A big week for the boat. We now have the first coat of varnish on the hull. Today Rob and Pascal put the first coat onto the boat.

During the week, we finished sanding the outside of the boat. Greg and John were in attendance and completed most of the sanding. Under Coral’s keen eye we applied the stain to the timber on Thursday and applied four coats of epoxy. The hull was like blotting paper for the first few coats but after four coats, it had largely soaked up much of the epoxy. Today (Saturday) we applied the varnish after a light sand.

The plan for next week is to finish off a few coats of varnish on the outside and then suspend the boat from the chain blocks so we can work on the inside. There is still some sanding to be complete, but we cannot start that until the varnish is dry. This cool and wet weather slows down the drying so it is at least 12 hours drying time.

We had hoped to be back in the water on next Saturday but it will probably be through the week or even the following Saturday before we can finish the painting.