Tuesday 30 August 2011

Gesine - cover delivered - never moved

I have supplied the boat cover. Newson boatbuilders will move Gesine into their yard 'when the tide goes down'. It is an unusually high tide so the route to his yard is tricky to navigate across the top of his slipway.

I was pleasantly surprised by the state of the rigging points - they are strong enough to lift the boat with! This was a surprise given their original appearance but they have cleaned up really well.

Keith Wood and I discussed what happens next:
- Move the boat into the yard
- Get the cabin roofs stripped, caulked and painted
- Template and make a floor ( temporary? )
- decide whether to re-canvas the roofs
- Decide whether to replace the fore-decks now or later.
- Get the cabin sides either varnished or oiled
- consider replacing one cracked plank ( it is already 'stitched' so I may leave it for now
- re-paint the hull
- Get the mast repaired, the mast-head sheave replaced and then re-step the mast
- fit an electric auxiliary engine for docking ( of get a quant pole )
- Fit a lot more fenders
- Find out if the sails still work

So .. will she be sailing this year? It's still a possibility!

... then there is the cabin fit-out to plan, all the interior to decorate and seating to plan in the main cockpit. === Edit 20120116 == Well, that was the plan that never happened ===. This is what happened next. Keith Wood left Newson. Newson Boat Builders closed. The site was taken over and the new owners wondered for around 6 weeks who owned the 'green boat in the corner' because there were no details available in the records they could access. I now have a quote for finishing the job which would make any sensible owner blanch especially as thousands must be spent to 'do right' the bits which were 'done wrong'.

Saturday 20 August 2011

Gesine was her name

One of Gesine's previous owners has confirmed the boat I own was called Gesine ( not Gisine as I first thought ) and that she did spend many years down on the Deben.
I have been told by the boat builder's that her rudder is finished and she is 'ready to go outside'. This means out of their ultra-secure workshops into a yard where I can finally get to her 'out of hours' and do some of the work myself.
Now all I need is to finish putting eyelets into her new boat cover then arrange to get the cover, lots of rope, Gesine and me into the new yard at around the same time. This is going to be a bit of a challenge as I am still working full time and the secure bit of the site is never open outside working hours.