With a slight drop in temperature and a little time for garage projects, I got back to working on the boat in November 2021. The interior structure of the boat was previously completed so it was time to put the deck on. I made templates with poster board for all the pieces and then cut the wood equivalents in 3mm ply. Thinking ahead, I also made a carbon fiber/plywood tiller that is curved at the forward end to get over the deck tapers at the aft end of the hull. The last boat had serious tiller issues since it was a rushed afterthought. Not making that mistake again.
The bow was completed first and glued down. After that I worked on the tank closeouts at the back of the boat.
With the bow and aft tank pieces cut, the tanks were fitted and prepped for gluing. Also seen below is the first shot at making hiking straps. I made a second pair in black since these are wee bit too flashy for my taste. When you use up what's lying around this is what you get. The boat is slightly narrower at the beam than a mistral. I am going with a two strap configuration for two reasons. 1: I have short legs. 2: to compensate for the reduced leverage from a smaller girth. I am looking to comfortably get my mass farther from the hulls center of buoyancy.
After lots of sanding and fairing at the deck joints, the top side was ready for glass. At this point the boat was less than 50 lbs so I could afford to completely glass the topside.
Prepping glass cloth for lamination
Some cold nights required tenting and heaters to get my slow cure epoxy to kick
Deck after glassing
Deck after 2 additional epoxy coats. It's starting to look finished!
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