WEEK OFF!!! updated 19th July

New Canopy

This week Destiny saw a new, and slightly modified, canopy which replaces the old worn out one that had seen better days.  The stitching was failing in places leading to leaks in the cockpit, and although these could be re-stitched, the canopy had lost most of it's suppleness and was letting the boat down.

Steve Whewell has done his usual great job and has integrated some modifications for us.

The rear of the canopy now has a smaller window, but gains a zip each side to allow some air into the cockpit for the days when taking it all off is not an option.

The cockpit side have had the front window made smaller to hide the bars inside, and they have been split into three parts, all of which zip off independently if needed to make it easier and neater for storage  when the canopy is down.

The whole canopy is now much more taught with stronger and cleaner lines.

A rear window cover has been added similar to the front, but this is for winter use only as it will take some pressure off the windows when the bad weather returns.

There is also a cover for the windscreen, but this is not yet fitted.  Pictures to follow on completion.

You can also see from the above pictures that the wood holding the side plates has been stripped and varnished to match the side straking.

Starboard side only at the moment, Port side to follow.

WEEK OFF!!

We've just had a superb week on the boat and while we have done a few little jobs on Destiny, it was mostly about relaxing and taking it easy but making sure we sailed to the canal terminus at Tewitfield.

This was the first time on Destiny and I can't believe it's a year since we were last there.

This page shows the improvements this week and the following page will show the photo's taken along the way.

Old cockpit seating Starboard side

New cockpit seating Starboard side

Old Cockpit seating Port side

New cockpit seating Port side

 In the rear cabin we've had the armrest cushion altered to fit better.

Electronic timer added to Eberspacher instead of rheostat.

Exterior wood was stripped with Nitromors and sanded down, when varnished it was darker than I expected it to be as it was almost white in colour beforehand, but shows the lines nicely now.

Evidence of collision damage from years ago, but it adds character!

Staff repainting exterior blue line as it was damaged by rain when out of the water last year.

 The rear wood looked better than the side but once the sides were varnished it shows how bad it really was!