She is Tucked Away for a while before Finishing

I did not stop yesterday from early morning. Firstly with help of the Bob Jennings who I hold in the highest esteem, we fitted the newly finished centre board back into the case and thankfully it did fit this time. Liz Colyer, Lyme's new resident sail maker then arrived for the first fit of the custom cover that she is going to make. I then had a vist to her new loft where she is kindly storing my sails until I retrun back from a much need holiday back home in N.Ireland. After lunch I started working on some reinforcement strutts to span the cockpit when the boat is strapped onto the trailer. Bob and I worked until 4:30 when the boat was finally strapped ready to leave the BBA. Driving off with her was more of a moment and send off than the anti-climax of launch day. We safely made it to the top of Cobb Hill which was a major test of out tieing on. She is safely tucked away in Axminster under tarpaulins and Liz will make a couple of trips this week to fit the custom cover.
I return to the South Coast in a couple of weeks to take up my new position with in the marketing department of Wessex Resins who manutacture West Sytems Epoxy. It will take me a while to settle into this new role and so I do not know when or if I will have the Haven completely finished and launched this summer. To tell you the truth I am so shattered that I need to step back for a while and come back to her refreshed to enjoy doing the last little finishing touches. She will come to no harm until my enthusiasm returns.
So the Blog has not finished just yet. Keep watching until you see her launched somewhere in the Solent with her name on the bow. Thanks for all the interest and support from everyone watching.

The Boat on Display on Launch Day

This is the boat on Display on Launch day. It is largely complete looking but the centre board was too wide for the slot when we went to fit it the day before launch. With all the filler and EPU primer it was too fat by about 3mm. I froze with grief at the realization for a while while Nick and Jenny went into overdrive. We frantically worked to the late hours shaving material off and re-fairing before coating it in Epoxy as a temporary water proofer for launch day. The wrong trailer arrived the day before launch to add to the complications and so I was relying on the Harbour master to cradle me into the water but as the gusts of wind were too strong he would not allow any of the sailing boats to launch into a crowded harbour anyway. I was relieved in a way as the boat was just not quite right. I have since removed the centre board and I am in the process of re-sheathing it with cloth and giving a light skim of bubble filler. I am completely shattered at the moment to tell you more as in the week running up to launch I must have got about 12 hours sleep in total. We were rigging it until 3 in the morning before launch and did not quite finish that either.
I am delighted with the finish of the colour scheme which I stole from Morris Yachts of New England whose boats I absolutely love. It took me about 24 hours in total to create the split boot top line above the anti foul. The paint needs a month to harden off and then it can be wet & dryed with 400 grit and worked up to a high gloss shine with Farecla. I am happy with the finish as it sits though. The decks and all the woodwork have been saturated with Uli's No1 Yacht care Oil. This is a one off life time job and I just need to decide which bits to coat with the No2 gloss Oil. The seats are the only pieces of wood to have been glossed with No2 and they look fantastic.
The centre baord has been re-sheated and faired with a light coating of glass micro bubbles epoxy filler ready for sanding and painting on Monday. I have until Tuesday to finish this and re-fit the board before I leave for home.
I will post some more photo's next week.