Plugs

Yep ! Lots of them. Thats all of them I have to do for the moment anyway, I'll chisel them all off
and sand the rubbing strip and toerails ready for sanding the next day.
I also fitted the bridge deck brackets so they are now nice and secure. I was hoping to get some
of the teak for the cockpit today but I didn't. The cockpit is high on the agenda now.

The fore hatch looks huge in these pics but it is only 400mm x 500mm, Just big enough to climb through.

Engine parts & old mast

I got the heads and cylinders back from the engine place, The heads and cylinder barrels
both had pitting on the meeting faces and some water marks on the inside of one of the
cylinders, so they have all been skimmed and the cylinders honed.
I have temporarily refitted the cylinders so I can measure the piston protrusion and order
the right size shims to correct the bump clearance. Petter AC1 & AC2 engines have had
various thickness head gaskets over the years with some engines being modified to allow
for thicker gaskets, This has meant that if you fit a thinner gasket after, the pistons will hit
the engine heads and destroy the engine. The solution is to shim up the cylinder barrels to
make up the correct cylinder depth. As both my cylinders have been skimmed you can now
see the protrusion which will have to been corrected.
I put the last coat of paint on the cabin top today and the last coat of varnish on the coachroof
sides. I also cut the old main mast in half and brought it home as its going to be repurposed
and I need to remove the crane, eyebolts and winches from it.

Obvious piston protrusion. 20thou would be acceptable with a 50thou gasket but this is a lot more than 20thou.

This is the extent of the rot behind the hounds, It could probably have been repaired if the mast didn't have any other issues.

The section below the winches has been scarfed on and the mast deck stepped, There will be an extra 5 ft on the base to extend to the keel

Painting & varnishing

I made up the cabin top trim yesterday and little base plates for all the deck fittings and the

steel brackets for bolting the bridge deck to the beamshelf.

Today I fitted the trims, and gave the coachroof its first topcoat, the canvas turned out fine.

I rubbed down the cockpit coamings and coachroof sides and gave the whole lot another coat

of clear. 

Put two coats of varnish on all the base plates and a coat on the cabin top beams and put a coat

of metal paint on the brackets so they can be fitted the next day.

The engine heads and cylinder barrels have been handed in to have them honed and the heads

skimmed so they should be ready early in the week.

I need to get the sheeting for the cockpit this week so I can press on with that aswell. 

The scarfs are all marked for Teals mast but I had to stop cutting them because my circular saw

desperately needs a new blade and it was proving impossible.

Day 15

I Canvassed the coachroof today, I said before that I would take pics of the process but I 

completely forgot. I made a few changes to how it was done this time.

One was that I had Jess sew the seam so I wouldn't have to put a cover strip on the cabin

top. I don't mind having one on the fore and aft decks but I didn't want one running right down 

center of the whole boat. I bedded the canvas in wet paint, tacked it and then wet it down. 

Last time I left it at that to shrink over night before stippling it through with paint but this time 

I did it straight away, mainly to see if it would adhere better. 

Tomorrow I'm going to pull the cylinder heads off the engine and drop them in for reconditioning.

I'm going to get on with the cockpit next week. 

The new plan :

Teal should be ready to come out of tent in a weeks time if I want to put her afloat but as

she is structurally integral to the tent once she's out, she's out and as its now so late in the season I

I have decided to keep her in for the Winter. I am dying to see her out and afloat but she is now

at little risk of shrinking any further and having to work outside and having her deteriorate for the 

whole Winter just doesn't seem worth while.

On the plus side I will finish her out completely, engine, interior and all and she will be relaunched on

her centenary before Baltimore wooden boat festival next year looking as fresh as she does now.

It also gives me more time to spend little things although its disappointing that we have to wait so long

to stand back and take a look.

All hands on deck

Jess making her contribution to Teal, ( Besides minding the kids all the time while I'm down the boat yard ) sowing the canvas for the coachroof at 12 o clock at night. Thanks Jess

Day 14 & Ballydehob

Today I rounded off the top edge of the toerails, cut freeing ports in them, sanded and fitted
them all. I finished off and fitted the front hatch coamings and gave the cockpit coamings there
last coat of stain aswell.

Last weekend we called down to the Ballydehob boat festival. Its now a little used tidal harbour
so for the festival the boats come and go with the tide, although a few stay and dry out to enable
the skippers to do the opposite.
The tide was late on Saturday evening and the sun was shining so we called down at 7pm and
the place was packed. Some boats wait out at anchor but they manage to get quite a few along
side. I would have hung around longer but tired kids forced us home.
I'm looking forward to taking Teal to it although it will be a nerve racking one with her draft.
Heres a few pics from it.

This is a local boat, I'm not sure what she is but her lines are very similar to Teals

Day 12+1

Pretty much just painting and varnishing today. Second coat of Hemple on the deck and sanded
and gave the coachroof a second coat of varnish, another coat of stain on the coamings and I
refitted the mainsheet horse.
I'm waiting for Bantry mouldings to reopen tomorrow after their holidays so I can find out about
some iroko T&G for the cockpit and I'm going to canvas the cabin top this week aswell

This is the most unobscured photo I can get of Teal while she is in the tent,  Not far from the finished article

Day 12

Fitted the beads around the coachroof and samson post and painted the deck with its first
coat of white Hemple multicoat (pretty strong fumes of the stuff)

Day 11

Had a productive day today, I set myself one job to do and that was to fit the rubbing strip.
Only problem with that was I first had to fit the chainplates and to do that I had to make new
backing blocks. It was also a bit of a pain to fit them without someone inside to hold the blocks
so they all had to be screw in place and then drilled. All in all that took half the day and I didn't
think I would ever get the rubbing strip on but it went well and I was granted some extra time in
the evening to get finished.
I was afraid I would have to steam them in to place but they bent in quite easily. I bedded them
in stikaflex to make such the deck hull joint is 100% sealed so now I am destroyed in the stuff
but the boat looks great.

Day 10

Today was cockpit framing. Had to think long and hard about how best to do it.
I ended up putting in a partial stringer to carry the beams. The bridge deck beams
are screwed up into the carling, I would have bolted them up through the beam shelf
had the deck not been in place already so what I am going to do instead is bolt them
to the beam shelf with steel brackets which I will have to make up. Probably something
like sections of 2" angle iron. The deck bridge should help the stiffness of the hull if its well
bolted in place.
I also painted inside the cabin and fitted one of the portlights. The toerails, rubbing strips
and some of the beading is ready to be fitted. I also have all the chainplates painted and ready
to refit. Teals chainplates were originally inboard but Andy Ranking fitted new ones to the
outside of the hull which is exactly where I'll be keeping them, less problematic and look much
better in my opinion.