Back to the drawing board with the hull repair - the gasket material between the two sheets had perished to such an extent there was little seal. 15 old screen mounting holes in the foredeck now plugged.

Got tired of manhandling the boat and made this cradle from scrap for No3, so I can now work on it without swapping boats onto the trailer, or stands. I thought it wouldn't wobble, but it does...carpentry was never a strong point. Social distancing and all means few volunteers drafted into boat movement (and the Mrs finding it tiresome.. )

Great weather here means doing two boats at once. Same job as before, sanding and filling, priming and touching up. Not sure what colour this one will be.

Next filled and faired the inner hull, as it has taken a bit of battering over the years. Masked that off, primed and painted with light grey deck paint - thought about that one for awhile, but realised it would look better and offer a non-slip surface. Am not a fan of floor boards on Pearlys; they hide a 60 + year old rivetted hull and add weight. Having slipped more than a few times, I used rubberised decals on my other Pearlys, these work well, but are expensive to cover large areas.

Next job I had to do was calculate how much marine ply I'd need for inner and outer transom (the ali is sandwiched between..), and front and rear seats for both boats. This equalled 15cms more than the length of 18mm sheet so I compromised with a 10mm rear seat back. The job to work it out proved less than easy though - I had two old transoms to work from, both not original; one modified in height and the other showing differing positions on the transom handles and splashwell drain holes. The originals were made for short shaft and are too short, causing the motor lower unit to be too deep and resulting in water splashing up into the well - I've had to use spacers under the outboard saddles on all my previous Pearlys, having remade the 1st two boat transoms to original spec... This time I'm taking them up to 17in (the pic shows a short shaft motor on No4 using No3's transom and a temporary spacer) which will place the (anti) cavitation plate roughly level with the bottom of the hull. My only concern is any turbulance created by the central keel might be a problem...

While waiting for the marine ply I'd ordered from Robbins Timbers, started on the various bits of aluminium trim for both boats. This generally involved removing extensive corrosion, etch priming the underside of each and adding a perfunctary coating of silver paint left over from an old job. These castings differ according to each model. No3 has heavy duty cast pieces, made in a hurry, with little dressing up - the transom corners have a hard plastic coating that I'll throw out. No4's are aluminium sheet cut to pattern and welded. Each type differs from model to model as well. No4 has a cut away bow section that enables the bow casting to fit further back along the deck - I've covered the hole with flashing tape...

As said earlier, Robbins delivered the plywood I'd ordered . The service I got from them at this strange time was brilliant and the price to buy, cut and deliver very reasonable. My carpenter neighbour came out of imposed hibernation, fully masked and gloved, in order to quote on the woodwork needed...having just opened the packaging and both of us handling it all with nitrile gloves, he insisted on disinfecting it all before it crossed his threshold. One can't be too careful.

I'd bought some vintage chrome cleats that I had intended to replace the two cast ali versions original to the boat, one of which was missing it's 'tail' end - they're in a vunerable position and can catch under a pontoon. Solitaire sowed the seed that enabled me think about 'fixing' the broken one..pics below. The rivet was glued into it's drilled hole, with chemical metal and drawn up slightly with the riveter, the mandrel was cut to size and chemical metal moulded around the mandrel and filed back. At this stage the repair is robust....

Now that is an excellent repair.

Thanks to Solitaire..

After a bout of paint that just did not do what it was supposed to; followed by a paint that did..I put a 'final' coat on the boat on a day with 20deg and near zero wind, in the shelter of the garage..Unfortunately we had a pollen and dust dump and it all spoiled. This morning I sanded it back and dragged it around the back into the cookhouse (a steady 23deg, no pollen, little dust (I didn't want to push my luck by wetting the floor..)) and like baking a cake I can view it from safety, until it's done.