Inclement weather this week

The week started cold and bright however on Monday morning the boat was running with water from the previous nights heavy dew I did eventually manage to give all the new undercoat a light sanding and wash down and then retired inside to continue with wrapping the wiring and when I ran out of materials I set to and installed the cables through to the aft cabin for the stern navigation light and the aft cabin lighting. On Wednesday the temperature was high enough to put a coat of 'Toplac' on the transom and a second coat of 'Prekote' on the areas where the fibreglass repairs had been carried out.

Transom after first coat of 'Toplac'

The next task was to permanently attach the solar panel to the hatch garage I gave the area and the back of the panel a light sanding to provide a key for the adhesive then cleaned both with acetone before applying a generous bead of PU40 and pressing the panel down, I used a couple of weights to make sure the panel followed the camber of the hatch garage, and then left it to cure. To finish off the day on Wednesday I made a start on sorting the aft cabin the current homework project to refurbish the aft cabin woodwork has been slowly progressing over the last few weekends and has reached the point that I can start refitting the aft cabin. Up to now it has been used as a bit of a glory hole where stuff has been dumped for possible future use also as a paint/epoxy store so all in all it was in a bit of a mess. To start with I moved all the timber paint etc to the starboard side so that I could make a start on the port side. Over the next week or so the intention is to sort through the pile and anything not deemed to be of immediate use will be removed to my garage. Once the port side was clear the first job was to remove all the paint/varnish splashes from the berth moulding using a scraper and some fine wet and dry paper it has come up quite well it just requires polishing the locker lids will require a light sanding to remove the paint splashes and then a coat of varnish, they were all re varnished earlier on in the project.

Berth moulding after clean up

Today dawned bright and dry but it was far too cold to even consider painting even though the International Paints data sheet indicates that 'Toplac' can be applied at temperatures down to 5 degrees C it was not forecast to get above that all day and tonight's temperature is forecast as below freezing so it was back to the aft cabin. Once the clean up was complete I moved on to trial fit the port aft panel this one proved to be a much better fit than those of the fore cabin, I haven't done anything more with those yet, in fact the port aft one proved to be quite a tight fit I hope the rest prove to be likewise. I still need to paint and refit the locker doors and it looks as though I shall have to make some new shelves as the originals seem to be missing its not a major job but with the curve of the hull to fit it's always nice to have the originals for a pattern whatever condition they may be in. The intention is to line the hull sides with some of the van lining carpet it is great stuff for this type of thing as it has a high degree of flexibility in all directions and it has the added advantage of helping prevent condensation on the hull sides.

Port aft panel in place

Once the panel was in place I could mark up for the timbers to attach the panel to the aft bulkhead and underneath the deckhead these were then cut and secured in place with self tapping screws. Next weeks weather doesn't look particularly promising as far as painting is concerned so the plan is to continue in the aft cabin.