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.

7-31 & 8-2.

With paint dry on the interior, it's time to scuff it up.  I did make the effort for the first time treading in the boat to take off my shoes, but that'll end the day we launch at an oyster shell riddled beach.  We sanded down the no skid a little too much I think (we had to try sanding it because it was so rough it would tear up skin and clothing), so it is a bit slippery, but there's still some grip.  

Putting in the port holes as I like to call them (inspection port is the technical term) was very difficult!  Especially the two tiny ones at the stern end (pictured above).  Below in the bow the port is much bigger, so I was able to stick a hand inside the hole to put on the washers and screw on the nut with one hand and plier inside the hole and the screwdriver on the outside.  Fortunately Daddy came home from work while I was putting these on and was able to help with the smaller ones.  My hand barely fits inside the smallest ones, so I had to delicately position my fingers with the nut over the end of the screw to get it started, then I held the nut with a socket wrench inside the hole while Daddy screwed from the outside. 

Then we attached various pulleys.  Below is the mainsheet block.  The way we attached it, it is removable so that we can get it out of the way for rowing.  Pull the loop of rope and the pin at the base unclips and the whole thing can be pulled to one side or the other with the boom to clear the center of the boat and the rowing seat (centerboard case).

Here is the centerboard set-up.  The pulley laying on the bottom of the boat (to the left) will be lashed to the nose of the centerboard that comes up and over the frame to the left of the picture.  Then the line comes down, through the pulley attached to the spine, back through the little hole in the frame (by the big circle opening), then up to the cleat in the photo below, where it is jammed to keep the centerboard up.  Then to lower the centerboard (which is weighted with lead), just unjam the line and it falls down.  

Tonight Daddy got ready to paint the gunnels.  We shall leave nothing to chance, or maybe we have learned to take all precautions against amateur paint mishaps as not to get burgundy paint on our previously painted surfaces that we went through so many troubles and coats to perfect!  And you can see that Daddy attached the belay pins for the mast (at the aft end of the deck).  

7-23.

One more coat to go!  (and the gunnels).  This afternoon we sanded for the last coat, but didn't have time to paint, so we'll put the last coat on and start the gunnels this coming weekend. 

In between painting, we realized we needed to start getting everything else ready.  So we lashed the sails onto the boom and lug, attached the tiller extension to the tilller, attached the pintles and cam cleat to the rudder stock, and whipped the uphaul for the rudder.

I just want to say again that whipping is really fun.  It is strangely satisfying.  I wish I had more ropes that needed whipping.

7-16.

Prepping for the second coat of primer.  I taped off the maple (and somehow still got paint on it - but it wipes off fine when still wet), we sanded, and painted.  I had spent the week pondering how to have a more efficient painting process so that we could get the paint rolled on and tipped out before it dried and left an ugly finish.  The new strategy worked soooo much better!  Daddy started on the floor while I worked on the centerboard case.  When that was done we moved on to frames in the bottom, seat sides, and seat tops.  Then Daddy did the deck very carefully and quickly while I started the sides.  This is the trickiest part because of the gunnels and all the gaps and corners.  This time we rolled as close up under the inner gunnels as possible while doing the frames, then came back when doing the insides of the gunnels to meet up with where the side paint stopped.  This coat looks fabulous - not like a kindergartner took a brush to the boat (which is basically what anything I paint will normally look like).  

We were planning on painting Monday, also (putting the first coat of color on the inside), but some spots of primer hadn't quite dried yet, so we're waiting for those to dry before sanding.  Instead, we glued leather on the lug and boom and fixed the trailer lights.

Cut out the leather strips, sanded the square sides of the lug and boom, and applied the contact cement - a super hard-core version of rubber cement that looks like caramel but smells disgusting.  You smear it on the surfaces to be glued together, let it dry for 15 minutes, then press them together with 75lbs of pressure (per some small area).  Had to reapply the glue on the leather as it is a porous surface and sucked the glue right up on the first application.  Now the lug and boom are ready to go - the leather protects them and the mast where they'll be rubbing as the sail is raised and lowered.

Then the fun part.  Where is an electrical engineer when we need one - Carson?!  The trailer lights had been working for the most part (all except the right turn signal) when we first finished the trailer and tested it on my mom's car.  When we hooked it up to my car, though, nothing was working, so we started taking things apart.  We disconnected the running lights that we determined were unnecessary and had never worked, reconnected the wire leading to the back right light (twice to no avail), and took the bulbs out and switched them back and forth between sides.  Finally we got everything working but the right turn signal on my mom's car, but my car still nothing.  A current was coming through the wires in my car, but the lights just wouldn't work, so I had to take the car into the trailer place that installed the hitch.  They said there had been a short in the electric box and replaced it and somehow fixed the right turn signal.  I don't know how because I'm not too much of a physics person...

7-8.

Put the first coat of primer on the inside.  First we had to wash the boat to remove any amine blush from the epoxy, and step and mast and raise the sail to know what point we needed to paint the top of the mast.  Of course it happens to be the middle of a hot and humid, typical Florida summer when we are finally ready to paint, and this makes painting that much more challenging.  Turns out painting the hull was easy.  Because painting the inside with all its nooks and crannies is terribly hard.  

Working on the last gunnel.

The voyageur canoe style double gunnels, as awesome as they are, make painting extremely difficult.  It doesn't help that paint is drying so fast you can barely tip it out (looking into using a thinner for the next coat).  Needless to say, this first coat was a good practice!  We learned a lot about how we're going to have to attack the job, and we will keep learning, hopefully quickly, as the coats go on, so that the later coats will look somewhat as nice as the hull.

I will say my tape job on the maple turned out pretty well.  We're going to have to varnish the maple at least one more time, though, because Daddy accidentally sanded one of the quarterknees on top as he was sanding the gunnel and I accidentally sanded one on the bottom (out of view - we almost decided to paint underneath, but I wanted to keep them all wood).

7-5.

Rolled and carried her out of the garage, flipped her over in the driveway, and slid the trailer back underneath. Her family fleet awaits her, tarped, in the background (left-16ft Cape Horn power boat, middle-1976 Drascombe Dabber, right- Blue Tang, home made Spindrift 12' designed by Graham Byrnes).

Seeing how the cedar is going to look with the color. 

Still have lots to paint, but with the hull done, it seems like a boat ready to sail.

July 4th.

Well, due to weather, work, and mess-ups we just now finished the hull.  This past weekend we put the last two coats of paint on the hull (we were going to stop at the end of the last can of paint, but when we started what was to be the last coat, disaster struck - roller hairs and debris in the paint sticking all over the hull).  So we went ahead and painted, then immediately ordered another can of paint and bought higher quality roller covers.  Now there are 5 or 6 coats of paint on the hull, I lost count somewhere along the way.  

This morning we attached the metal plate that guards the skeg.  We used marine adhesive, squeezed into the holes (that we had to drill out again because they weren't big enough, maybe all the coats of paint narrowed them down) and ran along the skeg.  This stuff is sticky and gooey.  I still have remants stuck to my fingers after a shower and multiple hand washings.

Where's Shadow?!

She has learned that we are more likely to throw the ball for her if she pushes it under the gate so it rolls over to the boat where we're working.  Today she patiently waited, peeking out from under the fence, while the ball sat under the sawhorses.

Screwed the plate on, then tried to clean up a bit.  Finer cleanup will have to be done when it cures with a knife.  This means we can flip the boat back over and start painting the inside!  No estimate on when we'll be done.