Bev returns home for a couple of days after the survey and the weather takes a turn for the worse with 40mph gusts again in Suffolk forcing Steve to pack up the van and take refuge in a shopping trip to Ipswich for the afternoon before the General Election. With rain and gales, Bev decides to stay in Derbyshire and as it abates in Suffolk Steve starts work on the second Samson post.

Whilst checking the fit, lying in the forepeak, he knocks out a chock and it slips, the solid oak dropping 18” onto his face! Clutching his mouth and expecting to find a handful of teeth, Steve’s relieved to find there’s just bruising. Bev doesn’t find out about this incident until she returns to Suffolk . . . apart from the Samson post being completed and fitted, the rudder is at last hung and a final coat of primer applied below the waterline in preparation for Bev’s return to do the anti-foul.

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More jobs ticked off the list! The rudder stock is fitted and new tiller now in place. Control cables for the engine are connected with control lever and stop button installed in the cockpit, stern gland greaser re-fitted and new capping to complete the restored cockpit coaming. Bronze skin fittings all cleaned up and replaced, along with her Dunkirk plaque, polished and back in place. We’re getting there, she’s beginning to look like a boat ready to float!