Keep on Docking

A week on dock and we've done lots, with help from Kim, Nessie, Luke, Vicki, Iain and of course the faithful Aaron. I've mostly been minding the chalico stove mixing heady brews of pitch, tar and horse manure. The stove has been sitting unused in a corner of the Heritage Boatyard for the last few years and when we moved it it nearly fell apart because of corrosion. I bodged it up with clay to stop it drawing too much cold air but it will need to be repaired properly after this docking.

We've renewed the shoeing (sacrificial metal edging which protects the ends of the bottoms) and fitted plating to the bow where it was getting a lot of hammer entering locks etc. We've also plated part of the side to protect a plank that had a few splits, repitched seams, done a bit of caulking etc. Tomorrow we start tarring the sides.