Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Finished it! Well, almost... (let the sanding and painting begin)

Started back to work yesterday- yes, my summer is over! But... I did get the boat into the water, took her for her first spin... got it done! Yes! Check her out:


I got the seats and thwarts fiberglassed in, glued on the oar lock mounts, drilled them through to accept the oar hardware and before I knew it- it was time to get her into the water.


Here's another shot of her. What you can't see is the huge amount of finish sanding that will need to be done to get the outside of the hull ready for UV stabilized varnish (to protect the epoxy from degrading in the sun) and an equal amount of work to be done to the inside to prepare it for paint (light cream). Also, you can see the blue painter's tape I placed to help me figure out where on the oars I'll be stitching on the leather sleeves that protect and center the oars in the locks.

I did get her out on the water though... and it was everything I imagined it would be! This thing is a sweet boat- and an attention grabber. More to come...

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Sweet ride, lets get some Albacore now! Bluefin 5 miles S/West!

Chris Koerner said...

Beautiful John! What's the finish weight? What length are your oars?

John Ashley said...

Hey Gary-

I'm in... who's paddling?

John Ashley said...

Hey Chris-

It came out a little more than a hundred pounds... pretty easy for two people to lift it over head. Oars are probably around 8'... I'll get you more info on those when I lace the leathers on them tomorrow.

It's super fun to paddle around...

Unknown said...

Oh, paddle! Never mind, looks very clean John