There are still an number of things to be done on Naiad and the task for the day, indeed the weekend, is to complete as many of these as I can. One problem is that the current cover encloses the entire boat making it difficult to work on her, but any rain needs to be kept out of the cockpit, so a cover of some kind in necessary. So one of the items to be done is the cockpit cover. But before that, the fore hatch needs to be fitted. Then there are six brand new and very expensive gunmetal fairleads to be fitted.

So, the first task was the fore hatch. Here it is fitted, latches on the inside were added to secure the hatch and a neoprene strip was also added to the inner coaming to make a seal between the boat and the hatch.

The cockpit cover was the next item on the list. A 3m x 4m clear tarpaulin was cut to shape. Here you can see the cutting board and straight edge.

The cut edges were folded back and made into a seam using a heat gun to carefully weld the seam. A wooden roller was used to apply pressure to the hot plastic.

The result was quite good although you do have to be very careful not to melt the plastic all the ways through.

Here is the cover cut and seamed.

And here it is in place on Naiad. Eyelets were added to the sides so that shock cord can be used to secure the cover in place.

I bought a professional eyelet kit and the results are very good.

I did make a few holes in the tarpaulin accidentally, but I'll weld a strip of plastic over these later.

After afternoon tea I made a start on the fairleads. Each fairlead will be mounted on a copper strip which will prevent the ropes from wearing the rubbing strake away. Here you can see the copper cut out and the holes for the screws and nails drilled

The copper is bend in the correct place...

...and this is how it is all mounted.

Screws are used to mount the fairlead and copper nails to hold the copper sheet firmly in place. A polysulphide sealant was used as a bedding compound under the copper.

Two in the bows...

...two at the starboard quarter...

...and two at the port quarter.

In a few days time, once the sealant has hardened, I'll going round and remove all the excess sealant. But for now, the day's boat work is done.