In these difficult times I feel fine about making up a new word. I define it as the opportunities a lock down can provide.
We are weirdly busy at work, and with reduced staff numbers in the building, I find myself doing more to keep things running. While being grateful for the ability to be open, operating and employing in an almost normal way, I am sincerely worried for my staff and their exposure, but we are following all guidelines and making some up ourselves. (e.g. we still process film, and are one of the few businesses that can process uncommon types of film, we had to put a quarantine on incoming film. Mostly because some types require licking of the backing paper to seal it up….yes licking.)
So, am I making another excuse for not having my boat launched in these restricted times? No, I’ve been busy, working up to the maximum my wrist can cope with, which is about 4 hours at a time.
I chose to fibreglass the interior sides as well as the floors. While not prescribed, I felt it would be good for impact protection and durability of locker internals. The process involves the following; Ensuring the surface being ‘glassed is even, so potentially it needs to be faired first. Fibreglassing it dry to prevent sagging in the epoxy on the upright surfaces. Potentially sanding the fibreglass to take out lumps. Filling the cloth weave with epoxy that has a little lightweight filler to fill it quickly without sagging. And a final sanding to make it fair.
It is a slow process, one I did not account for. Thankfully late last year Morgan could spare some time and the fibreglassing was done leaving me to do the finishing. And I am almost finished this stage.
Next I will be building in interior furniture. Yay!
All this time I have been working out where to move the enclosed head to. I do not like it’s position just forward of the centreboard truck to starboard, it shrinks the cabin so much. It takes what should be a generous welcoming space and chops it up too much.
That being said, I cannot get rid of a private toilet space on the boat, I am not an animal. (Plus I have a wife and two daughters).
As Ronald Reagan said, Tear down this wall!
Paul's boat blog 