Despite temperatures plunging to all new lows and snow seemingly falling every other day, the refit project is forging ahead right on track. The deck team have been working meticulously to even up all the seems and remove old cotton ready for the re caulking stage to begin next week. It’s always a satisfying part of the process when things start to go back together, it begins to feel like we are making some progress. Nick has had the not so glamorous task of cleaning up and painting the bilges. Whereas two weeks ago they were a little grubby and tied looking, you could now eat your dinner out of them! He has also been busy prepping and varnishing, applying the new AWLwood varnish to the butterfly hatch covers. We are hoping this will prove itself to be a slightly hardier coating than normal varnish. Dorade is raced hard so keeping the varnish in good condition is a thankless task.
We have Jens from Baltic Boat Works working in conjunction with Harken to make custom sheaves for our wood block inventory and are all prepped for the arrival of Shea who will be giving the electrical system the once over starting mid February. We will also be welcoming IYRS student Peyton Albanese to the team for a month on an internship basis. She will provide some vital help for Nick in prepping for painting and and varnishing. Sevenstar Marine Engineering have been hard at work creating the template for the new stem head fitting and we spent some of yesterday afternoon finalising small details to make sure the final piece is perfect.
And finally we were all excited to see the arrival of our new 40ft container which will get its own refit soon providing a set up that will allow us to be as much of a self sufficient set up as is possible when we travel.
