Saturday 7th December 2019
Having been prevented from starting sooner there seemed to be a feeling of Deja Vu as once more I found myself with heat lamp in hand once more stripping varnish from the boat. I am really pleased with how well the exterior of hull has maintained its appearance and finish after a full season following last winter’s efforts.
This winter’s ‘challenge’ is to strip and refurbish the inside of the hull and at the same time to check the condition whilst restoring it to some baseline standard. If I am honest then this was not a job that I had been relishing but when out on the Loch in any sort of wave it is important and comforting to know the condition of the timbers and planks beneath the floor on this almost 60 year old boat.
Stripping the external hull last winter seemed a breeze I thought today as I started to strip the varnish between the many ribs and from all the various nooks and crannies, excruciatingly slow, back breaking work. After several hours toil it seemed I had merely scratched the surface – no pun intended. How else would you spend a dreich wet Saturday!
The Dogged Angler 