Its a bit 'peter cries wolf' as I've said this before but the keels are almost at an end, just have to laminate a kevlar rub strip onto the leading edge and sole of each and then its hawk and trowel at the ready to smooth over the lumps and bumps.
Got the cradle back together and fitted under the boat, that was a performance but necessary to get the job done then when the kevlars on dismantle it and flog it (hopefully) along with alot more bits and bobs i've got too.
What else........oh yeah had a right result buying some wests off a WOA member (cheers Tony) he used it for his own boats osmosis treatment, its around half a 'c' pack so that should get the hull filled and faired maybe even get the barrier coat on seeing as he kindly included the additive in the sale.
Spent the last couple of days de-rigging the mast back to a length of aluminium, that was a pain in the arse too, spent three hours coaxing the plug in the bottom out, at one point i contemplated making the mast 40mm shorter so stubborn was it but eventually it played ball, well that - a can of WD40 and a bloody great rubber mallet.
Since i started the project i wanted to add a bit more canvas to get the old girl moving seeing as it needs near gale-force conditions to get it going so last year set about reinforcing the deck in various places and adding plywood gussets in the stern to take runners.
I did all this discreetly thinking it will really need a crew to operate, but to go runner-less and still have a fat roach main requires more brains than i have (yacht design drop-out 1998), so to make it work i have taken some professional advice which required me stripping the mast to take piccies and measurements to send to the engineer.
I know they say yacht design is 10% science 90% art but the thought of the rig coming down and cracking my or various crews skulls open like water melons appealled even less than lots of bits of string in the cockpit.
Roger
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