Leading Wind has a new home in sunny Sussex !
She made the epic journey from Bosham carpark to Birdham Pool Marina in one piece and thankfully without a hitch. Now she is having some well earned rest and recuperation before major surgery begins in July.
First the keel bolts will be removed and the ballast keel dropped for further inspection of the garboard seam (the join between metal keel and wooden keel). Hopefully the rotted gripe or former mast step will not have gone downwards ! Due to the fact that rain water accumulated in the bilges and stayed there for a number of years quite a number of the timbers or ribs have rotten ends and these will need chopping out and replacing with laminated new ones. Sadly with the engine in place the surveyor couldn’t inspect all the ribs and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that once the engine is removed there won’t be more bad news !
All the major restoration work will be completed by Tim Gilmore and his crew and I will play with the interior and the cosmetic stuff ! As an artist I can wield a paint brush reasonably well – and I’ve learned a thing or two restoring my previous boats.
Once things get underway I’ll report back but for now – it’s back to the drawing board !
All photos copyright Chris N Wood
chriswoodartist 