More jobs done...

...another half day on the boat - started really well with bright sunshine and I was down to a tshirt at one point, so the paint brush was wielded with a will and the second coat was put on the hatch covers and wash boards - those are now done...  tick...

...unfortunately at this point the clouds closed in and as it looked like rain was coming, rather than put another coat on the rubbing strakes, I decided to hold off and do it on a more settled day..

Having found the '12v electrics box' though, there was plenty to get on with - first and best job of the day was finally wiring the dri-plug for the auto pilot in to the 12v system. I fitted the plug last year but had just not got round to doing it - no point really as I hadn't put in the mount for the auto pilot, but that was to change today. Rather than wire it in to the switch box, as it has an in-line fuse fitted, I've wired it in direct to the battery - negative direct to the battery, the positive is wired in to the main isolator switch ..  basically then - when the power is on to the switch panel, the plug is live, when I switch off the power at the isolator the power to the plug also goes off.

 So it was with some trepidation that (and after having checked polarity twice with a multimeter! ) I finally plugged in the auto pilot, and then switched on the power at the isolator - single beep and the magic wand powered up..  brilliant, very chuffed with that!

Separately the old VHF has been dismantled and removed from the boat ready for the new one to go in..  I'll put the necessary power fittings on this week, and then it should be a quick swap over..

Last of all the stringers look good under their first coating of grey primer (but it smells of old socks!), but I noticed a few remaining flakes of rust, so have removed those and Fertan'd them prior to a second coat of the primer - they look good, but I may have to paint the bilges now!