Afloat again

[Silkie]

Silkie was launched yesterday. Lots of jobs still to do including some varnishing and completing the sprayhood repair. Yep - that's right - I'm patching it again and installing a new (from a skip) window. It'll be braw bein' able tae see oot it again.

[Aja]

Launching 11th april.....

Yee-ha!

Donald

[ash]

Silkie was launched yesterday.

Well Done. Any photos of the ding? Or did it turn out to be merely a scratch?

It'll be braw bein' able tae see oot it again.

Might reduce the likelyhood of future dings!!

Ash

[Silkie]

Barely more than a scratch and mostly affecting a previous repair in this area. Roughed it up and slathered on some epoxy/micro-fibre mix. Job done.

Visibility was not an issue at the moment of impact. I'm pretty sure the sprayhood was down in fact since I usually only put it up when required.

[DaveS]

Well last weekend I took advantage of the weather and got fair stuck intae the backlog of winter jobs. To such good effect that she's now in! I didn't know whether she'd be launched by today, so the "if not" plan B was to put another 4 coats of Polyglow on the topsides. It might be possible to do this later on a calm day from the pontoon, or perhaps at anchor from the dinghy - maybe! Spent today washing the decks, fiddling with the standing rigging and checking that the latest electronic toy is working. Quite fun coming down the L Lomond road on a Friday night for a change, with the hordes heading the other way.

Weather's looking OK, and it would have been nice to stay, but I'm off tomorrow for another week's skiing... This retirement game keeps ye awfae busy!

[ash]

another 4 coats of Polyglow on the topsides.

Will be interested to hear how you rate the Polyglow - read the recent report in one of the mags - it sounded like a good way to make (in my case) 33 yr old gelcoat look better.

ash

[Magna Carter]

Ash,

I used it on our last boat, and was thoroughly impressed by it..... like most boat jobs, the secret seems to be in the preparation, but it did bring 30yr old gel up to a condition that while, not quite like brand new, was certainly very good....

[Aja]

I used this for this first time this season.

Firstly I Y10'd the whole topsides, washed down with a fairly concentrated wash of Autoglym shampoo & conditioner (only joking about the conditioner) then applied the Autoglym resin polish.

I started to take the resin polish off with the Halfords 240v lambswool polisher - but soon stopped. it was far easier to lightly rub the polish off with a lint free cloth.

Total cost was about £35 including Y10.

Its the easiest I'v ever done this.

When I get a chance with a camera I'll post pics.

Donald

[ash]

MagnaCarter

Thanks for the recommendation.

Donald

I must admit that Autoglyn is my favorite polish for the car as it cleans off so easily. I use the roll of stockinette that you can buy in Halfords. I haven't tried it on the boat.

Both

Despite not having an Aluminium toerail, I still get the black/grey streaks down the topsides which annoy me. I don't know what causes them. Mistral has been afloat since April 2003 so any recent polishing of the topsides has been by hand from the dinghy. When washing I tend to use neat boatwash on a sponge head with a extendable handle.

Ash

[Aja]

Ash

As far as I'm aware - this has nothing to do with the Aluminium. It is just run off from the deck. The rain is full of pollution - maybe even a touch of acid rain!

Donald

[ash]

The rain is full of pollution

I used to blame the open fires in the Hotel during the winter, but others blame the diesel goods train which sits for ages in the station every night.

Ash