To Busy to blog

At long last I have decided I needed to catch up on the blog. It has been over a month since I have added anything. Life has been busy and I have had almost no time to blog but I thought I really should bring it up to date.

So I decided in view of the imminent start of the season that I should put further work on PoppyCock on hold and switch my attention to Wild Goose.

Wild Goose was moved into the garage and I started first on the hull, sanding and painting. I had some problems with International paints 'Toplac' with my second coat; it just didn't seem to harden all over the hull, there were patches where it was touch dry but when sanded it started to rub off. Not good. I suspect it was either too cold or possibly condensation. I had to remove some of the paint and other bits did eventually harden but it is not the best finish. I did put 4 coats on, applied with a roller so they are thinner than if done with a brush, one 750ml can's worth did the job.

The decks, transom and insides were sanded and varnished next, two coats on the decks and transom, just one on the insides. I decided to leave some of the varnishing on the insides until warmer weather as I was beginning to run out of time; I need to be ready for the 17th March.

Refitting was fairly quick although I spent some time trying to solve problems with the cunningham controls. I purchased two new blocks to do the job and so far it looks good.

Today I fitted new halyards to the mast, stepped it and hoisted the sails, including the new jib, to check measurments and control lines. I had to make a change to the mast rake, We had just a tad to little so moved the pins a little. The problem is that I don't have a tension gauge but I shall check it as soon as I can. I might even buy one!

The final job was to check over the launching trolley and road trailer. I built a mast support and light board to mount on the pintals, I was never happy with the setup last year and nearly damaged the light board. All I need to do to be complete is get one wheel changed on the road trailer and we are ready.

I have done some work on PoppyCock's new deck but I shall blog about that tomorrow, or later, but it will be soon!