'A little varnish and less polish' - fitting out season, 2014

Alterations to mizzen boom attachment, 16th March 2014

I haven't posted here for a while which is really a reflection of a manic start to 2014 from the non-sailing perspective.  However, things have been ticking along and, following my first sail today, there is some catching up to do.  So, this post is all about the fitting out and I'll put up a second post about today's first sail.

I'm not much of a fitter outer!  A self imposed deadline of launching by 5th April has been adhered to come what may.  Hence, 'a little varnish and less polish' would neatly summarise my efforts in this fitting out window.  I have run some Sadolin over the wooden gunwhale capping - which will doubtless have the purists spitting into their tins of Deks Olje - and scrubbed the decks and hull.  I also repaired the damage to the stern transom caused by that lowlife boater who collided with Daisy II on her mooring last October.  This latter repair involved removing the wooden transom for the first time, use of some 'Plastic Padding' filler followed up with some colour matched gelcoat repair.  The resulting finish is functional rather than professional but then I've never been completely satisfied with repair jobs previously done by boatyards.  I didn't do much in terms of photography for this one.  And, of course, we mustn't forget my favourite job of all - the good old antifouling, by several nautical miles the boater's least pleasant job of the year.  If I had the money to pay someone...

Antifouling, International Micron extra, this year in the preferred navy blue

As for the black marks on the spars, maybe I'll just wait until there are more black marks than brown wood, and then paint the whole lot black!

The most significant modification has been to remove and repair the damaged mizzen boom and use the opportunity to make some alterations to the attachment.  The previous incarnation involved chiselling a groove in the mizzen mast to house the boom fitting.

 This looked rather shoddy but, more significantly, prevented a raised boom from resting flat against the mast.  Hence, following an idea picked up from last year's Broads Rally, I glued together a couple of pieces of spruce over winter, fashioned this into a semicircular prism attachment to fit the contours of the jaws and then, using epoxy, glued this to the mizzen, filling in the previously chiselled groove.

semicircular wooden prism made to fit the attachment jaws

epoxy resin and filler used to attach to mast

Finally, I sanded down the whole and finished it with brown exterior paint.

I used a couple of screws to reinforce the join, but these caused trouble when fitting the jaws so have been removed.  Again, purists will be upending their pots of varnish , but I really don't have the time or patience (or skills) to fashion a fully wooden scarfed joint; I'm not a big fan of varnish and this paint matches a similar alteration made when extending the height of the mast a few seasons ago - a repair which still stands the tests of time.

The major objective - to allow a raised mizzen boom to rest against the mast - has been achieved, although I neglected to provide pictorial proof.  That may be corrected in due course.

I also had some filling to do on the boom itself.  Having filed away the loose wood, I used a similar but lighter coloured epoxy filler, finished with a few coats of exterior varnish and have since reattached the rigging eye.

Not the best angle, but mizzen boom refitted and functioning during today's sail.