Day 10

Not worked on the Pearly Miss since early Jan, but an interesting day had yesterday - 49 new rivets fitted courtesy of a CMBA member who showed me how to do it properly while I clung onto the sledge hammer and he gave lots of advice to my various restoration quandries. Definitely one of the major benefits of being a CMBA member. The rain and cold kept at bay until early afternoon thankfully. Very chuffed as it gave me the impetous to continue, and later to clear up a few months of mess and rusting tools in the garage....

Today spent sanding the enormous cast ali steering wheel..all of 11lbs (& 8% of the overall boat weight). It was covered in blue plastic but the elements had obviously got to it a long time ago. The upshot was that it's not designed to be polished as I intend, so I need to get 90% of the casting imperfections out - will be a long job.

I would suggest getting it stove enameled when you have got it looking good, I can be done in most colours.

Boat is coming on very nicely, looking good.

Day 11 & 12

Spent sanding off corrosion, cleaning, scrubbing, polish hull, rolled over boat, sand and polish some of the deck..sized deck hardware, epoxied end grain of transom... Great weather for working outside for a change!

More rubrail arriving this week...for some reason I under ordered from Seals + Direct, despite having used the same qty vefore with Miss Daisy.

Day 13..getting tired of sanding corrosion, but did a lot today . Managed to overcome my fear of being trapped in a confined area, in a convoluted position working with a fast moving tool with a rotating ali cutting disc. Was done in order to open up the aft bouyancy compartment so that I can clean, refill and and put the bung and 2 bolts in. Will also give me access to the transom when I drill holes and fit it tomorrow. Glued decks down and started on the cubby hole. Not far to go, but keeping a lot of the patina...will definitely be a Pearly Miss Special.

Day 14, polished up deck so I can add the rubrail next week. corroded countersunk pop rivets replaced in the splashwell (thanks Mike), 4mm spare ali plate pop riveted and glued to inner transom, captive drain bung fitted, followed by transom being sized up and drilled for M10 bolts. End grain and holes epoxied, plus inner braces and deck cleat inner mounts epoxied. The clock is ticking, what motor do we put on it; putt-putt ding ding rrrr, fffffpt, tea kettle Evinrude 40hp Ski Twin, or one of Carl's successes, the '60 300, or the Crankbuster 400 with the dodgy wiring, or the 'new' 76/77 500..yee-har..vote here...

I vote Ski Twin to save us from becoming the Mercury owners club and they're interesting looking.

She is looking great Are they very small boats or is that one hell of a torch

Bet you can't guess what I think . . .

Perkins?

That's the domain of another member who should remain nameless to protect his reputation...

I think I'll use whatever I can fire up at the crucial moment before mounting it on the transom. The Ski Twin has never been run in anger following an extensive service and fitting of the e-start, underneath is clean..