Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Wednesday 2 May 2018

The end is in sight

Almost there - aiming for week after next .....................

It is a workman like finish...the problem when you paint outside......flies, dust, leaves, insects, dead grass........ho hum! Then there are the brush stroke marks, not visible in the original coats. When I launched at some marina last year down on the Fal, one of the boat painters there swore blind I had sprayed the paint on - he just wouldn't accept that I had rolled it on and tipped it off. this time I just bunged it on, as fast as I could! But at least the thwarts look clean, the dents are painted over and the grey splodges of undercoat no longer show through.

Next year I promise Arwen will get stripped down to bare wood and repainted properly inside some shed....if i can find someone willing enough to loan me one!

Anti-slip grey Interdeck treads on side decks get a touch up 

Rear cockpit interior gets the grey anti-slip Interdeck treatment - three coats 
You can see how bad the thwarts were 

New coat of Toplac brilliant white hides all those dings and the red bungee being re-threaded. It is where the charts get held down on coastal passages. 

The problem with a shiny new top coat is it is now so slippy I shoot off in all directions. Of course, it doesn't help that Arwen is stored on a steep driveway!!

Cleats from left to right - centreboard, tack downhaul, top yard halyard

Deck loops back in place to hold halyard bags in cockpit 

rear thwart hatch fitted with new padlock hasp as locker lid lock has seized up over the years 

final top coats of grey Interdeck non slip paint on front cockpit area 

2 comments:

Enrico said...

Fantastic job! Arwen is proud of you! :-)

steve said...

um! Thanks - but to be honest it is a workmanlike finish and a rush job so I can get back in the water next week. I still need to do coamings and outer deck but that can wait until next year.

Are you well? Got any sailing plans for this season?