The bow

This weekend I finally hitched up my panties and got to work on the bow refastening job again (the most major thing keeping me at the dock at the moment). I really need to work on the projects that matter and not so much the ones that are really satisfying to do (like varnishing and painting). Before I started the caulking, I tightened the new fasteners on the planks, making sure they are still sufficiently tight. Then I gathered my caulking materials and went outside...

Here is what the bow has looked like for a while now, with the tarp covering the open seams. This arrangement worked very well for keeping water off the hull there... so well that there was little incentive to button it up better with the 'real fix' (recaulking).


Here's what it looks like under the skirt...


So, I went to town recaulking the seams... here is the cotton all looped into the seams, ready to be 'made in'. You can see here that I also have some fastener holes to re-bung as well...


Here is a close-up of some nice, even loops (at least for my current skill level):


Then I set all the cotton tight and payed the seams over with homemade redlead primer. That was all for the day. Next I need to lute the seams, bung the holes, fair the luting compound and paint!