Progress continues, despite the anxiety of Covid 19. We were hoping to have relaunched today; however, although the predicted tide should have been sufficient to float us off, the high pressure we’re experiencing meant that there wasn’t enough water in the creek! Still, it has been a beautiful day and we have made a lot of progress since my last post.
Our aim was to have the boat as watertight as we could prior to relaunch. We started by concentrating on refitting stanchions, toe rails and rubbing strips over the past few days. Every bolt has fought hard. When we removed the stanchions I didn’t measure where the existing bolts were as I thought I would be able to pick up the original holes. However, this was before we replaced the whole deck which, in the process, took away all the old holes. The only remaining datum was the two screw holes in the stem post where the toe rail was attached. We have had to work our way back from this point which has been quite a battle.
We have also made new quadrants for the coachroof and fitted and sealed them. More plugging for Bridget to do! We have refitted the windlass onto the foredeck. This involved fixing an oil leak and making a new plinth out of iroko. Once installed we were able to lift the anchor chain and anchor back up into the forepeak which I was anxious to do before we moved the boat. I didn’t fancy having to walk across the boatyard with forty metres of chain and a danforth anchor!
There’s still lots more to do, but we now have to wait until Maundy Thursday before the next spring tides come back and hopefully, at last, lift us up off the slip. Till next time…….
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