The new cockpit coaming and toerails are fitted

As the new year starts the boat is begining to make progress. The new mahogany timbers that were ordered from Robbins Timber last year have been cut, drilled, sanded, sawn, steamed and fitted onto the various parts of the BB. The old toe-rail, which was not original, was turning into firewood so the whole lot has been replaced.
We don't have a router so the scuppers have been drilled out and then sanded to give a pleasing shape. I might add a couple of extra scuppers near the bows to allow water to drain off the deck when she is stored on the trailer.

The plug cutter came out again and all the screws have been hidden behind well fitting plugs. When they are parred off and sanded they look great. I almost feel like a proper boat restorer.

There is still much to do, the next major job is to lift the boat off the trailer and support her with timbers and ropes so that the topsides can be fully sanded and varnished. The trailer is also in need of attention. In the main it is in good shape but both the wheels and tyres need new replacements. They are still fully inflated after seven years of inactivity! Some of the trailers frames need new pieces of box section welding in and the bearings and brakes will probably be replaced too.

Nick Lancaster is providing the gear and skills needed to lift the BB and the 'two bobs' who have a vehicle repair business close by are looking after the trailer repairs for me. That leaves me free to do what I enjoy, messing about with wooden boats.
Thoughts are turning to sailing now that we are getting to the end of the project. New sails will be ordered at the end of February but we might get her going with some odd sails that came with the Jollyboat. I am looking forward to putting crisp new sails up.

The new fittings from Classic Marine keep tempting me. I keep getting them out of their packaging and looking at them with anticipation. All the old jamming cleats have been replaced, the old tufnel ones were well past their best. The mahogany mooring cleats were in a grim state with one of them being a very poor imitation of woodwork. Bronze cleats were expensive but I just had to have them. The fairleads are also brand new, I tried to ressurect the old ones but they were too far gone. I think we are going to get a very good looking boat at the end of this project.

The name of the boat was thought to be 'Lestrus', it turns out to be 'Lestris' which is the latin and skandinavian name for the Arctic Skua. We had contemplated changing the boats name to something new but I think we will keep the original. Someone told me that it is bad luck to change a boats name and after all the hard work the last thing we need is a change of fortune.

Ready for the lift off.

Half a toe-rail is better than none.