Thrillsbe

I finally got to incorporate Graham’s concept on Local Honey. I sling them underneath, because of their length vs the distance between masts. Yesterday was the first time we drove with it. The olive drab p-cord was a safety tether. (Long family story that I won’t bore you with.) Somewhere along the journey north on I-75 the forward hanger blew way aft, to visit its brother. (Maybe I should drive the speed limit?) Thank goodness for the ugly tether! This week I’ll try the wrap-around that shows in Graham’s diagram. Other than this, I really like carrying my sprits this way.

Last night, I got her all painted. I don’t like painting in the dark (artificial lighting), but I had to do it. We leave on a trip today, and I wanted to give the paint time to firm up before I do anything more. When I get home, I just need to paint my fwd hatch lid, d/b and rudder, and attach hardware. I can’t wait!

Got it. I can translate, since my sister is the master of typos. I’m always translating hers. I’m pecking away at the boat, in between “Life Stuff”. (Grandkids, chores, trips to visit family, etc) I’m “so” close!

Wow! This boat brings back fond memories for me. My parents had a 28’ cruiser along these same lines. Some of your details are precisely the same. Thanks for the memories! Your workmanship is outstanding.

Thanks for the recommendation on RAM mounts. I’ve been trying to decide how to mount my iPhone to the mizzen area. I have used iSailor as my nav tool down at Bulls Bay. I just needed a righteous means of attachment.

Coming along! Here’s my question— After the final coat of topcoat, do any of you finish with wet sandpaper and buff? If so, please provide me with some details. I’m using Interlux Britesides.

First coat of paint is on.

I’m making great progress!

Beautiful oil lamp! I’m jealous. In my old engineering circles we used to jokingly say “Get it right the second time.” You’ll be glad you made the modification long after the one week delay has been forgotten.

Pete- now you’ve got me thinking about my Two Paw 8. The plan is to have it in the bed of my pickup truck. Now I’m wondering about that first lift— the bow section out of the stern section, while it’s still in the truck. That’s gonna be interesting.

@Todd Stein— my first stitch and glue project was a Willow kayak featured in Woodenboat magazine (a three part series). I kept telling myself that it was “only” 95 simple steps. Your project has a few more than 95, but the approach is the same. Try not to look at the whole big picture. Focus on the next 5 steps. Enjoy the journey! We’re as good as there, building with you. (You’re always alone when it comes to the sanding steps, though.). By the way— I still have your military blanket. See you in October.

The keel is on now!

I just cleaned it up.

This morning at 4:30, after the customary call to nature, I lay back down for a couple more winks. But the “ducks started quacking”. 🦆🦆🦆This is what we call it when you want to go back to sleep, but thoughts start rolling through your head and there’s no way you’re going to get those last few winks. This morning, it was more like geese. I realized that it would be easier to do the final fitting of my Quick Connect hardware now, before fitting the keel. Everything fit perfectly, except for the center fitting in the fore-aft plane. In the third photo you can see that the male part is not fitting flush with its mate. So, I spent most of the day fitting, shimming, refitting, re-shimming until everything was perfect. The third from last photo shows the final fit and my stainless shim-washers. I used Quick Fair to form a platform. I will trim it all in a little while, before it gets too hard. By the end of the day, I got pretty good at putting her together and taking her apart. These parts are going to be awesome to use!

Skeg is on. Keel gets glued on tomorrow.