Raking out the seam
Making sure its clean
Thursday 17 May we drive back down to Woodbridge, with the car all bright and sparkly after it’s trip to the bodyshop.
Steve assesses the work to be done before going back in the water. The main area of concern is where the stern post is leaking at the seam with the only old planking he didn’t replace . . . it had been bedded in with Sikaflex, which had failed, and there’s been quite a bit of shrinkage.
He decides to rake out the whole seam on both sides, spline the gaps and engage James to re-caulk. He’ll be here next Wednesday afternoon.
With no jobs on the boat for Bev, she spring cleans the Bongo, making a few modifications to over-tired bits of upholstery. She also measures up to make covers for the skylight and forward hatch.
Its the first week in June, and the weather looks set to stay cold, wet and very windy. Our plans to go to Woodbridge seem to be thwarted yet again as we watch the TV coverage of a wet procession of boats on the Thames for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Parade.
Shall we just stay at home? NO! we decided to brave the elements and drove down to Suffolk on Sunday evening, arriving just before midnight. For the first few days, we had to put duck boards to walk on inside the tent, and the wind howled around, dragging at the canvas and forcing us to keep the Bongo roof down, day and night.
We became used to the incessant noise of clanking halyards and flapping canvas, snuggling up with extra thick socks, blankets and fleeces to stay warm at night! Steve started to do small repairs, as he couldn’t do anything that meant leaving the shelter of the tent. Is this really ‘flaming June’?
The somewhat extreme weather conditions, particularly given that its June, meant working outside was impossible, and we’re still waiting for Andy at St Osyths to cut the larch we bought last time we were here. Beverley busied herself with various tasks that could be done inside the van.
Steve took the opportunity to look more closely at the boards which weren’t being replaced. Carefully crafted graving pieces and splines were made up, glued in place and sanded down. The weather brightened for one weekend, briefly, and Deborah came up to visit from London. We were even able to open up the van and put the awning out to sit in the sunshine! Not for long though, and we still hadn’t heard from Andy to collect the larch. As Steve continued with the ‘final touches’ to frames and floors, the weather turned for the worse again and we decided to head for home, well satisfied with the work done, despite the weather. As we crossed the Orwell Bridge, there’s a phonecall from Andy, ‘Your wood’s ready to collect’. Too late to turn back, so there will have to be an alternative plan.