Today was to have been the day of 'first cork'. Alas, it was not to be. We had lost sight of the hatches - anchor well and aft locker. They needed attention too. Old teak to be stripped, degreased and painted ready for the cork.

As with all things, it was not as straightforward as hoped. Underneath the teak the aft locker hatch turned out to be all marine plywood and rotten to the core. The anchor well hatch was part GRP underneath the teak and part marine ply. That needed attention too. I was swearing (lots of) internally bit Frank and Joeri (new kid on the block) took it in their stride. Frank starting doing his 'mad professor' thing again and began mixing all kinds of chemicals. Joeri busied himself with mats and the past Frank had brewed up. Couple of hours later - two new hatch covers.

Whilst they were busy doing their stuff I carried on with what seems to have become my assignment: I cleaned and polished. There was what seemed like half the Gobi dessert down below in GRP dust. Face mask donned and 3 hours later, with the help of an industrial size, Dalek like, hoover Guapa was once again (more or less) spotless down below.
The rest of the time I polished our deck fittings - they now gleam and sparkle as new.

The laying of first cork's now been delayed by a day, and I won't be there. I had really wanted to be. Alas, work interferes. Work's not something I can get out of. Well, not always. But money has to be made to pay for all this.

Next weekend is another bank holiday one. So looking forward to another trip over and a few days on the boat. What will progress have been like?

Twenty three days till launch.