Back on the Water

The lift back into the water went well on Tuesday, in fact by the time we got down to the harbour at 9am she was already on her berth.
The mast was stepped back in place later that day and we've spent the rest of our time to date getting the rigging back in place and making adjustments.
I took advantage of the rain showers on Tuesday and treated the deck with the first two stages of Teak Wonder (cleaner and brightener) and then followed up with the final step of the sealer yesterday as the sun had come for most of the day and dried it out to finish that particular job off.
We managed to get the jib on yesterday with the help of a break in the breeze and are pleased to report that a triangular fixing that the other half rigged up when the mast was off seems to work really well; the halyard no longer twists.
The cockpit cover fits well now I've rigged up the elastic fixings to final size and it was tested for water pooling points on Tuesday as we had heavy rain overnight.
The forecast today is light winds so we're planning on bending the mainsail on and even going for a quick sail to test things out.
It's all coming together at last, but it's great to be back on the water and the right side of Summer!

Sail Cover in Production

Nearly at our launch date so I'm having a break from woodwork and doing some sewing!
I made a sail cover last year by making a very simple 'boom tent' design that protected the cockpit as well as the sails.  That worked well, but we decided that a separate cockpit cover and sail cover would be better.

Having been inspired by the 'Sewing Bee' programme on the TV I have now set about altering the boom tent into the cover for the cockpit.  I've also started work on the sail cover with the fabric I had left over from our original purchase last year (we bought enough to do a sail cover too if we needed it).

Mum taught me to sew on an old Singer treadle sewing machine as soon as I could reach the treadle and I've kept it ever since; it still comes out on occasion for jobs like this!

I'll post progress as I go on a new Page .....

Long Time No Update ....

Time flies when you're busy and up against the clock!
We've booked our lift back into the water on the 22nd of this month so we're on serious countdown now to get things done.
We had a week off work recently with a plan to get us well on our way to completion but true to form the weather wasn't brilliant so we were restricted in terms of what we could do.
Good news is that I've finally managed to get to my 7th and final coat of varnish on the cabin and cockpit and Toplac on all the white areas.  I'll post photo's on the relevant pages when I get a chance in the next day or so.
In the garage, we managed to sand down the bilge covers and re-treat with Teak Wonder so they're back to looking loved and sanded down the locker covers ready for 7th (final) varnish coat and primed the undersides with Pre-Kote ready for Toplac.
Busy, busy, busy.......