During Cowes Week I had the chance to slip into David Heritage's yard to see how Rapier was getting on. She has been stripped of all her fittings. Her ply deck has been removed in what is a painstaking and laborious process. Each 'square' is drilled out at the corners and then a jig saw used to remove the piece. The remaining ply attached to each deck frame is then planed down. I have attached a photo of Trevor hard at work completing this.

Meanwhile, inside the hull each carvel plank join has been taped up. This will prevent any epoxy seeping between the joints into the inside. The use of yellow tape to do this produces what is, to my eye, a rather beautiful effect, as I hope my photo demonstrates.

The hull wood looks quite good so after all the paint has been stripped off it will be given a good sanding with a long board in preparation for the ‘soft’ epoxy. It will then be long boarded a second time before replacing the keel bolts and putting the keel back on. The whole hull will then be sheathed, then painted.