I had a great Christmas and I hope you all did as well, or whatever festival you are celebrating.

How's this for a present?

It's a weather station. I put it out in the field away from the horses so it will not be knocked over by one of them accidentally, and also away from trees and buildings, or as far away as I can get.

The other half, connected to the station by a low power radio transmitter, sits on my desk in the office. A very nice and useful present for a sailor. I'm really pleased.

Always remove the drill bit from the drill when you are finished using it to drill the current hole especially if the bit size is less that 1/4" or 6mm. Double that bit size if you are working more than 2m or 6' off the ground.

Failure to do this means that when (not if) you knock the drill on to the workshop floor, you will break the bit which will turn out to be the last one in your toolbox and the ironmonger is now closed so you cannot get another one until tomorrow.

Always drill pilot and clearance holes for screws and countersink them if you are using countersunk screw heads.

Failing to do this runs the risk of splitting the wood along the medullary rays especially if you are putting in a line of closely spaces screws or approaching the end of a piece of timber.

...cold, possibly wet, winter evenings.

I don't know about you but I'm finding that if I do not get out of the house in into the workshop before it gets dark in the late afternoon, there is zero chance of me getting out there at all during that evening. Days like yesterday, for example. Shopping day. Get home around 18:30 usually, yesterday it was 17:30 but even so it was dark and no work got done on Naiad at all.

The bright side is that it is only 41 days until the daylight starts getting longer instead of shorter.

The saying above is one made by Dylan Winters of Keep Turning Left fame and one he champions at every possible moment. In essence he is saying that you should buy the boat you can afford now and go sailing and not spend time mending or putting a boat right and go sailing later. He recently gave a talk at the Scottish Boat Show about sailing on a budget where this theme was reiterated.

I disagree.

It is probably acceptable to say this if you have the money to buy a boat in sailing condition but if you do not, what then?

And what if you do have money but cannot afford a boat suitable for the type of sailing available to you?

I'm a case in point. I could have afforded a small dinghy but it would have to be something over 10' long as I'm not as spry as I used to be and I want to sail in comfort. Let's say I could buy a Wayfarer at a good price and at my age sailing a Wayfarer single handed would be pushing it. I'd only be able to sail up and down the river for about 3 miles as the power cables would prevent me from going further. So, a smaller boat perhaps? Then I'm limited to 9 miles of river before the bridges prevent further progress and a lot less comfort. Now I need a boat with a short mast to get under the power cables and a mast that I can easily lower and raise to get under the bridges.

That really limits my options. Looking around on the Internet for suitable boat that meet just these two requirements to say nothing of the comfort requirement shows me that I'll need to spend around £2,000 and then getting the mast down would not be easy.

Guess what? I can't afford that.

So, instead I did exactly the opposite, fettle now, sail later.

I bought the boat I could afford that could be made to fit my requirements but needed repair and over the last 17 months I have been fettling away making that repair and building a boat that I want, not one that limits my options.

And the end is in sight. I've got to the stage where fittings are starting to be put in place. The hinges and latches on the lockers, for example. I'll soon be installing the main sheet bullseye and cleat as they need a backing pad under the deck and what better way to hold the backing pad in place while the sealant cures than to fit the items that need it?

The result will be the boat I want as well as one I could afford but that outlay has been spread over 17 months so far and probably over 24 months by the time I'm sailing her.

Now that I can afford.

So Sail now, fettle latter if you can afford it, otherwise fettle now, sail later.