Why does anything to do with old boats take so much time? I have spent the past 2 weeks varnishing and sanding the bottom of Bobtail, with the final coat applied last night. All the following pctures were taken this morning now the varnish is touch dry.
The keel has been refixed with lots of epoxy run into the joint between the hog and the keel. The garboards were originaly screwed to the hog so I decided to reinforce the area further by carfully raking out the old filler between next to the keel and refilling with an epoxy fillet.
The seams are caulked with Saba "sealtack 751", this will stay flexible and alow the planks to expand and contract. It also very sticky and comes in mahogany. It hardly shows even with the boat upside down.
2 litres of Ravilakk yacht varnish and I think she looks quite good for 60 years old. Not perfect but good enough. I was quite worried that the planking was too far gone to varnish. There is still some staining around the fastenings, but what can you expect?
It is now time to buy some fibreglass and start making cradles for a new launching trolley.
