New cover

We replaced all the wood on the cover for the wayfarer today... Well we'd painted them beforehand, this was fixing to the frame.

2 days closer... to re-launching

Well, Galini is looking more like a sailing boat again. We spent the weekend painting the floorboards (2 more coats of paint left to do)... Putting Hammerite on the strengthening bars for the launching trolley... finishing sanding the seats (varnishing to be done this week)... attaching the name sign and number sign... bilge painting... attaching new standing rigging (which took a lot longer than expected)...

Tomorrow the new genoa should arrive. There is loads of little detail things to do, like fixing the handles in place, attachments for the bridle, guides for the roller furling... but with a little bit of luck should be finished by next weekend!

Some people came to ask how we had got such a nice finish on the hull. Answer - loads and loads of preparation before painting. Others asked if we were going to sell her now. Answer - very unlikely, we want to sail her, not sell her. But everything has it's price. I was offered and refused £2,500 in the UK a couple of years ago, so highly unlikely anyone would offer enough to make worthwhile. Still more people said they look forward to seeing her on the water. So do we!  

Another step forward... third (and final) coat of blue on the deck and undercoat on the inside surfaces. Removed the drop cloth and she looks really grand!

Deck second top coat

Yes, the first coat looked much better than I expected, hence the smile!

Today, we put the second, and hopefully final, coat of Mediterranean Blue paint on the deck.

Tim cut off the wood from the frame for the cover. You can just see the cover in the background of the photo. I describe it as a soft cover designed by an engineer... in other words, solid and very strong!

Then we spent the rest of the day removing the final paint from the floor-boards and some of the varnish from the seats.

Welding and first top coat on deck

Paul had welded a new handle to the launching trolley while I had been away a few months back. But in using it we had found that it wasn't strong enough when pushing the trolley over the pebble beach which is the hardstanding at the Nautical Club. So this morning he came down to strengthen it. He wanted as early as possible. I don't like early so we compromised on 7:30 AM. Now, though, it is really good and strong.

After that I put the first top coat on the deck. Sadly I was not as pleased with it as I had hoped to be. The paint colour was slightly thin and the grey undercoat was grinning through in many places. Hopefully, the second coat tomorrow will cover it well. Then there is just the white bilges to do and the hull is ready!

First undercoat on Galini's deck

First undercoat on Galini's deck.

Reinforcing the foredeck

One thing I had noticed while sailing Galini was that the foredeck tended to bow if you sat or stood on it. While we had been painting the hull the foredeck had been supported on a tyre and had flattened a little. Overnight it had returned to its normal shape but today we decided that the best thing was to reinforce it with a couple of layers of thin marine ply from the inside. 

Back the right way up

Having returned from sailing from Mykonos to Cyprus we came down to turn Galini the right way up. We laid tyres beside the hull with towels over them so as to not mark the newly painted hull, then it was up on to it's side, and lowered onto the launching trolley. It surprised each of us how easy it was. But that's the way we do things. Plan, plan, execute. Each time the plan is to see if we can do it with least amount of effort - not because effort is wrong but the simplest and least stressful way is usually the safest.

Galini renovation

We have started the real renovations for Galini at last. After 3 days of sanding down inside, and one day of sanding the outside of the hull it was time to start painting.

We put on one coat of undercoat and two coats of top coat (we're using International Paints that we brought over from the UK).

Now it's time to leave it to harden while we go off for a sail in the Aegean Sea.

Restoration part 1

It's time for the long overdue maintenance for Galini!

Last weekend we removed all the rigging and floorboards and started sanding and sanding and sanding to remove all the old paint.

By the end of three stints at this the hull was looking reasonable so we did a further sand yesterday (after this photo was taken) cleaned out and then turned over to do a quick clean of the hull.



One thing that was getting really bad were the handles, so we manufactured and varnished new handles out of teak.

We took the handles down to Galini to see how they would look. Obviously the painting of the deck will make them look even better!