New Mainsail

Today I confirmed the order for a new main sail for Galini. The old one is decades old and is somewhat blown out which makes it difficult to sail in anything but very low winds as it is overpowered. While on the phone to Andy at Crusader Sails he told me a Wayfarer joke I had not yet heard... When Neil Armstrong step onto the  moon he was surprised... a Wayfarer hadn't made it there before him! Oh well...

Crusader sails make all the sails for Malu Marine. They are a great sailmaker and A few years back Paul and Vicky Lees came out to Cyprus to teach us the tricks of the trade for measuring boats for new sails. So... if you need one... give us a call at Malu Marine.

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.