Fitting the transom, and a quarter gallery the wrong way round

The wale is on and has been painted with Admiralty matt (metal) black, three coats in total.

Now the transom. First everything dry-fitted and measured. Seen from above there was a distinct kink in the middle. I wondered whether that was meant to be there, or whether I should file down the middle timber so the kink disappears.

I didn’t wait for an answer and took the kink out anyway. It looked a bit odd to me. Now everything fits perfectly all round.

Then I started on the first quarter gallery. Whether that was going well I didn’t know yet, and my doubts turned out to be justified. When I had placed the other gallery as well, that one sat a great deal better. I feared a case of having to break things off.

In the end it turned out to be simpler, and a bit daft: the first quarter gallery was simply the wrong way round. Turn it through half a turn and it fitted. Luckily it still came off very easily. Strange that I hadn’t tried that earlier. Piet saw nothing daft about it: if you spot what’s wrong yourself and put it right, it comes good in the end and that’s what counts.

The next morning I had a look at the result after turning it round. That’s better already.