In The Water

An early start enabled a crack of dawn launch on a high tide. All went well and it is great to see Jackaroo finally in the water.

The mast was craned in and secured and the rigging was connected up. We discovered a few essential fittings that need a bit of renovating or replacing. However, it's been a successful morning!

New Name

The new 'Jackaroo' name is looking SUPERB!

Mast Ready

We ran all of the halyards back into the mast while the riggers set up the wires ahead of getting Jackaroo in the water and 'stepping' the mast.

Rigging

We have liaised with the guys who will 'step' the mast and sort out re-rigging Jackaroo next week. Hopefully the boat will be put into the water by crane and we can start final work to get her sailing. We touched up the anti-foul, finished off the deck grey and made yet another list of jobs to do. First though - it's the Open Day on Saturday. See you there! 

Fantastic Support

Roger made great progress on the bow repairs on yet another super sunny day. An equally fab group of Pendennis apprentices joined us and set about numerous Sailability tasks. Jackaroo got a coat of posh teak preserver on the toe rail and was measured up for teak grab rails and a new set of steps down from the cockpit into the cabin. These will make moving about Jackaroo easier for our disabled sailors. We are incredibly grateful to all of the team at Pendennis Shipyard for their wonderful support.

Great Progress

With five enthusiastic and skilled Pendennis Shipyard apprentices helping, we got lots done: The hull has been polished, the antifoul applied and the deck painted in a smart new grey (with extra grip granules included). The bow repairs have also moved on brilliantly.

Hull Repairs

A run of dry days mean that the hull repairs can finally get underway. The bow will be built out from the inside to add strength.

Fire & Rescue Friends

Our Friends at Falmouth Fire Station invited us to their place today. 'Red Watch' presented a cheque to help us get even more people out on the water. It was nice to do something for Sailability wearing smarter clothes for once!

Not-Quite-Spring Clean

With winds gusting 50-70 mph we hunkered down inside Jackaroo to clean out the loose paint and soak up the incessant water. The wettest winter continues to make renovations a challenge. The above video does not quite do justice to the wind howling in the rigging.

 At this rate, Jackaroo will be ready d'reckly!

Coatings

We took advantage of dry weather to get more paint on the inside and to try out the new anti-fouling coating on the keel. Both applications went well and look smart.

Skipper Training

This is the next major job to get done on Jackaroo - repairing the damaged bow. This will allow us to then tidy up the hull above the waterline. The interior paint we tentatively applied two weeks ago looks ok, despite being exposed to significant condensation (following recent very cold nights). Also this week, some of our sailors have been undertaking their RYA 'Day Skipper' theory. Well done to all of them and we look forward to seeing them applying their knowledge sailing Jackaroo!

Break In The Clouds

This week the relentless wet weather once again scuppered our plans to apply any more paint. Jackaroo is proving relatively watertight every time we check her but (at the time of the above picture) air temperature at 4 degrees Centigrade and pulses of hail blowing in, options are limited. This week's 'dry' jobs include ordering the winch adaptions and sending off another grant application. We could do with some much longer breaks in the clouds!

Start Painting

Phill joined the team just in time to begin applying interior paint. We found that coverage over the previously jet-washed surfaces was good, despite a mix of bare fibreglass and old paint. Although mostly cosmetic, we want to put in the effort to make Jackaroo pleasant and smart inside to go with a transformed exterior. The quick drying paint quickly dried to our clothes, hair and skin and proved stubborn to remove, boding well for the lifetime of the interior finish on Jackaroo!

We also measured up the winches so that we can order adaptions to make them 'self-tailing' and thereby easier to use for our sailors.

Graphics Design

Once again, the weather has prevented us from getting hands-on the boat this week. However, we have now engaged with our friends at Autograffiti to get quotes for boat graphics. We have sent them the above design, with a view to giving both of our J24s 'corporate' new name logos. What do you think?

We are determined to get started on Jackaroo's interior decorations and plan to get some of the paint we have now ordered, on the inside surfaces, even if we have to take a fan heater to keep warm enough! We plan to be working on Jackaroo at Mylor Harbour on Monday afternoon 18th January 2016. If you would like to join us please email to let Steve and Jerry know (j24jackaroo@gmail.com)