Cockpit conundrum

co·nun·drum/kəˈnəndrəm/Noun

1. A confusing and difficult problem or question.

2. A question asked for amusement, typically one with a pun in its answer; a riddle.

I think I mean the first definition; but actually at times the second seems more appropriate. Well sometimes you have to laugh, or you would cry...

When we started this refit of Marelle we weren't expecting the transom to look so pretty once we had removed the Aries windvane, and varnished, and gilded the name. Our original plan had been to put the Aries back on, but we couldn't bring ourselves to put it back on and cover up all that beauty. Perhaps inhaling all the thinners is getting to us!

Given we were already replacing the winch bases - more of that in another posting later - we decided to strip and varnish the cockpit, and remove the Aries track next to the wheel, and repair the corner piece the Aries lines had been fed through.

Easier said than done. Stripping the cockpit was really hard work, using a heat gun as Martin had done on the hull, and scrapers, followed by sanding, sanding and more sanding.

All the fittings were taken off, and what seemed like hundreds of holes were dowelled and filled.

Here are some pictures of the corner repair: 

 

The original corner pieces had steel reinforcement, but this was all that was protecting the cockpit corners from the potential shock of an ill-timed jibe. Martin was not happy that this would be strong enough, so we got the corners extended out, with an inner piece added as well to “sandwich” the wood together. The stainless steel work that has been done looks fabulous, with the added bonus of getting the original corner pieces polished up.

Oh yes and we have also removed the gas box from the aft deck, and the cockpit fold out seat that was rotting away (a later addition in softwood!).

We ran out of time to do the varnish in the cockpit before we had to get Marelle back in the water, so most of the cockpit varnish has been done outside. I am now up to 8 coats of Epifanes PP Extra; Martin wants the same number of coats as the hull so there is a way to go yet. It is nicer sanding and varnishing outside, but obviously quite weather dependent so it's going rather slowly.

Mind you, the second steel corner piece still isn't fitted yet...

So the riddle/difficult questions are:

• would we have started the job, if we knew what it would take?
• why do all jobs on boats multiply exponentially, but only after they are started?

Update June 2012:

Corner pieces, mainsheet blocks and winches all fitted.