Visitors

A day in Gosport. In the morning I rewired the navigation lights that had failed at an awkward moment when entering Newhaven at night a few days ago.  There are two excellent chandleries in Gosport so I have been trying to get a few jobs done. One chandlery actually sells silicon bronze screws, which is almost the highest indicator of quality for a wooden boat enthusiast.

Diana

Later my friend Diana came for lunch. Her experience of sailing is mostly in Mediterranean waters and she was seeing Bonita's elegant lines and primitive facilities for the first time.

Family Forrest

In the afternoon we were visited by the Forrest family: Alistair, Lucy, William and Sophie. Alistair helped with Bonita many years ago on a trip from Alderney to Dover.

Sophie

The third picture shows Sophie inspecting the stern locker for any signs of deterioration. The timbers in the stern locker are bare wood and have never been painted. It is an impossible area for an adult to reach and I have never been able to persuade a small child that it needs doing.  Instead this space just gets an annual spray round with wood preserver which so far seems to have been good enough.

The Morcambe Bay prawner's characteristic elliptical counter stern was always a weakness as the enclosed space is prone to rot and is difficult to maintain. Morecambe Bay fishermen quite often used to saw off the counter and plank the stern over if rot developed in this area. The job could be done on the beach on a single tide so there was little lost fishing time although the loss in aesthetics was somewhat greater.

I am hoping that the annual preservative spray will avoid the need for such drastic measures.