AFTER THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS ITS UPDATE TIME

Over the past few weeks since the last blog, Apprentice Dave has finished the forward hatch and is now perfecting his christmas present for his daughter  "Jack In A Box"

Then he completed the flooring in the forward bunk section and moved on to make slats in the wet store.

This will allow air to circulate around clothing to reduce any condensation and speed up drying.

Wednesday Phil continued painting the decks and glossing internal woodwork.
 He is now on light  duties as muscle tears and tendon inflammation, due to repetative strain, is reminding him that he's no longer a young whipersnapper and he has to ham it up to win a compensation claim !

Shipwright Dave continued  making and fitting toe rails on to the deck to prevent crew sliding off the boat in slippy times.
Once first  fitted  (making sure all fits correctly) they are bent into place using brute force ( called Dave) and sealed with mastic sealant.

As the toe rail has to be made of five sections ,each plank has to be joined to the previous one by  a scarf joint.
Dave does this by  cutting both ends into a wedge  which marry up exactly as in the picture.( click on the picture to see the detail )
These are then clamped together with a mastic  core and bolted together for a rigid joint. It's a joy to see the precision !

In order to make the stern section, thin planks of wood had to be steamed, bent and glued together around a template which is an exact copy of the required shape.
Dave made the template from plywood and five layers of wood were bent and glued together to form the lamination.

This fitted perfectly to the stern and was scarfed in.
Shipwright Dave looked on with satisfaction ( as an artist might view a picture ).
We all knew he was some kind of artist !

Today's final photos of the completed toe rail.

Apprentice Dave begins work on the cabin hatch................
to be continued !