Thanks Doug. You make me feel SOOOO much better :sarcastic: :D It's good to build, especially with the carrot that's dangling!


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Before I could sand everything, I had to trim them to fit. I did this by using a 3" long blade as a drawknife. To do this properly, you need to watch what the grain is doing. I was only able to do a little over half the length of the hull from each direction. I turned the boat around to do the other end. It is important to trim the deck sheer also, because you will be planking there as part of the sides. Don't try planking the deck though - just the sides and bottom with it on the building board.


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After I trimmed them, I sanded. First I did the sides using a standard 12" block sander. The bottom (shown in the picture) was done with a sander I got several years ago for drywall. I don't know what it's called, but it has a permanent grit about 200 or so, and is made of a flexible foam. I used it because I could sand the concave hull bottom without damaging it as a hard block sander would do.


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After you're satisfied with that you get to start the time-consuming part - planking. This underplanking is easy - if things don't fit perfectly it's not a big deal. However, I urge you to learn as much about planking as you can - you're going to have a lot more difficult time when putting on the mahogany. You want it to be nice, remember!

Note that the bow pieces are twisting and appear to be shingling. They aren't, really. The wood is being beveled and tapered in two directions, and the thickness makes it look like they aren't smooth. That's because they aren't. With the underplank you can do this, then sand smooth. Here is where you should take your time.

By the way, when fitting the pieces are do the bow taper first (starting between bulkheads A and B). You don't need to be too precise on where the bow pieces end, either now or later. That's because the edge will get a metal cover over it.


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You'll want to make the transom look better when doing the final planking. Note also how the planking extends way past bulkhead H. This will be trimmed later also.

I was very liberal with pins. I probably won't use quite so many when dong mahogany.

For the next few days all I'll be doing is planking. The bottom is done with 1/2" wide planks. I'll keep you posted on what I use as I go along.

Andy