You're talking about the perimeter lines on the outside of the skin? Those go through afterwards. I took a steel pin the same size as my bit, heated it up with a propane torch, then melted a hole through the skin. After that was done all around, I drilled through the melted skin holes. My holes were for the over-the-top deck lines that go through the side of my gunwhales.

Now if I could just figure out a better way to seal the deck lines where they go through the skin. I caulked the outside all around the 4mm climbing rope with clear silicone caulk, but it still leaks pretty bad. If I go paddling on a calm day and avoid leaned turns, the boat is bone dry when I get out. If the seas are rough or I'm leaning lots of turns, there can be 1-2 quarts of water in the boat after two hours. Got any ideas???

Mark

: Do you drill deck line holes in the frame before or after skinning? Thanks in
: advance