Ready to move

Well the weather is not cooperating for the weekend so we haven't made a move yet. If this evening had stayed dry we may have loaded her on a trailer but it didn't so we might get round to it tomorrow. Once on the trailer she can be moved up to the crane to get the rig up.
We fitted the gooseneck, shrouds and all the halyards and have them all tied off in organised chaos.
The same goes for the mizzen mast and all the other various bits of rig are ready to go. I need to do a little work on the spreaders because they seem to have no way of attaching them to the mast, I don't know how they were held on before.
I fitted the soleboards and worktops as well and finished off the aft toerail and gave it a coat of woodskin.

All cleared and ready to move

A very nearly complete interior. I don't have the money for new cushions at the moment but I found these pretty cheap and they will do nicely for the time being.

Need to make belay pins asap 

Leather

The updates are pretty much daily at the moment, Lots of bits and pieces need to come together to get the rig up.
I've wrapped the bowsprit traveller and the gaff saddle is in progress.
I made up the worktops and just went and sanded them and gave them a coat of varnish. The soleboards are varnished so I just painted the underside with aluminium primer. I might give the underside a coat of bilge paint before their fixed down.
I've had the rigging screws soaking in diesel for the last few weeks, I took them out today but they were still pretty well seized. After a good bit of hammering and working everything loose I eventually got them all freed up nicely. For a while I was sure they were never going to work again.

I got a good link for the leather work off of  http://ilur.tumblr.com/ which was very handy.
http://www.gartsideboats.com/faq/oar-leathers.html
I wasn't very particular about it but it will do just fine, I used the point of a wing bit to punch the holes and sail repair twine to stitch it. I need to treat the leather with something to waterproof it. Ken keeps some bees and has bees wax so I may try that.

Worktops glued up. They are now sanded and varnished and look really nice.

Serving rigging wire

Ok I've spent the whole evening figuring this out. The first one I wrapped in denso tape and then in 3 strand nylon. The result looks pretty good I think but it was an absolutely disgusting job and despite the fact I bought 10 meters of 3 strand it was only enough to finish one. I'm confident that one will out last just about everything though.
The other two I covered in nylon braid which Leo had left over from Sile á Dó. I just put it on dry and stuck it in a load of linseed oil. It was a much cleaner job.
I fitted a manual bilge pump today, finished painting the bilge, finished varnishing the soleboards, put in new battery leads and wired in the kill switch.
Tomorrow evening I'm gonna have a go at the few leather bits I need to make.
The weather is looking utter crap for the weekend so its most likely Teal will be staying dry until Monday. Hopefully we will still get at the rig on Friday.

Denso tape, Dam sticky but very waterproof

The 3 strand was white when I started

Launch plan

Ok so we have a plan. The rig should be going up on Friday and if the weather behaves we will launch her on Saturday after lunch. At the moment there is a SW gale forecast for Saturday but its a long way off for that to be accurate. If Saturday doesn't work out then we'll change to Monday.
I'm getting as much done as possible this week before she goes in.
I've put diesel in and started the engine. The wiring is more or less finished and pumps, nav lights and sounder are all working and the engine is starting off the key. I'm varnishing the sole boards and have made templates for the worktops. I test fitted the mizzen mast and bobkin, made and fitted a battery box ( Out of plywood :( First bit in the boat but I thought it acceptable enough ) and I've made the side panels for the engine and lined it all with sound deadening. The main thing to be done is to buy and fit a new manual bilge pump and I need a topsail halyard before the mast goes up. Everything else is minor.

Peel Castle

I was having a look at Graham's site and came across this video which I had seen a while back but forgotten about. Its his bisquine rigged 1929 Cornish lugger 'Peel Castle'. A former Hegarty's project (albeit on a much larger scale) which has travelled far and wide but call's Baltimore home.  A great way to get in form for the summer of sailing. http://vimeo.com/83849360

There is a link to his website in my links page.

Rigging

The rigging was in Teals cockpit this morning so I brought it home and on the way picked up a half gallon of Boiled Linseed Oil, I was hoping I would be able to soak it in maybe 2 goes but clearly not. I'll twist it round between now and tomorrow evening and then stretch it all out to dry for a couple of days. Then I need to tape and whip the eyes on the top and get them all fitted to the mast.
The shrouds have been left long and we will temporarily clamp them in place when the mast goes up. The guy who made them will then swage them properly when he's around. I'm very pleased with them. Hoping the rig will be up this time next week. May even launch next weekend ! Maybe !

I got these re-galvanised but then I was given a huge quantity of Hemple 2 pack paint so I gave them a coat to pretty them up.

Cabin sole

I bought some iroko this morning and spent the evening marking and cutting out the sole-boards.
They are fitting fine so I've brought them home for sanding and varnishing. The outer boards will be fixed down and a section of the center aft of the mast will be removeable so I need to give it a run on the planer to give it some more clearance.
As soon as I got home I got a call to say the new standing rigging is at the yard and Ken has ordered the leather for the gaff saddle and bowsprit traveller so all the necessary parts are nearly in place.

Hopefully there are enough off cuts to make the two worktops. I'm going extend the red bilge paint a bit further up so that it is all red up as far as the bunk bases