Out on the water

The final touches, and the launch!

Putting on decking

Inside staining, painting

Flipping the boat

Turning the hull over to finish the inside.  

Painting the hull

As I'd mentioned previously I decided to paint the hull, because there were too many cosmetic issues with the wood. I thought I had sanded enough, and that the remaining imperfections would be hidden by the paint. All in all, I think the paint looks great, but if you're closer that couple of feet you can see plenty of areas that could have used more sanding.   My children talked me out of doing a generic, white hull and I'm glad they did- I like the blue we decided on.

And even more "final sanding"

Looks like I could sand on this for week and still not get it perfect .

Final sanding

I toyed with leaving the hull unpainted, so you'll see several parts that I stained to see what they'd look like.  Unfortunately, there were too many areas that had to be filled in, so it wasn't going to look right leaving it unpainted.  I might leave the transom unpainted- we'll see how it looks after fiberglassing.

Sanding the hull

I'm sanding the completed hull, and filling in screw holes and any dips or gaps in the wood.  I'm using filler mixed with resin to fill in gaps, then sanding with a belt and hand sander.  I'm making a ton of sawdust, and slowly getting a smooth hull.

Finishing the Hull

The front bottom panels of the hull were much harder than the rest.  I had to bend them into shape, gradually cutting small amounts to fit them as they are bent and pushed forward.  I got impatient, and instead of slowly planing off small amounts of wood, I cut larger strips with a saw and cut off too much.  So, I had to fill in small gaps where I made these mistakes on both sides of the stem.

Planking the hull

I had to order the 1/4 inch marine grade plywood used on the hull- I couldn't find anywhere in Middle TN that carried it.  So far, this has been easier and more straightforward than I expected.  The 1/4 plywood bends easily and follows the form without much difficulty

Fairing

So, it doesn't look like much has happened but I've spent a lot of time working on the boat the last few day.  I've been "fairing" everything, using a planer and a belt sander.  The goal is to have all of the lines smooth, so the will be no bumps or dips when I start planking the hull.  From a distance it looks like little has changed, but it's been hours of work and a pile of wood shavings to get everything smooth.