I think I’m counting days of work on the boat consecutively, not calendrically: that is, between the last post and this one, two sunrises and sunsets have taken place, a rocket launch, and a syslunch. I’ve gone two full days and nights without touching the boat, but I’m going from Day 25 to Day 26 here just the same.

And a piss-poor day of work Day 26 was! I mixed up 25 grams of epoxy and filled in the weave in a couple of stubborn spots near the bottom / side junction, and I finally glued up the deck beam after thickening and spreading the leftover epoxy on its two component plywood arcs. It wasn’t much, but it had to be done, and I really want the hull glass to be fully cured before proceeding.

While updating the Slowblog with rocket launch photos, I found some old correspondence with CLC which we will discuss by and by. I remembered an issue with the deck wood; I had forgotten another with the bottom panels which CLC identified. All in good time, My Pretty. All in good time.

[I see that I never explained this. Way back when I first ordered this kit, I noticed that the foredeck had a substantial cosmetic flaw. The outer layer of wood had a narrow gap and a line of black glue ran from side to side. Normally, I might forget about it, but it was clear that this project was going to take a great deal of time, so I decided not to. I photographed the flaw, wrote CLC, and they immediately agreed to send a replacement on their dime. Thank you! When the new wood arrived, I looked it over and all was fine. Then I got an email asking if I had received the new hull pieces. Eh? Seems that buried in my correspondence about the deck was a note from CLC that they had discovered that some shell kits had been miscut, including mine. The panels that meet at the keel had been cut slightly undersized. Ah… I rechecked the shipment with the new deck and yes, indeed, I had extra hull panels, too. I stacked everything in a safe nook in the boatyard and waited for the right moment to begin. Things happened. Hip replacement. Healing. This, that, the other thing. By the time I restarted the project, I’d forgotten all about the miscut hull bits. I pulled the pieces out of the still-taped-up kit and started building. As it happens, I selected the original pieces. How I overlooked their replacements I have no idea. But here we are. The only issue in construction was that the bulkheads would not fit within the incrementally narrower hull and required some careful trimming and generous epoxy fillers. Is there an issue at sea? Probably not, but we’ll find out.]

I need to cut a hole for the skeg, and I need to plane the sheer clamps for the deck (even though the deck isn’t going on for a while yet). I want to cut the skeg opening with the hull inverted. I’ve marked the outline for the skeg mounting block. The right saw will be here Saturday — why balk at $12 for the right tool now? I’ll sand the skeg block to a slight taper [good idea, but in the end I didn’t bother], snug it in a slightly undersized opening [or one that was just right], apply epoxy fillets inside the hull, cover the inside with cloth, then plane or sand the outside flush with the hull. A touch more epoxy and glass and that’s that. I am not 100% satisfied that the inside of the slot that holds the skeg will be properly sealed. Thinking.

See if it’s possible (and desirable) to add a quarter inch to the top of the forward bulkhead. I think it has come in slightly lower than planned. It might not matter, and then again it might. Could I epoxy a second profile piece to the back of the bulkhead and fill in the exposed gap with a fillet? Would the deck still fit? Would it fit better? Does it matter? What problems do I imagine that I think I might see? Stop it, and build a boat.