Back in the Boat Shed

Towards the end of August I went to the UK for 10 weeks. While I was there I managed to meet up with a couple of people who own boats like the one I am building. First was John Sharpe and his SFD Able called Michy Lou for several hours sailing on Lake Ullswater on a cold, wet and windy day.

 Second was Nigel Modern and his SFD Kane (one plank less than Able) called Osprey for a warm sunny afternoon on a reservoir near his home.

I am very grateful to both these guys for the effort they put into taking me for a sail and can't thank them enough. These two days went a long way towards convincing me that I chose a good boat to build; normally you don't get to try the design you choose until you finish building the boat!

I've been home for 6 weeks and it is only in the last few days that I have restarted my Able project. I was jet lagged, I went away visiting friends, I went sailing and then, finally I started sanding the inside of the boat. Today I finished the sanding, taped and protected the areas where I don't want paint and put the first coat of primer on the inside of my boat. The tape and paper is for protection but also to remind me not to get carried away and paint parts that I shouldn't! Here are a couple of photos at the end of the day.

You can see that I am not painting the fore and aft decks and the seat tops. I am going to try and plank these areas. Definitely the decks and maybe the seat tops (if I like the decks).

That's it until I finish the painting. It might be a week or more before I post again because photos and words about paint drying aren't very interesting!