Wax on, wax off

(originally published April 2005)

There’s a sort of Zen about doing these jobs on this little boat. When I had the “Two Brothers”, my 22 foot clinker sailing cruiser, I seemed to spend all the time doing desperate remedial work. The idea that it should be laid up for a few months while it was thoroughly sorted never entered my head; it had to be ready to sail when I wanted it (on one occasion on Boxing Day, I remember). So the maintenance was always rushed, always crucial and always present. A bit like keeping an old car running if it’s your only means of transport - except that the need to keep the boat going was only in my head.

But the work on the little dinghy is interesting - everything is a problem to be thought through instead of a disaster to be averted, and there’s no rush (except my desire to see it on the water before the summer’s gone; well, before the summer starts really). So I do a bit, make a coffee, have a think, do a bit more, make a note or a sketch, feed the chickens, do a bit more, walk the dog, and so on. I’m enjoying it so much that I’m thinking about the next boat already. Ray Mears’ programme on BBC last night (canoeing down a Canadian river) made me think it would be good to have a Canadian canoe; but then I’ve just seen some plans and an article about a 19 foot double-ended open boat, yawl-rigged, suitable for camp-cruising (another one from the Salle quiz - “Carry On Camp Cruising”) which I’m thinking about. Don’t know where I’d keep it, but it really looks nice. I’ll try to post some pictures later. Now back to fairing the stem.