The Rain, and Things Built
Feb. 7th, 2026 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnIt poured with rain this morning. I hoped that it might be raining less in Pembroke, so I took Theo there for a walk. But it was not raining less. It was not raining so hard that the Commons were flooded, as has happened a few times this winter, though I did end up rather cautiously driving through a giant puddle that ran right across the road.
Everyone else was driving through it and there was no easy way to wimp out by the time I saw it with traffic behind me, so I just aimed at the middle and hoped. And made it!
Theo and I went for a very short walk and soon agreed that it was too wet for walking. We went to a cafe instead.
Eventually it stopped raining, more or less, so we did the walk around the castle very soggily... until the rain came down again and we fled, defeated. Theo is not a fan of rain.
Then the sun came out, so I got out the frame I made to mount the Mirror on the car, sanded off the worst rough bits, and added some wheels. I'm quite pleased with the wheels: they are attached with bolts and wing nuts to the cross-pieces so they can easily be removed to allow the frame to go on the car, but the mounting pieces are also under the main weight-bearing bars so that the whole structure is quite robust.
I had some spare little angle brackets, so I put those on too to make the whole thing more rigid when moving it about.
I was able to get the dinghy outside on my own, but enlisted Pp to help me roll it over onto the frame.
And also to help me get it back inside once the boat was upside down on its wheely frame (I used the usual straps to hold it onto the frame while moving, though it's stable enough that you can just wheel it gently around without straps now it's inside on a flat surface.
Now it's all ready for me to try to get the paint off (and eventually, repaint). I've ordered paint stripper and a heat gun from Screwfix: as predicted, I have already spent more at Screwfix than I spent on the boat.... May possibly have a go at it tomorrow.
Most of the paint is just flaky old paint, but there's something else going on here along the metal keel band. Old epoxy, possibly? Will see what happens when I remove it.
Everyone else was driving through it and there was no easy way to wimp out by the time I saw it with traffic behind me, so I just aimed at the middle and hoped. And made it!
Theo and I went for a very short walk and soon agreed that it was too wet for walking. We went to a cafe instead.
Eventually it stopped raining, more or less, so we did the walk around the castle very soggily... until the rain came down again and we fled, defeated. Theo is not a fan of rain.
Then the sun came out, so I got out the frame I made to mount the Mirror on the car, sanded off the worst rough bits, and added some wheels. I'm quite pleased with the wheels: they are attached with bolts and wing nuts to the cross-pieces so they can easily be removed to allow the frame to go on the car, but the mounting pieces are also under the main weight-bearing bars so that the whole structure is quite robust.
I had some spare little angle brackets, so I put those on too to make the whole thing more rigid when moving it about.
I was able to get the dinghy outside on my own, but enlisted Pp to help me roll it over onto the frame.
And also to help me get it back inside once the boat was upside down on its wheely frame (I used the usual straps to hold it onto the frame while moving, though it's stable enough that you can just wheel it gently around without straps now it's inside on a flat surface.
Now it's all ready for me to try to get the paint off (and eventually, repaint). I've ordered paint stripper and a heat gun from Screwfix: as predicted, I have already spent more at Screwfix than I spent on the boat.... May possibly have a go at it tomorrow.
Most of the paint is just flaky old paint, but there's something else going on here along the metal keel band. Old epoxy, possibly? Will see what happens when I remove it.
