All done and back in the water   Monday, 26/02/2024

The steel work was completed last week. It looks like a good job has been done. I was closely involved in the final stages, the actual fitting of the new arch to the boat. Basically, someone had to get into the space under the cockpit. And that someone turned out to be me. Being long and thin is just what’s wanted, and having long arms is a further plus.

So it was a matter of crawling back down through the small hatches at the back of each stern cabin into the space behind them, above which is the cockpit. And then positioning the top half of my body so that I could reach up and attach steel backing plates and then nuts to the bolts that were coming through from outside. And then holding those nuts in place while the bolts were turned from the outside. It sounds straightforward but wasn’t, due to the inner surface of the boat being far from smooth. The temperature outside was about 27 degrees, but inside this confined space it was at least 35. It wasn’t pleasant work, sweaty and dusty, but the upside I suppose is that I know exactly how the arch is attached to the boat. 

One thing I didn’t bank on was being scratched and battered by this work. Only once I’d finished – after a good three hours of doing this – did I realise that both my elbows were scratched and bleeding and that I’d rubbed a large patch on my left shoulder completely raw. The fibreglass is pretty rough on the inside, and covered with a lot of sharp dust. I’d have been better off if I’d been wearing something long sleeved and thick, rather than shorts and a t-shirt – but then the heat would have been unbearable. The professional guy I was working with said he could never go into that sort of space because he gets claustrophobic. It didn’t feel great to me, but fortunately I’m not claustrophobic. There was some light: you get a strange orange coloured light coming through the fibreglass hull, although I needed a torch too, which I held between my teeth. Anyway, that’s a major job all done. 

This morning we moved back into the water. The two guys who work in the marina are very quick and capable, so the boat was back in the water without any drama. I motored about 30 metres to get into a free space in the small marina, and one guy helped me tie up. So that all passed without incident, even though we did it in the rain.

It’s finally raining! After about two weeks without a drop of rain. Everything has been looking dry, brown patches on grass and cracks opening up in the ground. After a little rain yesterday and steady light rain today, we should have had about 15mm (over half an inch), so that should green everything up. The temperature today has been only 21 degrees, much cooler than the usual 25 to 27 degrees. Some very low cloud partly obscuring the hills around here. Very light wind – if it wasn’t, the rain would already have passed. The days are getting shorter: when I arrived in mid-December sunset was just after 8:30pm; now it’s at 8:05pm. Another few weeks and summer will be but a memory.