Shawn's new homestretch mantra:

Gotta catch up to Kent...gotta catch Kent...gotta catch Kent...he's paddling his 18 and I'm not...gotta catch Kent!

I finally started glassing my Guillemot 18. I did things a little bass-ackward in that I glassed the outside of the deck first, but it was on top when I started sanding, so was the first part ready for glass. I took the deck off the forms, and just glassed it by itself sitting on the sawhorses. This morning, after trimming the overhanging glass, I set it back on the forms. Hopefully, if the epoxy is more cured tonight, I'll screw a couple of scrap strips into the forms to keep warping and curling to a minimum--I want the hull and deck line up as easily as possible come seaming time.

I hope to glass the inside of the deck Friday night, and the hull this weekend. I need to start planning deck and inside hull attachment points (under deck, beside and behind seat, and in storage compartments to tie down gear) so I can have them ready to glass in before I get too eager and seam the boat. I'll probably just go with small pieces of CPVC pipe, split and glassed in. I know they're not as beautiful as wood, but it will be inside the boat, and need to be simply functional.

I think I'll put a woodstrip bulkhead in front (to attach a foot pump to) and probably a minicel bulkhead in back (to prevent stress risers, and act as the front wall for a built-in cooler!)

Photos coming...(I might steal my mother-in-law's digital camera for quick photos of the final stages)

Shawn