In for Blacking

So we were here for blacking, but first of all we met up with friends John and Louise on n.b. Plodding along..

In the morning it was into the shed when Les told us to go in.. We backed Derwent6 in and was soon set up with the boards, as the chamber emptied..

  The first day was scrapping and jet washing all the muck off and then blower on to dry..
It was a good warm day so Derwent6 was dry by 4.00pm and we didn't mess about and brushed on the first coat so it could dry overnight.

In the morning Del was up at the crack of dawn and started to paint the gunwales..

He finished this at midday and this gave us time to then put on the second coat of blacking.. Things all looked good on the hull so we were reassured we would be good for the next few years.

While the blacking was drying Del then had to put a new top rubber bearing on the tiller as we had a lot of play and water coming up when cruising.. This meant the tiller swan neck had to come off, and a puller and a bit of brut force was used. It feels like a new boat again now its done.

On the last day of our time in here Del was again up early and another coat of blacking was put on the water line, but this time it was rollered on. Also the weed hatch was removed and painted.  It was then onto the tunnel bands, and they were painted after four hours when the blacking had just started to harden.
This time wasn't wasted though, Del then polished the prop, Yes polished it. He wet and dried it and brought it back to new, and it didn't look in bad shape..

The following day it was all rise... and we made our way out of the shed for the next boat to enter which just happened to be Mark on n.b. Mochyn Du.
Yes we had helped each other through this process and we were now doing it all again on his boat.. All this is cheaper than the gym and we have been keeping safe from the virus..