I originally bought Flirt to get ‘back into” sailing after an almost 30 year hiatus. While I never intended to keep her long, I did intend to fix her up to the best of my abilities. I have to say that even though her bottom has not touched water in the time I have owned her, my Sprite has already taught me a lot.

I never would have considered doing such extensive ‘glass repairs before Flirt. I have played with glassfibre here and there, but never to the extent of reshaping and rebuilding a shape as complex as a sailboat’s bottom. After finding out I am rather decent at it, I now have the courage to tackle bigger and harder jobs.

Today after work, I finished grinding down the “repairs” on the stern and feathering back the ‘glass on the port side of the keel in anticipation of rebuilding it. The white filler material they used makes for a very white, very powdery dust. It gets everywhere and over everything. Even with a good quality mask and goggles, it get in my eyes and I could taste it. Not something I recommend as part of your daily nutritional needs.

Now I need a couple of days off (hopefully Monday and Tuesday) and my next roll of Carbonfibre to come in so I can get stuck in deep in repairing Flirt’s much abused rear.