Ready for launch

The last few weekends have been full on trying to ensure we're ready for the launch date which at time of writing is tomorrow!
After many delays I was finally able to pick up the castings for the rudder shoe and tiller fitting on Friday.

I knew there would still be a lot of work to do but it was a real marathon and without Chris leading the work for most of Saturday and Sunday it would never have happened. Also many thanks to Johnny, Alan and Howard who both helped out. It took 5 hours to drill the 20 x15 mm hole for the rudder shaft and we had to finish off at Howard's workshop because my drill press ran out of puff. So to did the 20 mm drill bit i had bought but a minor miracle the tool shop in Rochester had one which I purchased just before it closed on Saturday afternoon.

In between attacking the rudder shoe Chris started work on the tiller fitting. The hole for the shaft was out of alignment and needed reeming out on two sides. I had spent 5 hours on Friday afternoon with a file and made some progress. Chris brought his electric saw over and with a hacksaw attachment we managed to butcher it sufficiently to sit square on the shaft. I spent a few hours today making bronze shims to fit inside to take up the gaps. Still not finished though.

Last weekend i painted a new go faster stripe and fitted the new echo sounder transducer and the log impeller. An absolute nightmare getting the cables from one end of the boat to the other but finally did it.

Tomorrow will clean the coachroof side decks before launch at 1330. Oh and hope the engine works!