Trust me, I'm a shaper

Granted this looks totally bizarre.  Why would you stick paint brushes to a surfboard?  Is it some kind of art installation?   No, it's a repair!

Idiot that I am, I forgot to undo the pressure relief screw on a hot day and dear old "Numbers" started to look more like a puffer fish than a surfboard.  The deck detached itself from a couple of the frames and, even after the pressure relief screw was undone, a slight dome remained on the deck.  

A couple of years ago I discovered that you could solve this problem by re-compressing the board and attaching the bottom to the deck by using dowels, it's not easy but it works.  I also discovered that the perfect sized dowels for this repair are the handles on the paint brushes I use.  Nice strong wood (not sure what it is) and a consisitent size.   Usually I try and keep the handles from the paint brushes after I have used them, but this time I had to use new brushes as I had run out of old ones!

Anyway makes a fun picture.  The point, if there is one, is that after a few years of trying and failing, shaping and scrabbling, you somehow start to collect a memory full of weird dodges to get you out of a hole.  

I'm hoping to get "Numbers" ready again for a ride on the Severn Bore towards the end of May, so far so good.

The only down side is that short handled paint brushes are a bit of a pain to use.