Spring is coming so it’s high time to get the boat ready. I’ve built a new mast partner out of aluminum which is currently off being powder coated coated green. You can see more pictures of building it here.

I’ve also repaired the splits in the mast which happened at the same time my mast partner cracked. I kerfed the problem areas with an oscillating saw, saturated the gap with neat epoxy, and then troweled in thickened epoxy until it was full. While I was at it I got the mast closer to round and shortened the snotter cleat to a minimum.

And finally I’ve been busy varnishing. It’s too cold out in the garage so I took over the living room while my wife is out of town. I put 8 coats on the mast and 2 on everything else since the varnish was in pretty good shape. Don’t mind that half finished breakfast nook in the background that my wife wants!

There’s still quite a bit to do on the hull, but I need to have warmer weather to do some epoxying and painting. I need to:

• Over drill all the fitting holes and fill with epoxy before redrilling for the fasteners
• Rebed all the fittings
• Install the mast partner
• Epoxy a pad on the centerboard case for a snotter cleat
• Epoxy ledgers to the thwarts for side benches
• Make side benches
• Paint everything
• The keel is getting a little chewed up from the trailer rollers
• Build a flat bed on the trailer so the keel is supported better
• Repack the trailer bearings
• Possibly lower the spring weight on the trailer.

A lot to do!