8-5.

Second coat on the gunnels.  They need at least one more coat, but we have plenty of paint, so I may just do two more coats if it ever stops raining.  I got this coat done in time for the afternoon rain, then we spent the rest of the afternoon screwing various things down, listening to the rain outside the carport (I like the rain because the frogs in the ditch behind my house go crazy and they're nice to listen to). 

Attached the gudgeons to the boat and slipped (or pushed) the rudder stock on - it's a tight fit, and extremely hard to pull off - but it fits and swings from side to side.  There is a concern about the corners of the pintles on the rudder stock banging into the transom when steering far to either side - we may have to address this once we've gone sailing with leather or something else to protect the boat.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot stay clean of paint, and red paint, even when you think it is dry on your hands, will rub off onto off-white paint, so I had to put gloves on when working on the centerboard cap seat.  Daddy suggested I could wash the paint off with mineral spirits, but I guess I'd rather only be doused in one chemical substance rather than two, so I kept the paint.  I should really just wear gloves while painting to solve the problem.     

We used pretty screws for the centerboard seat - I believe they are brass, but they could be copper - I'll have to ask my dad.  Got them all lined up with the screw head slots facing the same direction, then tightened the nuts with the socket wrench.

The line we're using around the centerboard was too short when tied using knots (the pulley it connects to was being pulled too high up so that it was scraping the frame), so we untied the line and seized it with twine.  

Now you can see the set up for the centerboard uphaul, with that pulley mentioned above close to the spine. When the centerboard is lowered, that pulley moves up closer to the frame where the nose of the centerboard is resting now, but doesn't move up past the frame into the centerboard case anymore.

With the rudder stock attached, we put on the tiller and rudder and I got in the boat to see how the tiller extension felt.  I think it's going to be fun having the extension to be able to move farther out on the gunnels while sailing and still be able to steer with a hand.
We also attached the stern seat box top.  It is a tight fit - all the coats of paint made the notches a bit smaller, but I figure it'll wear itself in as it gets used, and paint touch-ups may have to occur down the road.

A couple views of the boat looking close to finished!  She'll be floating soon we hope!  I'll let everyone know when and where we're launching so that anyone who's been following along that lives nearby can come see if they want to.  And if you live far away and overseas, there'll be photos of course.