This year, you have to spot the summer days before they arrive and plan accordingly. Today had been well signalled, so we'd planned to make a start on some paintwork that needs doing, repairing the odd chips and scratches that are an inevitable result of active boating.
First, we went to the village for some bread, a paper and a pack of prawns; I've got a single portion of Cajun Chicken in the freezer, so adding some prawns to it will make it enough for two for dinner tonight.
Back at the boat, we removed both bow and stern fenders, noting in passing that two of the shackles holding the bow fender on had stretched. This means that the fender had been caught under a lock gate beam at some point, but the chains hadn't snapped. This isn't good, and when I replace the fender, I'll make sure that there are weak links inserted, so that the fastenings will give before the boat either lifts the gate out of its setting or the bow goes under water.
After that, it was a case of rubbing down the scratched and rusty areas and painting on Rust Konverta. After a cup of coffee, some primer/undercoat was applied; meanwhile, Sheila had been masking off the two areas that need most attention, the stem and T-stud, and the cream tunnel band at the stern.
Tomorrow, I'll topcoat the whole of these areas; this will be better than just painting the spotty bits, both in terms of paint matching and overall appearance.
That will leave some other bits to do on Wednesday; we're hoping that the forecast of three dry days in a row turns out to be correct.
After our exertions, we took a stroll round the marina this afternoon, stopping off at Midland Chandlers to get a fine grade sanding block for flatting off before I do the topcoats, and two replacement shackles. Fixing them to their chains with cable ties will provide the weak links.
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