Thursday 28 July
John I texted to say that he had been a close Covid contact and wouldn’t be coming in today. In fact it was only Adrian and myself who turned up on a cold crisp morning which quickly warmed up. I started by giving the outer gunwale battens a good sand, mainly to get warm but also to remove the saw marks. The oregon has a tendency to splinter and I did have a couple of problems with it. I’m hoping that when it is coated in resin and varnish it will hold together.
Adrian climbed into the boat with his cushion and multitool and sanded the underside of the gunwale which was a difficult and uncomfortable job. No sleeping possible.
I then cut the ends of the outer gunwale battens to fit the stems. I must be learning something as this went surprisingly well. We then had a tea break and decided we would go for glueing on the outer gunwales, spurred on by the warm sunshine and a forecast for a cold wet week next week. The usual process of wetting out and buttering up the battens with just enough glue this time and then it was every clamp on deck as it were.
We were still in the shed at 2.30 so we had a cuppa and some more cake after we had finished.
Hope to see more of you next week Covid permitting. Only just over 3 months to launch day on November 5th.
Cheers Dave