Back from Europe

I was away for two weeks (and three weekends) on vacation in England and Ireland, visiting friends.  We spent most of the time in London, with a four-day trip to Ireland where our friends are building a house out of the ruins of a family cottage and cow-shed, on a lonely windswept hillside with stunning views, and overight trips to Cambridge and Brighton.  We visited my alma mater (Sussex University), met some of my college friends from 32 years ago, hiked on the Sussex downs, walked long distances, went on a punting trip on the river Cam, attended services at King's College, Cambridge chapel (with the men's and boys' choir filling the Gothic space with angelic music), visited museums, saw four plays, ate wonderful food and sampled excellent beer.  It can be argued that all that is not the subject of this blog, but it is relevant because it delayed the boatbuilding, and in any case it falls under the category of "other follies."  Our second week there coincided with a record heat wave (for England), up to the mid-80s (or almost 30 Celsius).  That was nice except that it was totally unexpected (people had been grumbling that the UK hadn't had a summer at all this year) and we hadn't packed enough warm weather clothes.  On a Saturday in and around Brighton, on the south coast, the beaches were mobbed and the sea was full of beautiful sailboats.

Which brings us to the main subject of the blog.  Since coming back I reinforced the undersides of the bench tops with extra strips of plywood, covered the insides of the benches with a second coat of epoxy, and waterproofed (hopefully) the buoyancy compartments with epoxy fillets along the seams.  Then I glued and nailed the bench tops in place.  They still need to be finished, and the doors reinforced, fitted and finished.  Finally, I glued and screwed the inwales in place.  Nothing worth taking a picture of yet, but things are steadily moving along.  The next big step will be side deck knees and the side- and fore-decking.  Somehow I doubt I will finish before the cold weather sets in.

So, despite the occasional slow stretch, keep reading 176inches!

boatbuilder