Monday 22 February 2016

Scouts - Boat Maintenance

It's that time of year again; Sailing season is just around the corner, the days are getting longer and temperatures are going up. This can only mean one thing; It's time to start working on the boats and kayaks.

Saturday 20th February was our first boat maintenance day of the year. We asked for 4 Scouts per session (am/pm) and found ourselves quickly over subscribed with 5/6 Scouts wishing to attend. 

Session one - Sanding down

When I left home the thermometer in the car read 11 degrees and the sky was clear; It was looking like a good day. While Dave and I sorting the boat to begin work the Scouts started to arrive and instantly mucked in. With the Power tools plugged in and the generator running it was time to start sanding down the dinghy's hull. 

With breaks every 20 minutes or so to give our ears a rest from the noise of the generator we could see how quickly progress was being made. As the temperature dropped and the rain arrived so did breakfast - bacon and mushroom rolls. Yummy :-)

After breakfast and with undercover space limited in the garage we could only work on one end of the boat at a time. The pm team worked very hard in the cold temperatures and limited space to get the job done. After a couple of hours hard graft it was time for some very welcome and needed hot chocolate kindly provided by one of the parents.

With the hull sanded down we could see that the dinghy had held up well to last years tough sailing season with only a couple of points of interest. After a bit of attention from Dave we will be ready for Session Two - Painting.

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