Petestack Blog

Should have photographed this main hatch while it still had strips of soft lining and polystyrene backing hanging from it, but didn’t think of it. Stripping the old lining and glue from it would be so easy with the hatch off the boat, but it’s held captive by fitted teak rails that would be a major faff to remove and refit, so done in situ. (more…)

To quote this afternoon’s Facebook post:

The ‘forgotten’ job from last summer’s stripping: clean back the central section of forecabin deckhead where lining material gets glued direct to the hull. Two solid days’ work to take off the old glue (and ultimately most of the paint) without simply redistributing sticky ridges of gluepaint!

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Sometimes the best things just come out of the blue!

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Several weeks ago, I said that I didn’t think Fly’s bunk-foot lockers would ‘be anything like as tricky to paint as the heads compartment because you don’t have to get right into them the same way’, but of course I was wrong. While you can’t paint yourself into quite the same inescapable corner, they’re still very, very awkward for other reasons including sheer grovel factor and a starboard locker where (lacking the port locker’s flat fuel tank base) you have to work with brush inside and paint tin outside. (more…)

From the ‘cell of little ease’ to somewhere even worse… most of this afternoon was spent cleaning/stripping the port bunk-foot locker for repainting. I’d hoped to get the starboard one done too and prime them, but should have known better with plenty previous experience of grovelling beneath the cockpit! (more…)

Long ago, at primary school, we learned of Guy Fawkes being imprisoned in the cell of ‘Little Ease’ (which I recall first hearing as the cell of little ‘e’s!)… a space too small to stand, lie down or even sit comfortably. I’ve thought of it many times while trying to paint Fly’s heads compartment, where relatively quick-drying primer and undercoat have been awkward enough, but sticky gloss unsurprisingly proved more testing yet. (more…)

What you’re seeing in tonight’s blog is nav. shelf fitting and cool box construction done by Twig mostly when I wasn’t here, but I’ve also got plenty to do while he’s elsewhere, so still good teamwork! (more…)

No undoing to report tonight, so just more satisfactory doing…

Twig was here again last Friday, when we had the folding chart table back in the boat to check its pivot points and spent some time adjusting these (clearly not right before!) to get it to sit parallel to the main bulkhead before starting work on new shelves to go behind it. (more…)

Some more doing (and even a little undoing!) since last weekend…

I got another coat of varnish on the companionway bulkhead facing on Wednesday evening, then started the forecabin woodwork undercoating while Twig worked on the galley on Friday afternoon (NB Highland high schools now finish Friday lunchtime). (more…)