Corking...

The last few weeks we have been busy at home on various construction and landscaping projects so have not been to see Jorvik Rose as most of the work has been progressing on the deck manufacture in the Netherlands.

As you can see from the photographs, it is quite a manual process, so we were a bit nervous when we saw these photos that the deck may not fit properly!

The final deck is made up of a number of sections to make it easier to ship and also for handling purposes when the deck is fitted at Berthon.

Finally, the deck arrived on Wednesday of this week and we took a quick trip down to Lymington yesterday afternoon to see it laid out to be checked for fitting. Now Jorvik Rose looks pretty again. Amazingly the deck was completely rolled up and packed in a pallet sized box, which really shows how flexible the cork is - this is really great as there will always be some flexing of the hull in heavy seas so it is better that the deck can also flex with the movement as it will reduce the risk of water ingress.

The deck also fits very well with some minor areas requiring a couple of milimetres of trimming - credit is due to the shipwrights at Berthon for the accuracy of the template and to the skilled staff at Marinedeck.

The bright orange boat in the background of these two photos is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)'s Dungeness Lifeboat "RNLB THE MORRELL" which is in the shed for some running repairs. She is a 'Shannon' class, the latest class of lifeboat in the charity’s fleet and is capable of 25 knots, making her 50% faster than the lifeboat she replaced. She has increased manoeuvrability and features water jet engines, allowing the volunteer crew to operate in shallower waters.

For those that don't know, the RNLI is a UK based charity that saves lives at sea - they provide an on call, 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service around the UK and Ireland, as well as a seasonal lifeguard service through an active fleet of over 340 lifeboats. It is really amazing that a charity provides all this and it is one that I am proud to say that we strongly support with regular donations. This is the only time I want to see one of these lifeboats close up....

The next step for Jorvik Rose is that the deck will spend some time 'resting' to flatten out and minor triming will be completed. Next week she will be moved across the yard into the paint shed, where the top of the superstructure will be resprayed, from the inside edge of the toerail to the inside edge of the cockpit. This will take a week and once done, the work to fit the deck and reinstall the deck gear can be completed.

While there has been a lot of work going on, it has really not been so visible, so it is now really fantastic to see everything starting to come together.

Incidentally, I recently discovered that Jimmy Cornell (who is a legend in sailing circles) also has Marinedeck fitted to his Garcia 45 yacht that he has just completed the northwest passage with. I'm glad that our intensive research and decision to try a different deck looks like the right thing to have done.