Decided on Saturday to sort out the small gel coat crack on the seam of the port rudder. It happened when we hit a barge on the canal. It looked easier to remove the whole thing to get at it. As the brackets came off that squeeze the rudder together, the two halves started to open up until there was a big gap. The grinder came out for the afternoon to make it even bigger and check the damage. Luckily as we’ve been out of the water for seven months, the inside was dry, so I brought it in to be warm and packed the hole solid with csm soaked in resin, then sanded it, then did it again to bring the surface flush with the existing, then applied a gel coat. On Monday it sat outside waiting to be sanded again but as it was raining I did inside jobs, fitting the new duct & fan on the fridge, connected the radar cables back together and cutting a gap in the fiddle on the table. The new hatch window that I fitted the other day passed its first driving rain leak test.
This morning was still grim outside so I fitted the Navtex which took until after dinner as it meant also sorting the gps & chart plotter that had never been secured properly since we bought the boat. I put the vhf on to see what was going on and followed two mayday calls with people struggling in the high wind which kept me entertained while I worked. The wind has been constant for the last few weeks, dropping for half an hour now & again and then going back to full force. Although it’s 27’C it’s still hat and fleece weather. It was at 30kts this morning which dried my washing in no time although I had to use all the pegs for about six things and is stronger now. As I type the boats shaking around on its wooden blocks. I went out this afternoon for more sanding and finished with another gel coat.
