Late April report

Nice and warm, but rainy these days. In the past weeks, I was able to attach the rub rail to the top edge of the boat. Made it stick up 6mm to cover the edge of the decking plywood. Once that was in place, I was able to nestle the decking and epoxy it in place. That has now been painted, but needs a colour change to a warmer shade of white. I broke my scroll saw trying to cut out doublers to support the coaming, so I am now waiting for the arrival of a new bandsaw. Always something. While the coaming is being adjusted, I can work on the rigging and finishing up the rudder/tiller and daggerboard too. Not too long until launch.

Mid April Report

The weather has finally warmed up enough for epoxy work, but still too cool most nights for drying paint. I spent the past month doing clean-up jobs on the exterior; filling holes and getting ready to epoxy/fiberglass the exterior. That coating job took place over two long days. I did not take any pictures of the cloth draped over the boat. Sorry. The coth covers the bottom flat panel and up the first plank then ends at the joint where it joins the second plank. The cloth-covered bottom took three coats of epoxy to cover the weave of the cloth and the second and third coats had to go on while the previous one was still tacky. As the first coat was setting up, I added a strip of very heavy fibreglass tape to the bow and the first chine as they will likely get a lot of abrasion. Once the bottom looked within my decreasing standards, I gave it a coat of primer then two coats of marine enamel. I found myself getting more impatient as I could see the end of the project, but I still have a long way to go. Who cares if the bottom is completely smooth?
After the paint dried, I put the boat in the slings, turned it right side up and removed the building frame. The trailer was rolled back underneath and I got back to work on the topsides. Gave the interior another coat of paint. Installed a bow-eye to enable a winch to pull the boat back on to the trailer. Latest job is to cut out the plywood for the decking and screw it temporarily in place. That decking got planed back to be flush with the edges of the boat.
The pictures at the top include the first coat of epoxy over the cloth (the cloth is transparent here), Me standing by the boat sanding the first coat of paint, the boat on the trailer freshly painted, the deck screwed onto the top of the boat, one of the oars made by Barkely Sound Oars - beautiful and light!