paint was transferring to fingers and clothes so I bit the bullet, and rubbed down the offending board with a white spirit soaked rag, and then gave it a coat of the paint I use on the washboards - water based, exterior, silk white so not so hard wearing, but easier to use - and it dried OK (yee haa!)...  gave it another coat, and then fitted again..  I'll keep an eye on it and give it another coat mid season if I have to - I've chucked the "Once" in the bin - crap stuff...

..on the right the new treated board, on the left the original

I'll paint the other board to match at some point this summer....

2/. Windex - attach to mast head - done - but despite it being a Hawk, a cheaper and shoddier bit of plastic I think it would be hard to find - disappointing...  I'll be amazed if this makes it to the end of the year...  all I can say is that it was still there when I left the boat... 

3/. Tabernacle - drill out lower bolt holes, and Hammerite - done - and fairly straight forward...

4/. Another coat of paint on the washboards and 5/. another coat of wood treatment on the outboard pad - also trouble free and completed....

So that took 3 hours on the Friday, on Saturday I was rostered to work on the launch working party for the club - tiring day (you spend the whole day walking the length of the club yard escorting one boat after another down to the water) and at the end of it I spent another few hours working on that damned hatch cover....

Sunday morning I was there bright and early'ish (10:30) ready for a 16:00'ish high tide..  I gave her a much needed wash down (last access to fresh water until October), loaded the soft furnishings that I'd stored at home, strapped on the outboard, loaded the pile of detritus from under the boat into the boot of the car, and it was tine for the job that signals the end of the maintenance... phewww....

All done!!!!

As a bilge keeler I usually get plonked on the mud and shingle right at the bottom of the club slip and left to it, but this year because of my position in the yard, they had to move a couple of other boats to get to me so I was eventually lifted in after a lunchtime pint...

Going....

...going - Windex still there? Check..

...going...  yard getting empty as the cruisers lift in - this was last but one day of the lift in...

....going - blimey - Windex still there? Check....

..main slip is behind me from where the picture (below) was taken - this is one of the side slips... - got a lift to the boat from one of the club carriers - and waited for a little more water to come in - 4.5M tide so lots of it.....  once the water was a foot in front of the of of the keel started the engine and left it idling in reverse.... quarter of an hour after that she started gently lifting and rocking, and then five minutes after that she started off in reverse..  lovely, gentle launch...

...gone - back on the mooring!

So good to be back on the water...  mast raising next weekend, and if that doesn't catapult the Windex into the middle of next week nothing will....