Down the hatches

    10 June 03: The hatch combing fore and aft are in place, and a second coat of epoxy is on the entire hull. The combings went together well; I made lap joints for the corners using the table saw. The combings are pine. The decks are in place now, too, and are good.

    I decided to put a fillet on top of the external chine and do some more rounding in hopes of significantly softening the chine, and to ensure a water-tight joint. I did an OK job of applying the epoxy; it still took a few hours of sanding with a sanding drum to get the effect I was looking for.

    Next step is to do final fairing and then paint the exterior of the hull.

    Cost so far: Add $25 for a quart of gray Interlux primer, $10 for more Elmer's glue, $6 for more blue 3M masking tape, $10 for two-part putty, and $3 for duct tape, for a total of $343.93.

    Time spent so far: Add 10 hours for installing the combings and sanding the hull, for a total so far of 89 hours.