More ticks than a mangy dog...

..yep, one of those posts... again..  funny how they always pop up a fortnight before launch every year... 😏

Couple of days of intensive effort have seen a fair few items ticked off the list not the least of which were two off that priority list on the last post..

First though, some much needed restorative work on the cockpit hatches - I take these off every winter (as mentioned) but even with that, a season in the summer sun and weather still causes issues - the ply is not the best (i'll be honest), and invariably needs a bit of ongoing maintenance but the recent purchase of a random orbital sander gave me the excuse to start on it...

First off a good sanding all over preparatory to any repairs and a couple of coats of paint revealed some issues.. a couple of more serious failures were repaired with plastic wood..

This one was over the locking catch - probably caused by the screws for the catch itself, but it resulted in a loss of a layer of the ply..

One had a split on a corner - filled the layers with glue and clamped it..

Other than the corner this one was largely ok..

..this is the one with the plastic wood repairs over the catch... took three applications of the filler, with a sand and smooth between each..

...and with a coat of primer you can now hardly see the repair...  jobs good..  next it'll be time for some white paint..

Meanwhile - down at the boat - a slightly larger paint job has taken place..  first the obligatory 'before' shots..

..note the over paint on the rubbing strip - fairly convinced I was either drunk, or I painted it in the dark.. 😏The other side was the same, if not worse..

...and after...

..note the lack of overpaint on the rubbing strip... same the other side (which definitely was worse) - dead chuffed with that..

...very very pleased that's done - it's a hideous job..

I also took the opportunity having cleaned up the overpaint to rub down the rubbing strips on both sides, the cockpit board, and the outboard pad, and gave them all a coat of wood treatment..

Boats look the dogs nadgers with dark blue antifoul.. 👌😁