Naiad is safely tucked away in the Hay Barn and I can get on with the jobs I've been wanting to do for ages. The temptation to rush out and spend every spare waking hour on her has to be resisted since it is unlikely that Naiad will be back in the water until next year.

Even of the current restrictions are lifted, partially or fully, I have at least a month of work to do before she can be launched and that's if I rush things. Assuming that the restrictions are lifted at the beginning of June and I have completed the work by then, I would only have half the season left in which to sail and although I really want to get sailing again, prudence would suggest that I take it easy on the various boat projects, taking advantage of the warm weather and shelter in the barn and launch Naiad next year.

If I really want to go sailing that bad, then I should make a small sailing skiff to use whilst Naiad is being lavished with loving care and attention. But that in itself takes time and money, of which I don't not have much to spare right now.

So, I'm taking my time so that I don't run out of things to do and, more importantly, enthusiasm.

Here is one thing that should have done when constructing Naiad, but for sone reason was forgotten and it causes problems. This is the bulkhead between the footwell in the cockpit and the inside of the cabin and it has not been epoxied to the hull. Despite some quite effective sealer, any water that gets into the cockpit, usually from rain, then seeps into the cabin and I have to bail it it using the bailer if there is a lot and a cloth otherwise.

So, here you see that the sealer has been pulled off.

This is the other side of the centreboard case. The next part of this task is to clean the inside of the hull, remove the paint from the hull and centreboard case and the varnish from the other bits so that there is bare wood along the join. Then it will be epoxy fillet time. That should stop the water getting into the cabin!

Now that the solar panels have been removed, I have put the battery charger into the boat. It sits here on the bridge deck under the side deck and I plug it in when necessary.

This is the topside of the bowsprit. As you can see, it has significant weathering.

The underside, not at all surprisingly, does not have any weathering.

So, the varnish has been removed from the weathered sections and the spar rubbed down with alcohol.

The remaining, deeply weathered sections will be bleached with Oxalic Acid before the spar is varnished again.

The name plates were also suffering from the effects of the weather and needed to be rubbed down to bare wood again.

I also need to make a new "on the hard" washboard. These are the existing ones to use as a pattern.

I made up a frame from some left over Sapele...

Glued it up...

Checked the fit...

Then added some wire mesh. Neat eh?

Now the neighbour cats cannot get inside and make a mess. It also allows Naiad to air out.