Monday 6th May

Monday 6th May

Plenty of 'firsts' for Destiny this weekend, first time sleeping out of the safety of the marina, first time to Galgate since we bought her, first time using the step lights on the canal bank and we moored up in Galgate in front of our first boat.

Harmony was very neglected for a number of years after we sold her but she is in good condition now and the owners are enjoying her as much as we did.

The step lights are indeed a success as they light up not only the deck but the canal bank as well so that you can see where you are putting your feet when climbing aboard.

Warm light LED's are fitted to the Port side and cool light LED's fitted to the Starboard side, for no other reason than I wanted to see the difference.  The stainless steel fittings are beginning to look pitted already and only a good polish brings them back to a shine so I will have to see how long they last but they can be painted over if they start to look really shabby.  They are positioned quite discreetly so it shouldn't be a problem.

Edging strips were refitted to the cockpit after a good few coats of varnish.  Many people swear by Le Tonkinois varnish and I have used this to good effect in the past, but a lot of people recommended the Deks Olj d1 & d2 varnish.  To be honest Deks Olj is a very good varnish but very labour intensive to apply, first with D1, keep applying without allowing it to dry until the wood can no longer accept any more, then apply a minimum of 6 coats of D2 with 12 hours drying times which must be completed within 30 days.  Seemed like a lot of hard work to me.

I experimented with some of the older edging strips and the best way with old wood is to use D1 as normal, when dry add a coat or two of Le Tonkinois and then 2 coats of D2 to leave a high gloss finish.

When a friend of ours arrived to visit one of the first things he said was "What have you varnished these with, Syrup?"

I must admit they look good but they now let the rest of the cockpit down so I need some warm weather to get cracking, but the exterior wood is first on the list as it really lets the outside down.

Boat number one meets boat number six for the first time

The weather was pretty bad this weekend with dark overcast skies on Friday and most of Saturday, but we ventured out anyway and had a nice Saturday with some relatives.  Sunday morning brought us more wind and rain so we travelled back past Galgate and moored in a sheltered spot, rotten morning turned into a beautiful afternoon and evening but Monday was the real treat.

We woke up to a lovely day and the canopy came down straight away, I even jumped into the cut to add the first layer of polish to the hull this year.  Always a pain removing the winter muck but she looks better for it and is shining like a new pin again.

Now if I could only stop the damn birds from using my canopy as target practice......