Back to the boat.

After a quick clean round and a collection of the stuff that Helen is wanting me to take back to the boat I went round to see my Mum before heading off back to Ashton. I made very good time and was back at the dry dock at Portland Basin Marina in under two hours. It was very good to be back and be back as a team. Following lunch I donned the boiler suit and got on with the painting.

The yard had completed the two coats of bitumastic paint and it was now curing. I had to finish off the cutting in of the upper hull as we are changing it from green to black. I was using the non slip tread on the gunwhale as a guide and to give a good straight edge. It looks pretty good even if I do say so myself. We had decided to use Comastic paint as it would be cheap and easy to maintain the hull looking nice. This area gets some rough treatment as it makes contact with locks etc. Using Comastic paint means that paint has a bit more give and shouldn't shatter on contact. The paint is much cheaper than gloss paint and is much easier to apply as it doesn't have to be worked out and made smooth.

I had to complete the cutting in of the upper hull on the port side to be similar to the st'bd.

I painted a round at the bow and dropped the fender to be able to paint beneath it.

After cutting in I then used a mini roller to fill in. The finish isn't too bad at all and the finished look is good too.

Only time will tell whether this has been the right decision or we should have stayed with the gloss paint, but I have high hopes.

I was 'umming' and 'ahhing' about whether to paint the tunnel bands but decided against in the end. I can do that when the boat is in the water and will do it anyway after the winter. I cleaned off the weed hatch cover and painted that with the Comastic paint and then cleaned everything up. I went to talk to the manager to check that the propeller would be fitted in the morning and we would float out in the morning afterwards. It became obvious that he thought that it was Wednesday, and not Thursday. It turned out that he was supposed to pick up the propeller yesterday. I left him in a bit of a panic but it seems we will be leaving tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting afloat and moving. There is a heavy constant leak from the dry dock boards and this rushes over the brick bottom of the dock and down the drain. It sounds like it is raining or we are next to a waterfall. The weather has been nice here and being under the cover it remains cool. The water blasting and the general work in the dock has meant that the boat is filthy and I can't wait to get her cleaned up. We are only going down to the moorings at Droylsden but it will be nice to be underway.