Undercoat on bottomThe undercoat has been applied to the bottom of the boat. If I’m able to paint the bottom with a second coat tomorrow, only one more layer will be necessary, but I may do a fourth coating to make sure the hull is properly protected for when she comes into contact with a beach or when she grounds on an unfriendly surface. The keel weights should take quite a pit of the impact when beaching. If there’s any amount of surf, things could get awkward, because with the keel in place she will be heavy for me to haul up a beach. Getting her on her side to extract the keel could be problematical. From that point of view, she will not be as easy to beach and secure out of harm’s way as a lightweight canoe such as my ‘Caleb’.
Stem post varnishedIn addition to painting ‘Sharpy’s’ hull, I once again epoxied the inside of her keel box. I want to make sure water does not penetrate the surface of the plywood with in the box. To that end, I’ll apply yet another coating of epoxy. Before I try the keel in earnest I’ll spray both the inside of the keel box and the keel with silicone wax to reduce friction between them.
Varnished keel weightI also gave the seat another coating of varnish, and at the same time I varnished the upper and side surfaces of the keel weights and the stem post. Tomorrow, I’m hoping to have time for varnishing the lower surfaces of the weights.
At this stage, when the boat is almost finished, I am occupied with a number of small jobs that are necessary for her completion. Setting up her rig and her steering will be like topping out a building, but I’m not into parties and celebrations when launching a new boat. I much prefer a boat’s baptism to be a quiet and private event, a time for reflection, and a moment for checking her out. If all goes well, I shall be thankful and satisfied with the fruit of my labour; I shall look forward to learning more about her when we shall share adventures together.
Link
Topping out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topping_out
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