Its now three months since i started the planking. December turned out to be one of the coldest in years and January wasn't much better. So its hardly surprising that very little progress was made. Even if I can stand the cold, the epoxy was taking an age to go off. A time to stay indoors and read a good book. We'd made a family decision to stay in the south over Christmas as Chloe wasn't allowed to fly, so we had the most relaxing time we've had in years and only felt slightly guilty.
January brought the worst (or Best) snow we've had in 20 years which caused chaos and was loads of fun! But again the temperatures were hovering around zero which isn't good epoxy weather. Gradually things warmed up a wee bit and i could start planking again.
I have to confess I struggled a bit at first. Having had such a long lay off since the last build I was clumsy at first, the tools didn't sit comfortably in my hands, and I was making silly mistakes.
I'm also having to wear specs this time round as old age doesn't come un-announced! The first couple of planks were tricky, they seemed to want to lie too far down the stem, i.e. nearer the keelson than they should and took some persuading to lie on their marks. Looking back i'm sure its down to various creeping inaccuracies on my part. I was pretty rough cutting the gains so a fair bit of epoxy was required to cover my indiscretions. My moral was at a low point at this time and I was wondering why I ever thought I was a boat builder.
Any notions of a bright finish went out the window, still I percevered and the weather got a we bit warmer which improved the epoxy cureing times and the moral. I juggled the planks into shape and gradually improved my hand to eye coordination.
A few more planks went on and things were beginning to look up, there's still a long way to go though. I'm now half way through the planking.
I'm also having to wear specs this time round as old age doesn't come un-announced! The first couple of planks were tricky, they seemed to want to lie too far down the stem, i.e. nearer the keelson than they should and took some persuading to lie on their marks. Looking back i'm sure its down to various creeping inaccuracies on my part. I was pretty rough cutting the gains so a fair bit of epoxy was required to cover my indiscretions. My moral was at a low point at this time and I was wondering why I ever thought I was a boat builder.
Any notions of a bright finish went out the window, still I percevered and the weather got a we bit warmer which improved the epoxy cureing times and the moral. I juggled the planks into shape and gradually improved my hand to eye coordination.
A few more planks went on and things were beginning to look up, there's still a long way to go though. I'm now half way through the planking.
All of this activity in the garage was of course just a diversion to the more important activity which was going on elsewhere. Very gradually and with the inevitability which nature intended Brooke Lyra Joan Gover was getting ready to make her debut and on Friday 20th Feb she arrived, making her grandad very proud and letting just a bit of perfection into his life!
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