I once heard it said that any good endeavour requires a blood sacrifice if it is to succeed which is why you are forever bleeding all over the thing you are working on especially if it involves sharp tools. Well, if that is the case then Naiad is going to be the best boat in the history of sailing!

Personally I put it down to being tired. When I get tired I get careless and make mistakes usually involving a sharp tool and me at a high enough relative velocity for the sharp bit to pierce my skin. Nothing bad you understand just nicks and scratches but bleeding all over everywhere.

So far in this project is can manage 2 hour stints before I tire to the point of making mistakes but today I closed the workshop door after three. Added to the fact that I’m still not sleeping properly due to still not being well, tired is probably not quite the word for it.

However, I did manage to get the last major task completed before the inversion and that is the removal of the lazarette. This was hard work for two reasons. Firstly I had no idea how it was built and secondly is that it was built like a battleship!

I started out by trying to remove all the screws in the top and most came out easily. However once all were out the top stubbornly remained where it was and I resorted to the power saw. Even then it took the crowbar and a lump hammer to get it all out.

But come out it did and I now have an empty hull bar the centreboard. I can find no evidence of soft patches or rot other than what has already been found, which is a good thing, and I can progress on with the inversion. For that I’ll need to build a cradle and four supports for the roof joists to help spread the load of the boat when she is lifted up.

The next major task is to have the boat inverted by the end of this week, that is 20th November. The smaller tasks are:

• Built the cradle.
• Build the joist supports.
• Remove the screws for the bilge keel.
• Lift the hull off the trailer and store that outside.
• Invert the boat.
• Rest her on the cradle and secure her.

The cradle will be on wheels so that I can push the hull out of the workshop, turn it round and put it back in again. I have more space on one side of the workshop than the other so being able to turn the hull round so that the bit I need to work on is more easily accessible is a good thing. It hasn’t been that necessary before but will be when I’m working on the outside of the hull. I’ll probably also take the chance to clean up while the hull is outside. Having the hull taking up al the space has meant that the workshop looks like a bomb hit it and now that I have the skip a good clean up once the hull is inverted is a good idea.

I could have done that before now as the hull is on the trailer but I didn’t have a skip until recently and when I did get it, I didn’t think of it.

Just for a change here is a photo of the work area before being cleaned up.

Swept and cleaned out but not vacuumed yet.

Sanded ready for the vacuum cleaner.

The bits of the lazarette awaiting various pieces to be removed before the good wood is piled up somewhere and the rest put in the skip.