3 Mar 2022
Yesterday JP and I called into Denmarks’s amazing Country Tool and Auto shop on Strickland Street to buy a fire extinguisher for the shed (hope we won’t need it!). The shop is an Aladdin’s cave of auto parts and specialty tools but the best thing is the service from the couple who own it. I’d been in there a couple of times asking for sponsorship so they knew what we were up to and they very generously gave us a fire extinguisher.
This morning Geoff B and Adrian were waiting for me at the shed before 9am. Geoff was dropping off some extra clamps that will come in handy today and Adrian was keen to get started and I set him to cleaning off the excess glue from the inner stem that had bubbled out.
JP turned up and immediately got stuck into preparing a the next laminates for the outer stern stem. We had decided to sand them so that the glue would spread more easily and hopefully go further.
Then our first visitors arrived. Murray Cornworthy and his wife Shelly. Murray had been involved in the building of the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club skiffs and had gone on to help organise the Augusta Rowers build too. He recommended that we kept the stems in traction once they come off the jig until we need them or they will loose their shape.
Veronica and Paul W turned up and were looking for direction so I set them both up with knocking more of those tabs off the fiddly pieces of the frames, which they went to with gusto.
We had a proper tea break this morning with everyone sitting down for a chat but it was hard for some of us to stop the enthralling work. Afterwards we got the surfaces ready for the next glue job by covering them in baking paper which is so non-stick that the packing tape doesn’t even stick to it. Worries about whether we had enough glue left were on our mind as three of us applied the glue to the laminates but we managed to get a good covering. We have more glue on order.
Then it was back to the jig and with both stems wrapped in cling wrap we started clamping again. It went well and wasn’t such a mess this time. Our technique must be improving.
After that we called it a day as everyone except Veronica had things to get to. JP and I are sailing our Stornaway 18 at Walpole for the next 3 days with the Old Gaffers of WA. Adrian is planning to drop in and see us there on his motorbike cruise to Nannup. I sent out an Email about the Swampscott Dory that is being silent auctioned there. If you want to come over and have a look at it, it will be at Coal Mine Beach.
We will be back in the shed on Monday despite it being a public holiday and we have John Longley dropping in.
Cheers Dave