It’s a wonderful thing to see the boat beginning to enter the reconstruction phase after several weeks of deconstruction. The first phase of completion though will be the deck re-caulking job which currently involves new cotton being hammered into the seams. Above deck this is a loud process but down below it is almost deafening, something Peyton our new intern and I know all about. Our ears are ringing. Whilst Peyton has been prepping the interior paintwork for a touch up, I have been “idiot proofing” the systems, ie labelling everything to make it possible for almost anyone to figure out at a glance. This may sound like an easy enough task but pick up any floor board or open a cupboard and there are a lot of pipes, hoses and wires. Each system alone then has multiples of options take for example the heads. Black water can either be flushed over the side or diverted to the black tank. From the black tank it can either be pumped out from the deck or over the side via the electric pump. All of this plumbing is of course tightly packed into a very small cupboard which amplifies the look of its complexity.
With the damaged teak planks now repaired and the re caulking coming along nicely I am happy with progress here. At the same time as all the hammering has been going on on deck, the sanders have been buzzing away below deck as the team get to work on prepping for the fastest bottom the boat has ever had. I like to remind the team of how proud they will feel to see us reach new levels of speed never previously dreamt of!
Both Peyton and Nick have become experts at cramming themselves into tiny, inconvenient spaces as they prep for paintwork. Peyton down below and Nick in the lazarette. Nick has also got cracking with stripping the cap rail which had become patchy looking with light spots and darker areas.
Outside of our little tented world, Joe and his team have been working away at the mast head weight loss program and it looks like we will be able to make some significant savings.
So despite arctic conditions work is moving along nicely and we will soon be entering the much more uplifting reconstruction phase. But for now we are certainly on track for re launch by the end of April.
Hannah
