I was so close to getting the stern hold complete this week. I thought I’d had it cracked. Whilst scraping off the last bit of old paintwork and rust streaks in a tucked-away corner last night, it seemed a part of the inner hull planking felt a bit ‘hollow’ under my scraper.
Using the blade’s edge, I gave a hesitant stab against the old mahogany, and to my horror, watched it sink through the wood fibres by half a centimetre.
The plank had rotted.
Digging out all the decay (plus a perimeter of ‘good wood,’ I was left with a section of about 20cm long by about 10cm that needed patching.
Fortunately, I have a good amount of fresh mahogany that I can use to replace the section of affected plank. The bad news is this will increase the time it will take to properly ‘finish’ the stern hold, and since the hull is double planked, it will take me even longer to patch this up.
And the rain keeps falling.
Anyway, mustn’t grumble – time to dust off the router and jigsaw, and put the kettle on. This is going to be a long day.
Stay safe out there,
Tim
DOWAGER 
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