Apart from the ongoing varnishing two other tasks were carried out this afternoon and evening. The first was the fitting of the bowsprit spacers as I had finally decided how to arrange them.

There are five in total, all on the underside of the bowsprit since this is the part the will require them.

They have been bedded in sealant and kept in place with galvanised nails since the will require replacement periodically so I don't want to make them too difficult to remove. Once the sealant is cured the spar is ready for varnishing.

The second tasks was to start the construction of the tiller. I've had the wood for several months and even ran the laminates through the planer a while back but until now they have been sitting under one of the workbenches. The first part of the construction was to glue the laminates together. The wood is Sapele and Oak and it was a little tricky to get the laminates all in the correct place.

The first problem is that this end is seven laminates thick and is the handle end.

Whilst this end is nine laminates thick and is the end that will go into the rudder stock. It took some time together this bit ready as the second problem is that the Oak was 14mm wider than the Sapele so I had to cut eight pieces of Sapele 7mm by 3.5mm to make the Sapele laminates as wide as the Oak ones. Gluing that lot together was tricky Still, I think I have it all done. I will find out tomorrow morning when I go out to check how it all went after taking off the cramps.