November it snowed
December it snowed and was pretty cold
January 2011, it was cold.
February I had no motivation.
March, I got the chisels out and gave them to someone stronger than me. a pig of a job
the Pbracket was liberated from its 22 year home and went off for fettling. It was time to DIY-F-S, if the local business didnt want my business, then it was a sign that I should learn to do it instead and save myself £800
it was fettled. welded, polished and cutlass bearing replaced. (thanks Dad)
the stainless sleeve arrived too, but still has to be machined to fit the rudder stock and bearings. (thanks again Dad)
May arrived and I went off to fetch it, along with a fettled and polished prop and shaft.
Epoxy resin was fetched in from the Maldon branch of Marine store.
Its always important to line your surfaces with some sort of protection to keep them clean. What better than a newspaper article on the modern wonder that is the "side boob" and a rather tenuous story about whether it is the new "cleavage". hmmm. The Metro newspaper, it's not what it used to be.
after what felt like an age setting up the jig to hold the p bracket in place and all the tools to keep it in alignment, you can see its a complex set up... some band stands, an old passarel plank and some wedges scrounged from the floor where boats have been this winter and are now back in the water.
at the same time as hooking it all up, we had to fit the new stern gland... which I MUST remember to tighten up before putting the boat in the water. I have put a bright plastic clip around it to remind me.
and then onto the messy job of applying epoxy resin, in varying degrees of thickness, gooiness and runnyness.
we ran out of epoxy resin, so its left like that for the moment. The final shaping up and roving will hopefully be completed next weekend.
