Time rushes by when you are working so hard and June has just about passed without trace. Quickly, because I am still working on Seapod flat out.
We took Seapod up to Beale Park boatshow where she was well received. There was more than one professional bout builder who had to ask how her planks were fastened and lots of casual viewers who wanted to know if the planks were glued together.
The sun shined for all three days and Seapod sat outside in the sun and (for the UK) baked nicely. A sunny boat show is a pretty good test for a carvel boat – will the seams open up? No chance – it looks like the construction strategy has worked. We dropped her in the water on the Sunday for a quick dip and the only water that came in splashed up the centreboard case housing (no gasket fitted yet). It looks like we have a carvel boat that does not need to take up. I’ll want to wait a couple of years before being sure – but the boat is looking very (structurally) stable.
The paint, after a lot of discussion and changes of mind (on my part) is good old plain Blakes Epoxy Undercoat (EPU). I had limited time available to get paint on before Beale Park and knew that I could, with some helping heaters, get two coats of EPU on a day. I managed four just quickly rollered on and will, for this season, just flat it back with 600 grit wet and dry for that ‘racing finish’. I left the stem bright for now, but now, having seen her in the water, think that the boat will look much better with a painted stem – lets see if I can manage that before she starts racing.
Simon Case takes some nice photos of the interior at Beale Park. Good light, good angles.
I had just, before we came away, applied a load of Deks Olje #1 to the sheer strake and some of it had leached through to the breast hooks. The Deks seemed to be irresistible to a whole family of dragonflies who sat on it all day. Loads of people went away from Beale Park having taken photos of my boat in order to get a photo of a dragonfly at rest. I failed to take any – so if anyone reading this took one – perhaps you can let me have a link.
Once back from Beale Park I spend the week in a desperate rush gathering materials to take home and finish off the boat. Spars, foils, floorboards, rudder etc all need to be built and time has run out. I get the rest of the topsides oiled before the Lyme Regis course launch in the harbour and hooray – we have a sunny warm day. There is a team down from The Daily Telegraph to do a feature so in due course we should see some nice colour supplement pictures of the four boats that were launched.
As I was launching (and sometimes rowing) Neil took most of these photos for me.
All lined up for the start
I think that she looks just about ready to go
Moving along nicely
…..
After we had had a good row around a few other (more experienced rowers) took a turn and expressed satisfaction with how she felt. My view is that she sits too high for a rowing boat – but this was by design as she is really designed to sail – so……
In a fit of bravado – and to make sure that Seapod gets finished – I put in an entry form for the Crinan Classic Regatta. For this event, the first weekend in July, she not only has to sail, but also race.
So it’s back to the garage in Edinburgh to finish off all the bits that are needed to make this happen. That’s what I have been doing for the last week.
