September

With the boat originally scheduled to be ready around mid-September, we spoke to our boat builders and agreed that a later finish would be more realistic. We were quite thankful for this delay given the various other commitments we have at the moment. So now we're expecting it to be ready by the end of the month, with a plan to transport it onto hard standing (dry land) to fit out in early October.

Today was a bit of a flying visit, but we had a good chat with our main man Abdul, who was cracking on with the 3-piece railings at the stern. After a quick debate we decided that a slightly wider break in the railings, allowing for more space to step onto the stern deck, was the best option. In the pictures you can see the gas locker and the steering console next to it. We can't afford the hydraulic steering right now, but in the name of future proofing, we chose to have the console fitted as we hope to add it in a couple of years. We have asked the guys to stick a lid on the top so we can use it for storage in the interim. You can also see the weed hatch inscribed with XR&D, so we assume this is where they keep their stash.