It is going to be another hot day but rain is forecast for the middle of the afternoon and that has spurred me on to getting the cockpit cover sorted. The task for this morning is to waterproof the cover and to that end I got out the latex, soap, containers, water and brushes and followed these instructions to do the job.

Here is the first coat complete with cat paw prints (optional, you don't really need these)!

Having the canvas laid on plastic prevented the underside from drying properly, rubber on top, plastic underneath and no way for the water to evaporate from the canvas. So I hung the canvas up to dry.

The cam cleats that are new to Naiad were removed and then refitted but this time with the butyl tape bedding, the holes from the screws of the horned cleats were filled with epoxy yesterday.

Now it's time for a tea-break.

The second coat of latex is much easier to see than the first as the liquid latex is more or less the same colour as the canvas. When it dried the latex turns a light brown colour and that make the difference between the drive and wet latex quite obvious.

Despite being hung up in the workshop the second coat of latex was taking a long time to dry so...

... I put it on the boat upside down and it dried in minutes.

The third layer was then applied and the cover put back on the boat to dry again.

This is the third and final coat drying.

Whilst the latex was drying it was time to start dressing the mast.

Firstly the shrouds are put on.

Then the forestay.

The strop for the jib halyard was fitted last, there's not a lot of standing rigging on Naiad.

Now for the running rigging starting with the topping lift.

Followed by the throat halyard.

And the peak halyard.

Then the burgee halyard.

The shackle holding the peak halyard block to the mast band was removed and replaced with one that has a twist in it as the block must lie fore-and-aft and not cross-wise.

Lastly the block fo the stays'l, again with a twisted shackle.

The stays'l and jib halyards were reeved through their respective blocks and the whole thing tidied up by using three ties along the mast length to keep everything off the floor.

And here is the dressed mast. total elapsed time about an hour. It could be done quicker but not by a lot. Each of the shackles aloft are moused with wire so that the shackle pin cannot work loose due to the vibration of the wind in the rigging. The only way I can think of to speed thing up would be to have two people working on the dressing and to use cable ties to mouse the shackles rather than wire. You'd still be looking at around 40-45 minutes even so.

But what's the hurry?

Breakfast time.

This is the underside of the completed cockpit cover. The latex has been sprayed with silicone spray and now the latex does not try to stick to itself. It should also be waterproof. We shall see.

The rigged boat except for the mails'l as it's too windy to try bending that on whilst on the trailer. However, unlike past year I have all the ropes cut to the correct length so it should just be a case of selecting the correct rope and tying that part of the sail to the spar. Again, we shall see.

Naiad is just about ready to go. There are a few things left to put onboard and the spars need to be lashed in place but in principle she is ready to tow away to the launch site.

The newly rubberised cockpit cover in place but the correct way up. I put it on as there is a yellow weather advisory stating that thunderstorms are breaking out over East Anglia and you can see some of them on the horizon.

A good weekend's work. The intention was to get Naiad to a point where shoe could be launched and that it what I've managed to do.