No More Weather... Promise

OK, enough's enough. The MetOffice have remodelled our weather and the proof is outside my window as I write: early sunshine and clear skies. Whatever they did to the Ullapool forecast model, it has certainly worked. Which means I can concentrate now on boats (what this blog is allegedly all about).

Yesterday, a day of mixed weather... (dang, there I go again). OK, yesterday I drove down to Forres (incidentally the name of my first school, under the strict headmastership of Mr McKay, an archetypical Scotsman who delighted in clipping ears and slapping wrists but never viciously - didn't do me any harm, etc etc) to pick up the timber for the gun punt. The frames will be of 12x80mm oak, but doubled where more strength is needed, the stringers of Douglas. Planking will be 9mm plywood from Robbins, the topsides possibly in larch. We will see.

While at the sawmill I was shown some lovely pine from the Queen's forests, and will put my name down for some, in the increasing absence of good boatskin larch.

Seems like the wretched architects have "discovered" larch cladding, so all the good stuff we used to have for boats is being slapped on the sides of eco-buildings. All the really good stuff. Having exhausted the cheap Siberian stuff - that was beautiful as well - they are now hacking into the best boat building timber.

So this pine (the Scandinavians had no issues with the stuff) will be a good substitute, but I was warned "Don't leave it too long as the cladding Mafia have been sniffing round..."