Thread: Got keen

Got keen this afternoon and headed out into the heat. 38 degrees - more in the shed I quickly realised that working in the shed was going to be one of my more daft ideas, but I also noted that the house was throwing a widening shadow over the back lawn and it was a darned sight cooler out there than in the shed (oh okay, less stinking hot). So I dragged Redback into the shade, turned her over and had a look at her broken seat. Ten minutes later, the jigsaw roared into life and her broken seat was no longer broken ... just smaller

For those of you that don't read my posts, her seat overhangs a frame by about 2". A clumsy tacking manoevre modified that to 'some of the seat overhanging the frame' and, seeing there's stuff all room in the cockpit of the wee boatie, it's now 'none of the seat overhangs the frame', thus giving me an extra couple of inches to move about in.

The old jigsaw of course, does a fairly ragged job, so I fired up my belt sander

I now understand why Mik loves these weapons of massive destruction. In minutes, the seat was straight, smooth, bevelled and the corners rounded off. I am a convert

That area now needs painting of course and her gunwales are a bit knocked about and her bottom was getting a bit sad, so I flipped her over, fired up me Mouse Sander and smoothed out the bits that needed touching up ... this time (I doubt I'll use enamel on a boat again, it's too soft). It didn't take long to decide that her whole bottom would benefit with a coat of paint, so I got out the last of my sanders, the mighty random orbital, gave her bum a quick once over, dug out the tin of paint and painted her hull.

All in temperatures that had the the cockatoos flying around with umbrellas to keep the sun off

Man it felt good.

And it occured to me that that a boat's first recoat is a bit of a milestone in her life. Redback's about 3 years old now, done a lot of work as a rowboat though very little under sail, and lives upside down on her trailer, out in the elements (no cover). There were a couple of cracks in the paint but the rest of it was all battle damage. I reckon she's done pretty well.

So, me wee boatie now has a pretty bottom again (till next time she goes to work). In a day or two, I'll touch up the inside where I repaired that seat and redo her gunwales. All ready for the trip to Stansbury for the wooden boat regatta

Tomorrow's lunacy? I chop about 6" off me tiller ... which'll be fun because the tiller is made with two arms and I'm effectively cutting off the bit that joins them at the end (Mik should recognise that design). They'll need to be rejoined but I'm sick of being prodded in the kidneys everytime I want to go about.

Richard