Getting there.

After two weeks of dodging the weather, the deck is progressing forwards. i.e there is more teak on the foredeck than there was.

It's like one of those difficult jigsaw puzzles, you can get so many bits in place, then you have to sort out an awkward piece before you can do some more. The awkward pieces in this case are on the foredeck where the edge set is greatest.

Fairey Marine must have steamed the teak in one of their autoclaves and then probably bent them on a jig to get the set. They probably used a thicker piece of wood and then once bent, sawed them into strips about 65mm wide and 10mm thick.

The photo shows a typical Huntsman deck on Fordsport 707. I can tell you that that bend cannot be done with dry teak even 55 mm wide. Steaming the strakes just mean they are slightly easier to handle into place and will retain the set afterwards, it doesn't seem to allow them to bend much further - at least with my steaming gear.

So, options: Lessen the sweep or invest in a bigger kettle.

Once I can get some of the foredeck strakes in place, I can finish the side decks, which look quite good.

The fight continues...

Sticking to it

Right, stop messing about in boats and get back to messing about with boats.

The rally season is pretty much at an end for the small boats, and of course the weather will now improve as the kids go back to school.

Time now to get back down to the important stuff like laying teak decks.

I expect you're all bored silly by this project, but for those who are still with me; I managed over a few evenings this week to get teak glued to deck. The whole of the aft deck is glued down and the port quarter likewise. The next phase is the starboard quarter and then it's time to tackle the hard bits at the front.

The main problem with this stage is that the glue gets everywhere and makes the whole job look a mess, until its plugged and caulked and sanded.


[ Now Playing One Piece At A Time by Johnny Cash ]