3489Hrs – Inland Inundation

It keeps on coming, day after day, week after week, rain, rain and more rain, at this rate I’ll be able to forget about transport and float ‘Gleda’ down to the coast.

At least the temperature had climbed a few degrees today so I decided to get the first gaff glued together. It was a bit of a messy job with lots of areas to cover and no skimping on glue application, but the jig made things easier and I soon had it all clamped together.

It’s likely to be a while before I ease those clamps off though. The stress on the bent joints will be high and I need to be sure that the epoxy has cured properly before I trust them to hold. I’ll see how it goes.

The photo below was taken mid morning and even with the flash you can see how dark it is!

I decided to stay on the gaffs for the rest of the day, so I made the four wedge shaped spacers (Oak) and the two mast sliders  (Mahogany) that will be needed when I assemble the gaffs later.

I used the same technique for the sliders as I did for the gaff jaws i.e. replacing the leather with UHMW PVC rebated into the wear faces.

The weather is shortening my work sessions right now but at least I’m moving forwards.