Tender revival

Ahh the ugliest tender on the pier is about to make a reappearance.  After months of languishing, first in the club car park and later on my front garden, I have got round to making the following necessary repairs and alterations.

1. Refit bumper strip,  The hose that I attached last year was great except that the screws just pulled out of the GRP.  I have now put off cuts of wood and the occasional tree branch behind the lip for the screws to grip into.
2. Glass over centreboard slot, Last year's launch highlighted a leak through the centre board case which was temporarily repaired by filling with whatever we could lay our hands on at the slipway :)
3. Repair leak, previous repair took some knocks last year and started to leak.
4. Add a skeg to help track through water.  I cut a piece of hardwood off cut to the right shape and glued it to the hull with Gripfil.  I then larruped plenty of CSM and Poly resin over it to form the skeg.

Leaky centreboard slot.

Hardwood skeg glued in position

Jobs a good un :)

All that's left to do is run over it with a flap wheel to take of the frayed edges, not to make it look pretty but the stop weed getting a secure foothold. Then slap some anti foul on it, if anyone sees me wielding a roll of masking tape please slap me... there's no room for straight and tidy on this floater :o))

It will be nice to be able to get out to Ciao Bella in style again without having to pump up my diminutive inflatable. Don't get me wrong.. it's a great inflatable, it's just too small for two fat blokes and a load of beer  provisions.