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In about 1950, the accepted USCG weight for boat calculations was 150 - 155 lbs. Then came the good times, every one started eating the bad stuff, too much of that and the current obesity trend was underway. The USCG is having a hard time keeping up. The number has advanced at least 20 lbs since I started using it as a design factor. I'd use my own judgement for any specific case and the latest USCG number for when that is important.. Cypress is a mixed bag. Heartwood is rot resistant but usually has lots of knots. Sapwood is often clear but not so durable. At first glance, I thought I was looking at "Lapwing" but then saw that it was a Lapwing even though it has my top strake scroll carving and shape. Graham put it in the computer I guess. Very nice anyway.

Dave, what's the exact meaning of "yadda, yadda"? is that a special procedure, or a type of clamp?

I'm on day 18 and running out of patience myself, actually. But I'll keep going for the same reason that I'll rip stuff by hand: I'm about as hard headed as a granite statue. Well, I'm HOPING that my build will be useful for other prospective builders, at the very least to show that you can build a boat even if you live in an apartment, and you have a lot more will than skill, and you have noise or financial constraints that really limit your use of power tools...it's still totally doable and I encourage people to do it just to see the product of their own hands. There's something fundamentally rewarding in the act of doing, making, or creating, with which I think most people in modern industrial society don't get much experience. To build a boat is deeply satisfying, as many or most here must know. There's no comparison between the feeling of spending five hundred dollars on a cheap boat, and spending five hundred dollars on supplies and then countless hours of labour to create one. I'd take the build any day. Today was a bit stupid work-wise but I still accomplished a couple of things: the deadwood and keel are ready to go on, although I'm leaving them until later because they'll make the boat sit funny upright. Plane shavings everywhere again. The exterior is now fully slathered in epoxy, so it needs some fairing once dry. But it should be plenty waterproof. Note shininess of entire boat now: Also the rabbits really like the overhead shelter vibe. And I started laying epoxy on the bulkheads and seats.. I would like to leave the seats bright. We'll see how that goes. Oh, and I decided to get some meranti for the rear knees. I had some pine 1x6 already leaning up in a corner so initially I cut the knees out of that, but then I decided I wanted the option of leaving the rears bright. The fronts I intend to cover in a slight modification of the design - I would like to very slightly enclose the bow because exiting the Fraser in 25-30kt westerlies on an full outgoing flood has left me totally paranoid and crazy and open bows freak me out now. So my plan is to make a very small deck which transitions to a backrest for the bow seat, that is also a couple of inches of coaming. Yes, I realize this is fairly crazy. However, my old beater dinghy (as mentioned in post one) got ripped off the roof of my boat while I plunged through waves at Sand Heads and now when I look forward at completely exposed hulls I get totally creeped out. So that's another thing I did tonight: I cut out the rear knees, and slopped epoxy on them. Tomorrow I have to run down over the border and pick up fibreglass tape because my local guy had nothing useful. When I get home, I want to glurp (technical shipwright term for experts like me) some more epoxy on the small parts but I'm heading to my cabin Thursday or Friday and need to do laundry first, so I may not get much else done. My wife is at a conference on communicable diseases all day so I'm holding down the fort and feeding the rabbits...but then on the other hand, she's not home until late so nobody expects me to be present for dinner, either. So...we'll see.

Here's a shot of some poorly done salt on the interior of a model. This is paint, covered in salt, let to dry, brushed off, and painted with two more coats of paint. This is a model of a duckboat, so, no I did not mask carefully. It does feel very grippy and pleasant...