An update at the end of a week when the weather showed potential but then turned out to not be on our side!
Oleanna was moved out from her resting place of the last eight months on Tuesday. Yes this is now the longest we’ve been on dry land in twelve years. She was moved round to the hill ready for blasting on the next dry day. Her baseplate was blasted and then she was lowered ready for the cabin and hull to be done. Friday was ear marked as a possible day.
Friday came, Mick headed to watch Yorkshire play cricket and I headed to London for my white card model meeting for panto. Both of us had lovely dry days. Sadly a raft of showers were forecast to cross over Nottingham, Redhill Marina actually, so the blast was postponed till after the weekend.
Whilst on my train heading south I had a phone call from Tom, our boat painter. He was removing all the fixtures and fittings before the blast could take place. They leave windows in to avoid ingress of the grit, but nav lights, aerials, cratch and pram, plank and pole rack amongst other things, all get removed. He was having severe difficulty in removing the cratch A frame. He could reach inside the gas locker and feel that there were three bolts, but none of these had nuts on them. Did I know anything that might help as they didn’t want to force the A frame and end up breaking it.
I recollected a conversation with Ricky at Finesse, when he told me that the cratch was there to stay, we’d never get it off! Handy when you want to repaint your boat. It appears to have been glued on so well that it will end up staying in situ. The blaster has been advised to give it a wide berth, then Tom will strip the paint right up to it by hand, protecting the woodwork. Oleanna will be given coats of rust-inhibiting paint and Tom will make the join between wood and paint work water tight.
Photos and measurements have been taken for a new hole in the gas locker, so that it actually vents to the outside. This will happen once Oleanna is stripped and moved into the paint shed. Tom said to expect to be inundated with photos early next week. I’m so hoping it’s very early next week as I’ve lots of work to do on Panto and could do with uncrossing my fingers!
The cricket it going well, Yorkshire achieving lots of runs. It’s nice for Mick to be able to make good use of his Scarborough Cricket Club life membership for once.
My model meeting went well, a few notes which I expected, indeed even asked for. A new draft of the script now needs reading to check through in case I don’t know about something that’s been added or removed. Then I can get on with adding colour to the model and finalising the drawings. I just need to find someone in Scarborough with an A3 scanner as the printers and architects I used to use have both closed now.
I hope to post again , once Oleanna is stripped and ready to paint. So tata for now.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 stripped bottom, 1 stubborn A frame, 2 boaters wondering if they’ll ever get their sea legs back, 1 cat whisperer beaten, 1 more notch in my tail! 1 design meeting at the National, 1 thumbs up, 3rd WC alteration, 1 more mention for Duncan, 1.5 pairs of socks knitted, 3 days of cricket in a row.