Rudders.

It's still too cold to do much in the garage so after cleaning up the aluminium rudder blade I painted it in the kitchen. I have never seen an aluminium rudder on a twelve before and I can see why. This one weighs in at whooping 5lb 6 oz! It is the original so it will be used.

I need to get the centreboard sand blasted before I can repaint it.

The floor boards are now all glued together ready for varnishing. The boom is cleaned up and has had a thinned coat of varnish applied this afternoon.

With regard to weight I decided to compare it the rudder from N3434. I am pleased to note that the whole rudder assembly (which is need of a small repair and a coat of paint) is less than the aluminium blade on it's own.

Hopefully the weather will soon warm up so I can finish the decks. I then need to get on with N3434 as it will soon be time to go sailing this year.

Spring is on the way....

Suffolk is starting to thaw out and the garage is becoming suitable for boat building again.

Colin and Martin at Purely Metal have made a new launching trolley that fits my road base. I have bolted my fibreglass cradles in place (after some minor adjustments....) and it can now be dismantled and galvanised. Colin owns a late 1970s National 12. "Scooter" will be back on the water this year after many years stored at the brick dock. They also make lovely polished custom stainless steel yacht fitings as well as anything else out of metal.

This afternoon we turned Bobtail over and sat her on her new wheels.

It all appears to fit as expected.

And rolled back indoors with no trouble.

The list of jobs is getting shorter. The main ones include, more varnish on the decks, finish and fit floor boards, repair rotten top of mast and finally fit her out.

I have ordered new sails from Jeckells in Wroxham. They made the original and only set of sails she has had in 1949, so perhaps these ones will last another 60 years? This will be Jeckell's 3rd set of vintage sails in recent years and are a very competitive price.