In Ernest

So there I was pondering over project boat in the holy place, do I dunk the Hob Nob into my tea or should I eat it un-moist, decisions, decisions…. When I suddenly thought, bugger this, I’d best be making a start.

The major concern at the moment is that the dinghy had been left upright but uncovered for most of last year and with the paint and varnish being on the tired side (ok knackered) the wood, although thankfully not rotten, is in places absolutely sodden. With the temperatures at the moment in low single figures at the best (much lower at night) the prospect of her drying out enough to allow work of any substance to be carried out was looking to be eons away. I needed to remedy this and help the drying process along a little but without drying her out to fast either, I don’t want to warp her lines if it can be helped. My simple answer was to turn her turtle and place under her a small paraffin greenhouse heater with just enough output to dry her out gently over the next four days whilst I’m wasting away in work (oh bliss). So I really needed to turn her over today, and after much head scratching, straining and tea the little lady now sits upside down and at a decent enough height to allow room for the heater to sit without being to close. I was fortunate enough in that the frame that I’d built to hold a dinghy upright, once it was turned over, supported the turned turtle boat, forward planning or what? (I know, just lucky). So below are a series of photos showing the stages of turning, it would have been far easier if there had been two of us doing the lifting but hey once a stubborn ass always a stubborn ass!

The rest of the late afternoon and early evening has been spent in stripping all the loose and lifting paint allowing the wood to breathe and hopefully aid in the drying process. This has allowed a closer inspection of the hull in which a couple of things have come to light, firstly there are three repairs to one side of the hull which all require redoing, but do not look to serious, and there is one repair which looks to been done ok but just needs finishing off for a better appearance before painting.

Hopefully my lack of experience in this sort of work will not prevent me from making a decent job of this project, but if you see any flaws in my plans or work please don’t hold back with any advice, god knows that I’m going to need it!!! Now then I’ll think I will dunk those Hob Nobs after all……