The weather forecast for the weekend was dire. We felt sorry for friends who live further away from their boats than we do, because given that forecast, there was no point in making a long drive to the boatyard.
But being only ten minutes away, we thought we'd pop down and see how much we could get done between the rain showers - and in the event, it was a lot more than we were expecting, as the showers proved fewer and further between than predicted.
So the new sail drive gasket was fitted. The instructions said attach it with contact adhesive, but the local expert advice was to use Sikkaflex, so that's what we did. It was pressed into place, as per the instructions, with a wallpaper-seam roller, to squeeze out all the air. The end result looks impressive.
Then the antifoul could finally be completed, filling in the space where we'd had to leave bare gelcoat round the sail drive, to ensure adhesion. That meant three coats, one of primer and two of hard racing, but fortunately there were three weather windows over the weekend which made it possible.
One advantage of hard racing is that it is much more weather-tolerant than Optima, which we have favoured in recent years. It would have been a nightmare trying to find the conditions to apply that water-based product in this wet spring.
But we chose hard racing for a different reason: because we are planning to do the Fastnet and a couple of other offshore races, we will have the boat scrubbed at least twice during the season. It is a bit of a waste doing that with eroding antifoul, because a lot is removed each time it is cleaned.
Hard racing may not prove as effective against fouling, but if the boat is being cleaned regularly, that becomes less important. And it also enables the racing perfectionist to polish it to a perfectly smooth, and fast, finish.
Next the prop was refitted. That might seem a simple job, but the three-bladed, feathering Maxprop, which obviously had to come off to get the new gasket on, actually splits into eight bits (fortunately all clearly numbered) for removal. It was easy enough to get off, and all the parts were then taken home and polished in the warm and dry. It turned out to be one of those jobs requiring at least three hands to get it back in place and reassembled. But eventually it was back on and greased, and a whole lot of other last minute odd jobs were ticked off, too.
“We could just about go in the water now,” the skipper declared, as we headed home when the deluge finally started, at lunchtime on Sunday.
It's a great feeling to know that, after what began as a rather nail-biting battle against a looming deadline. In fact there's still one weekend to go before we're due to relaunch, which will give the opportunity to make absolutely sure that everything is as ready as it can be.
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| The prop has been replaced and the last brush of antifoul is going on
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There will no doubt be a bit more burnishing of the hard antifoul, to make the boat as fast as can be. Meanwhile I've started polishing the topsides - always the very last pre-launch job, as it is one that can be done afloat if time runs out.
In fact I've come to the conclusion that most of it will have to be done afloat, as the topsides are a long way off the ground, and I'm not prepared to risk falling off a ladder at this stage of the game, and messing up the start of the season. So I'm concentrating on the bit immediately above the waterline, which is difficult to get at from the dinghy. The rest will have to wait for a sunny day on a mooring…
I find it surprising that many people don't bother to wax their boats. It's not just a matter of making it look nice and shiny (although that would be justification enough!) It also acts as vital protection for the gel coat, keeping atmospheric pollution at bay, and making it much easier to wash dirt and salt off. And if you have a navy blue boat like ours, the wax also acts as a colour restorer, getting rid of the chalkiness and fading caused by exposure to sunlight, and also helping to polish out or at least camouflage scratches, scuffs and fender-rub.
We have used Meguiars Mirror Glaze One-Step Cleaner/Wax for years and find it does an excellent job both on the topsides and in the cockpit - but don't be tempted to polish coach roof or side decks or anywhere you need your shoes to grip when moving about the boat at sea!
With the boat at last ready for the season, our thoughts are no longer completely preoccupied with chores to be done, but starting to turn to actually going sailing. We dared to look at the tides for Easter, and think about where we might get to, for what will probably be the inaugural cruise of the year.
For, although the outside chores are nearly complete, there's a few days' work still to do when the boat is back in the water: a spare bedroom full of kit to be humped back aboard, for starters.
But with daffodils blooming in the garden, even though the weather forecasts are still full of gales and rain, at last we can think about going sailing - and it makes all the effort of those windswept weekends in the boatyard seem worthwhile.
