The last straw

Here is Tooley's man with his head in the gas locker. He is welding a patch into the bottom with a drain attached that will vent to the outside of the boat.

When he struck up an arc, the engine bay filled with smoke showing me how serious a problem we had.

As he took breather from his work he quipped "That proves it. Mason's paint isn't heat proof!'

I think we knew that! It is a great pity this little job wasn't done at the start of the job. But at least we have a safe boat. That is the important thing.

All in the accent!

I went to the boatyard today and saw SONFLOWER gleaming under the glowing red heaters having been coated with OWATROL. I blogged that the boat would be coated from stem to stern in this paint pre-treatment but called it "oletrol'! It must be Martin's accent (or my poor hearing) that promoted the mistake.

Here it is on the shelf.


It comes highly recommended by other boat painters, who used to work for Tooley's but branched out on their own as Oxon Boat Painters. I met one of them in the yard this morning and the other partner used to be my neighbour on Tramway Moorings. They say they use it all the time. It must be good.

And after all that progress

YES, Matt the Boss at Tooley's might have broken his ankle by falling down these steps keeping him away from the yard for ten days but he is still able to email me an INVOICE!

After the progress comes paying for it!

More to report

Here are some pictures of the new weed hatch and cover/baffle plate with quick release which replaces the shorter weed-hatch with eight bolt flange. All looking good.


Also today I saw Martin Pocock, the Tooley's painter, here degreasing the new cruiser stern back balustrade, before making good progress to do the whole boat ready for an application of oletrol sealer/preparation. This should be applied tomorrow to have two days drying time over the weekend.






The filler and primer should follow early next week.

It is all looking very good.

Update

I tried to visit SONFLOWER today but got to Tooley's just after they closed at 4pm. I peered through the glass. She is almost totally prepared now. Metal shining through all over the place.

She also has the balustrading complete on the cruiser stern deck and four shining new magnesium anodes fitted to the 12 foot extended area of the hull.