Mainly the good news goes in this blog - but I have decided to share some of the bad news with you too; Roach's launch plan is slipping. Well, all my friends with boats have told me this would happen, and I do have a buffer in my schedule, but a combination of only working on her at weekends, the travel to and from London to Suffolk by train, and to a tight budget are taking their toll on the schedule. We are not at Wembly Stadium slippage stage, but a lot of work needs to be done this Easter to put her back on track.

The plan this Easter is to sand her decks back to bare wood and varnish her in a system called Skippers made by Emmels; an Italian paint manufacturer. After much research I have decided to go with this system, rather than Coelan, as Roach has a mahogany deck and Skippers is the varnish of choice by Riva's and Venice water taxis. If it is good enough for them, well it is good enough for me. Sheila, a 1905 Albert Strange, has also used this system to great acclaim - and I have had the virtue of seeing the system in the flesh so-to-speak.

My Easter plan has started badly with my random orbital sander breaking within two minutes of starting the job leaving me feeling helpless and demoralised. I should mention that Roach has eaten two belt sanders, one jigsaw, and one router during her restoration. I can affirm to those that belive it is cost-effective to buy cheap power tools, that it is indeed a false economy!

My spirits will hopefully be restored after a trip to B&Q tomorrow and I will let you know how the varnishing went. In the meantime I leave you with pictures of the cockpit that was completed a couple of weekend's ago. The little cave lockers need panelled doors fitted, and there is a lazarette locker door too. You can also see the red "Corian" I have lined the bottom of the lockers with. Left-overs from a kitchen refurb and hopefully it will be better wearing than paint over the years - one of my better non-boaty ideas!