The forecast for the weekend is good for boat work and then week ahead looks to be great as well.

The tasks for this weekend are:

1. Scrape off the epoxy applied last weekend.
2. Coarse sand the existing copper epoxy.
3. Sand the non-copper epoxy sections with a slightly less aggressive sandpaper.
4. Make good any areas where too much copper epoxy has been removed and the fibreglass mat is exposed.
5. Remove the peel ply and sand the 'repairs'.
6. Wash the hull down with alcohol.
7. Tape the waterline on hull and rudder.
8. Apply the first coat of Liquid Copper to the hull and the rudder.
9. Allow the epoxy to begin to gel then remove the tape.
10. Allow the epoxy to become tack free.
11. Tape the waterline on hull and rudder.
12. Apply the second coat of Liquid Copper to the hull and the rudder.
13. Allow the epoxy to begin to gel then remove the tape.
14. Allow the epoxy to harden.

Items 1-4 should be done today and the rest tomorrow.

With the temperatures set to rise to around 20 Celsius by the end of next week I hope to get the topsides and boot top painted as well as completing the varnishing that I have been doing in the container store.

At the first tea break one side has been scraped, the left hand side as seen in the photo.

A closer view where you can see the scrape marks where the scraper has been dragged down the hull after a strip had been heated with the hot air gun. If done properly the epoxy comes off in a continuous strip.

At the third tea break both sides are scrapped an the right hand side as seen in the photos has been coarsely sanded. You can see tat the font part of the boat need a little attention since the flat belt sander cannot cope with the curvature of the hull just here, but I'll do that in the next session.

At the close of boat work for the day, here is the hull now coarsely sanded on both sides with the odd bits hand sanded where the belt sander could not touch the hull properly.

A few spots were covered with thickened epoxy and then covered with peel ply.

All the tasks for the day completed and without too much stress, which always helps.

With the re-launch of Naiad now in sight I have been looking at alternative ways to get her in the water that do not required a trip to Ely and back several times. The most obvious way is to launch her from the river bank and I have seen this being done at a spot about mid way between the cruising club and the Ship Inn at Brandon Creek. What I have seen is a low-loader, with a Hiab, parked on the top of the river bank with a boat on the low-loader. The Hiab is used to lift the boat over to the water and lowered in, where upon the slings are recovered.

By chance I found that a local company advertising 'crane assisted delivery' also had a second web site for boat transport. I looked at this and was gobsmacked to see the following photo:

That is the very spot I was referring to. This is very good news since I do not have to explain in great detail where the launch should take place as they know it already. Once Naiad is the right way up and rigged again I'll contact this company, GMR Boat Transport, to get a quote and to arrange the launch.

A good day.

Now I need a bath as I'm covered in fine copper and epoxy dust and I have a dinner to go to this evening.