Goodbye to the blue devils.

A week away from the project brought a dose of doubts and worries and a couple of downbeat posts which didn’t make it past the editor—I’d hate to give the impression that the Invisible Workshop isn’t a constant round of fun and games.

Back in the fray today putting the boat together piece by piece. I had expected a bit of a tussle with the inwales and although the panels were more to difficult assemble than without, she went together with no more than a few creaks and groans, which I took for signs of pleasure more than complaint. Any complaining came from the builder who in his hurry to get started had forgone footwear. Clamps that popped off the straining timber unfailingly chose to land on my toes.

Here’s the day’s crop of photos.

She has gone together very well on just the stem and the three bulkheads. The intermediate frames will go in when the hull shape is squared and fixed. I’ve bevelled the bulkheads by eye as needed and in some cases I’ve been overzealous and in another I’ve created a peculiar rolling bevel, which will take a deal of epoxy to fill. I finished by making some large ‘outtie’ bevels for the transom which will go on first thing tomorrow.

So infected was I with the heady satisfaction of a good day in the workshop that I later drove away with a cup of tea on the roof of the car. The cup made it to the first roundabout where it dumped its load of Earl Grey down the rear window before launching itself in a suicidal arc onto the tarmac.