Tenders done... mooring upgrades...

Time's rushing on, the launch is a week next Tuesday (the 9th April, weather permitting) and it has been one long run of rain, wind, rain with wind, wind with rain, and repeat, to the point where the antifoul I need to get on the boat is beginning to keep me awake at night! 😏

For good reasons the club likes us to get the stuff on at least a week before launch otherwise it is too soft and will rub off on the strops of the hoist, and then from boat to boat..  not good.. either way, it's currently still windy, but sunny, and it looks to be the same tomorrow (Easter Saturday) and the car is loaded and tomorrow the job gets done...

First though, the stuff that has got done... the tender is complete just need to bolt the transom board back on, and tie-clip the fenders to the thwarts, but it's ready to go. Rodders is bringing his trailer round next Thursday to cart her back to the club.

So from where I left it last time - the filler is drying and been sanded to shape - while I waited for this to dry I decided to have a look and see what was underneath the rear seat... there's a big gap where it meets the inside of the transom which allows water in, but I also wanted to see how the seat was supported..

Note the gap at the back of the seat..

...and lo and behold...

...expanded foam with four point milk containers embedded in it - presumably for extra buoyancy...  time expired milk containers, as the one's I could see were brittle and cracked..

The seat rests directly on top of that foam - it is only supported at the front, "bugger this", quoth I - so ignoring the foam and extinct bottles I bolted in a batten on the inside of the transom for the seat to rest on, and screwed everything down.. I then cut and screwed in a batten along the top edge of the rear of the seat to close that gap with the transom - filler was then squeezed in all round the edge (a sikaflex copy sealant/adhesive mix) to make it watertight..

..with the thwarts ready for cloth and epoxy, the following is mid way..  two coats of cloth with epoxy on each layer..  seats have been sanded and had a first coat of paint..

...closer view of the batten.. 

Updated scene of the crime - front seat also sealed, sanded, and first coat of paint gone on..  I then applied more sealant to close out a few more gaps..  finally, once the epoxy was dry on the transom I added two more coats to seal in the cloth...  so that's four coats of epoxy with a layer of cloth between each of the first two layers

Calling the transom done I then gave the whole of the inside of the boat a going over with a sanding wheel on the angle grinder to remove all loose paint, and then gave it a coat of my unguent of choice - garage floor paint in dark grey. Weird I know but it does work; it's what I paint the bilges with on Sparrow, and what I also used to paint the inside of the last tender with - it's tough, slightly rubbery, and is UV stable. The only downside is that it takes 18 hours+ to dry, even longer when the temperatures are between 10 and 12 degrees like they were at the time.. 

No worries, turned it over to let the inside dry in peace, and attacked the hull with the sander - put a coat of epoxy primer on the repairs..

Two coats of a one pack, off the shelf, exterior black emulsion was then applied.. 

Bottom done...

...turned her over, and the interior was now dry.. how good does that look..   😀

Like that colour of floor paint.. 

...extended the black to the thwarts, and then to a mould line inside the hull.. 

...second coat of garage floor paint, a second coat of white on the front and rear seats and left it to dry.. I'm leaving the central seat in natural wood...

Looks better...  a veritable polished turd.. 😁

Separately, annual item #7 is complete with the addition of the following - I couldn't get the new shackle I bought last year to connect chain to swivel to undo, it is the poorest piece of galvanised sh*t I think I've ever seen, deeply rusty/flaky - angle grinded it off and replaced with a new one..  you'll note also I learned from my error last year, and I have a piece of whipping twine between the pin and the shackle (bottom left), so that when I'm out there bobbing up and down in the dinghy, hands cold, and trying to thread the pin though the mooring buoy eye, and I inevitably drop the pin, this time I won't lose it!

Antifouling tomorrow..