Pathfinder – first look.

Well this was a good result.

Yesterday (Monday) I should have been in Plymouth crown court looking all smart-ish and starting my jury service – I even did a dry run trying to get home on public transport having been dropped off in town. That would have gone well had the trains not been on strike and the bus shelter sign saying that the bus was cancelled as well.The ‘result’ was that the very nice lady at the clerk of court’s office phoned to say that I was excused from service because they had too many jurors and not enough trials…..I think something to do with the legal aid barristers also being on strike.

So…. a nice weekend and what to do ?

Answer …..set up a 6 part tackle on a whip and heave the boat out from under the shelter on it’s castor wheeled dolly.

It went well except that the dolly wanted to behave more like a very heavy supermarket trolley on a rough and sloped surface – the drive being multiple different patches of tarmac and slopes in 2 directions.It trashed a couple of the cheap castors – to be expected really but I got the Pathfinder out and it felt a bit like blinking in the sun for a few minutes – nice to walk right around the boat and see it in the round for the first time.

At the end of the day we stepped the mast for the first time although only on temporary rope shrouds to get the measurements for the proper ones. The heel of the mast needed a tiny trim because the aft edge was catching on the base of the tabernacle but that was soon done.

For the first time in 2 years I Had a thorough sweep out and then a wash out under the shelter because it smelt as though several tomcats had had a party under there with one of the local foxes adding extra ‘whiff’. I’d been wondering what one of the mix of smells was under there and i’m pretty sure it was ‘turd de foxy’.

Now, the boat is back under the shelter but lifted again and back up on the cut down building frame which is deeper than plans – about the same height as needed for the eventual trailer.

Right now -i’m at a bit of a loose end because I didn’t have anything planned or parts to play with – that and the build budget has to wait to catch up a bit. The next thing the project really needs is a trailer which is the most expensive part – that’s going to have to wait – ditto an engine and sails. As I thought , she’s not going in the water this year and i’m fine with that.

I’m catching up on blog posts now and even having another try with video – I enjoy working with words but dislike doing video and am rubbish at editing – short video below about the heave-ho.

Best wishes everyone – that’s probably the last post for a while but given that we had our first frost last night it’s a reasonable point at which to stop for the year -my next job is to clean the workshop out and sort through the pile of plywood scraps. After that i’m going to have a first play around with some stainless steel to start to learn about working with metal.

Photo’s and video.