Saturday night pulling and grinding!

Another one from Kit I'm afraid - Jess is still sauntering around the French Alps with our four little boys. Tomorrow, Jonah and Ini (7 and 9) are going paragliding which has become a bit of a Lane family obsession. I, however, have had a much more down to earth weekend! I think I have mentioned the awesome 17 " feathering prop from Darglow, well, Jeremy and I tried it on today. It is awesome, but.... Our calculations for enlarging the aperture between the rudder skeg and the rudder were a bit optimistic as became clear when we slid the prop onto the shaft. The shaft itself is also a wee bit too long. So, this evening I have been pulling the shaft out of the Aquadrive (thrust bearing flexible coupling) in order to cut an inch or so off tomorrow - followed by rather a lot of grinding (see photo taken with my mobile). As my older brother, Simon, pointed out to his daughter 'boatbuilders love grinding' and it's true that I don't feel like I've had a truly productive day on the boat unless I have put on a decent layer of dust. Tomorrow, I hope to get the shaft and prop back in and the rudder skeg built back up and faired in so it looks just right.