Makeover

I bet when Ian Proctor designed the SigneT in 1962 he didn't reckon they would still be going strong in 2004.

Over Easy is now thirty-six years young and a couple of years ago she had new decking fitted. This made the rest of her look a bit sad. So … the early September weather forecast looked good, Lyn came up with a new colour scheme, Thames marina had the paint … ergo, I up-ended Over Easy in the drive and got stuck in!

Two things immediately became apparent. Cosworth's nose was put right out of joint. Cosworth's our cat and sleeps in the drive during the afternoons. Well he did, and therein lay the first problem. The second was Lyn's MX5. It was white; it's now sort of pink. This had to do with sanding the red paint off the bottom of Over Easy. That problem was easily overcome with a pizza dinner and a car wash. The cat wasn't so easily side stepped! Anyway a power sander and a lot of sweat later I had something that looked like a filthy iceberg floating in a sea of dust. Exit the cat in a huff!

A bucket load of epoxy filler smoothed out several years of collisions and mis-use and sanding it down created another blizzard. Exit the cat … again! Actually I think it was the sander, he has the same reaction to the Hoover.

Priming, taping up and undercoating was fairly straightforward but it's amazing how many imperfections show up once every things dry. So … back to the filler stage. Top coating is always the best bit but requires some care. Always paint vertically, never horizontally. It has to do with the way the light strikes the finished surface and therefore doesn't show up horizontal lines or runs. I did consider spraying the boat but two things stopped me. One, I don't have a spray gun and two; Lyn threatened me with physical harm if I took anything resembling a spray gun anywhere near her car. Most unreasonable! Coach lines are a bit fiddly but do add a little something to the overall effect. Professionally prepared boat names are not cheap but do 'finish-off' the job rather nicely.

Some cockpit work was also required including new non-slip deck paint and coat or two of satin varnish on the decks to cover up the accumulated scratches. The foils were in pretty good nick and only required a quick wet and dry and a coat of paint. So watch out … in her new livery Over Easy will not be immediately recognizable and she may sneak up on you when you least expect it!

Cosworth eventually came to terms with the boat. At some point he wandered underneath and vanished. A little later I also climbed underneath to remove the centre plate bolt. After a minute or two I became aware that I was being watched and looking around spotted Cosworth with his head sticking out of one of the rear buoyancy hatches. As I looked around he meowed at me several times. I ignored this and when later I looked back he had a look on his face that kind of said "what part of meow don't you understand?" I figured all I needed to do was to re-paint the boat pea green and buy an Owl and he would be happy!

So there you go another refit completed. People love to see painted and varnished wooden boats but I can well understand why they buy fibre glass. The maintenance overhead is not to be underestimated although it is very rewarding. Just look at the number of wood boats lying around, effectively abandoned. Hopefully that will not be Over Easy's demise. I have a more fanciful end in mind. A Viking funeral, probably on Ullswater, with flaming arrows shot into the sails as the boat and I drift off into the mist. Highly whimsical!

Mike (Rats, now the sails look sad) Baker