FIRST FIT OF THE EXTERNAL BALLAST KEEL AND PAD.

Dave, the shipwright ,finished the rough shaping of this oak pad with the adze and continued using an electric rotary plane and finally a hand plane. To my untrained eye it's a perfect fit,but Dave will lower it down again to take out any minor lumps and bumps.

Then we will need to have some keel bolts made ( approx.1 m long ) to bolt from the inside ballast keel to the external one.We are still not sure how to drill these holes through the keels but we have expert advice and help from Buckley's Crane Hire of Conwy.
MEANWHILE DAVE LOW CONTINUES DECK BEAM FITTING
Dave is at present creating the final forward deck beam from a beautiful slab of Welsh oak supplied by Adrian. Once planed ,we both keep stroking the beam as the wood is gorgeous (our case comes up next week !)

Today was the day of the " weather bomb" when winds were forecast to exceeded 70 mph but luckily we were protected from the worst of the  wind by the castle walls. We even saw a few rays of sunshine.
The sun always shines on the  righteous ! Guess who ?

Shipwright Dave began to plan out the welldeck (I think) This is the area from which you steer the ship standing up or in a sitting position.As we have no plans ,Dave is using a method of construction called " wingin' it "

Having fitted the port (left) side of the welldeck, He is now preparing the starboard (right) side.

Today was the coldest day of the year or it felt like it.

I was overworked with hot tea provisions for shipwright Dave
BUT

Apprentice Dave prefers his own drinks which he brings each day.

The silver flask contains  his special coffee .
It always brings a smile to his face !
The purple bottle contain spring water which makes him smile even more .
We don't know what the third bottle is for but you can't wipe the smile off his face all day !

We had a visit today from The Blind Veterans Association which caters for armed  service personnel.They have a base in Craig y don and are very interested in our project - which may later prove of value to their service members , as many have a naval background.
We had a interesting chat.
William Turner from the Northern Archaeological Diving Unit came with them .He has sailed round the world .An interesting life ! He has kindly offered to donate to the trust an eight man life raft ,50 m of chain and an amount of ropes. Many thanks from us all......