Started the day by finishing of the dry fitting of all the fittings

• Sleeping platform tie downs
• Main sheet
• Pintles and Gudgeons
• Toe straps

This has now led to a complete windowsill of bits, amazing how much stuff a relatively simple dinghy needs

Next the sleeping platform was checked, sanded and the very few visible voids filled.

I was a little unsure on how flat the forward hatch coaming actually was so though I would check. I placed small beads of play dough at intervals all around around the coaming. Placed a chopping board (non stick) on top and then a sheet of 12mm ply and pressed.

This did reveal the front centre was a little high, gingerly belt sanded and checked again, much better now

As I have said before this is all about a strong functional boat not a concourse winner. In line with my experiments with cheaper / high street materials I’m painting the inside if the hull will good quality garage paint – Ronseal diamond hard floor paint which is suitable for concrete, wood and stone.

I know people have done this before and I experimented a few days ago and it appears to have taken well. This afternoon I painted the entire inside of the cockpit plus additional test pieces on every other material on the boat: Gel coat, polyester filler, epoxy, teak and the RWC coaming. It all appears to have taken but only time will tell if the experiment has been a success.