Beating the Weather

If I had wide enough access to my back lawn I would have built my Paradox sailboat there in a purpose built boat shed, but instead I’ve been forced to keep the boat in the garage on a trolley so that I can wheel her in and out between showers to give me space for building her on the driveway.

Yesterday afternoon the rain stopped, which meant I could take the two large, heavy pieces of the boat’s bottom into the house for joining together without getting them wet. The forecast indicated a dry sunny day for the bank holiday Sunday. This was the weather I was looking for, because there would be a period of 48 hours without rain – long enough for the epoxy to harden. My wife was away for the weekend, which meant I could have the house to myself without fear of impeding her movements in the lounge. By early evening I had glued the two pieces of plywood together while they were laid out on the lounge floor, the carpet suitably protected with plastic bin lining.

Last night I had a few restless moments when I fitfully woke and thought about the possibility that I may not be able to extract the glued pieces from the lounge, because together they might be too large, but my worry was unnecessary, because late Sunday afternoon I found I could easily lift the joined pieces on to their side, and by using three rollers I was able to slide them along the floor and out of the front door, where I levered them on to the upturned boat which was on her trolley. It really couldn’t have been easier.

I was rather chuffed with myself by having taken the initiative when I heard the forecast.

May of this year has been the wettest since 1983 and that would be the case to test my patience and ingenuity, since I am building my boat in the open air, but I mustn’t grumble, because I’m making good progress.

Fixing the bottom to the upturned hull will need to be done on a dry warm day and the long range forecast predicts the weather will improve over the next few days. I’m optimistically looking forward to the task.