Today's tasks were the continued finishing off of the bits left on the boat. The thickness of the stem at the waterline was measured and the main hatch and top washboard prepared for the latch and hasp that will allow a padlock to be used to secure Naiad.

So, measuring the thickness of the stem at the waterline. The sampson post was removed and a pole put in the hole. The lower end of the pole rests in the mortice in the keel which, by my calculations, measurements and observations, is pretty much on the waterline.

Another pole is attached to he pole in the hole.

Then a pole attached to the pole attached to the pole in the hole and a pole attached to the pole attached to the pole attached to the pole in the hole.

And finally pole attached to the pole attached to the pole attached to the pole attached to the pole in the hole (...said the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caractacus). This last pole touches the hull at the waterline on the outside.

The whole thing was carefully removed and laid on the workshop floor. The gap between the two ends is the thickness of the stem which is...

... around 4 inches!

The poles were then disassembled and put away.

The next job on this beautiful sunny April morning was to fit and fit a spacer to the lower edge of the main hatch. The hatch and the washboards do not quite meet up and this piece rectifies that. The hasp will be fitted to this spacer and thus the hatch and the latch was fitted to the top washboard. The required a small backing pad and the washboard was taken to the paint shop and a coat of varnish put on the backing pad and the last coat of varnish on the cockpit tent spreaders. The spacer on the main hatch was also given its first coat of varnish but since the hatch is now fitted and it is not easy to take it off, the varnish was added in situ.

So what remains to be done?

The hole in the centreboard extension box which allow the rope to pass through that raises and lowers the centreboard, the inboard ends of the jib sheet cleats needs bolts fitting (arriving during the week), The screws holding the clock and barometer need to be shortened, the chain locker needs to be washed to remove the amine blush before the next coat of epoxy is applied. Once completed the chain locker need to be put in place and the location of the hawse pipe determined. The hawse pipe needs to be fitted as does the cleat for the bobstay end. Once these two are done the chain locker can be fitted and the sampson post bolt fitted. The curved centreboard capping also needs to be made.

There are other tasks but these need the mast and spars to be fitted before they can be carried out.

Coffee time!

The first task of the next session was to install the anchor points for the whisker shrouds. The bowsprit was put in place and tied to the trailer in more or less the correct position and the position of the anchor points marked. Then it was a case of drill the holes in the bronze fittings, drill the holes in the boat and screw the two together.

The bowsprit is about 6" too long and should point up a bit more but neither of these will affect the position of the anchor points at all.

The real whisker shrouds will be 5mm wire rope, the string here is just to see how it looks.

The anchor points were screwed up into the gunwale instead of sideways into the hull as this is stronger on Naiad.

The screws holding the clock and barometer were next as you can see here, no sharp points any more.

This is the backing pad on the top washboard.

I decided to varnish the compression post and the board upon which the clock and barometer are mounted now instead of later, so they were hung in the paint shop and given a first coat of varnish.

Then the hole in the centreboard case extension was made and the fairlead screwed in place. This will take a bit of wear due to the weight of the centreboard so I've used a stainless steel lined fairlead.

Time for another break.

Next up was the chain locker.

That's it washed. Doesn't look any different, does it? But it is, all the amine blush should have been removed.

And here it is with the second coat of epoxy applied after the locker had dried. It still doesn't look any different!

I sat in the cockpit with another cup of tea at this point and decided that I had done enough for the day.