Nearly spring. more progress

Lots of sanding, lots of glassing, and now the basic hull and deck are done.   Used four ounce glass on the deck, six ounce glass on the hull, RAKA slow epoxy.  For strength, doubled the glass along the keel and under the football on the outside of the hull, under the cockpit inside, alongside and behind the cockpit on the deck, and under the hatches.  I shaped two small triangular dams from the cutout for the cockpit, then in lieu of an end pour dammed and filled the tip of the bow and stern a distance of perhaps four inches, using a runny putty of sawdust and epoxy.  I also added a fillet of putty along the bow and stern, having removed the internal stems earlier.

Next I turned to the cockpit and hatches.  I've decided to template the coaming from my NDK Explorer and reproduce it in strips and laminated veneer.  The pictures  show it halfway done.

   

While building up the coaming lip, I'll be thin king about next steps.  I purchased two VCP oval hatches, but am having second thoughts about using them both, as the foredeck may be better suited to a smaller round hatch.  I was going to use Jay Babina's technique of fashioning a wooden ring to mount them, but will probably use Ross Leidy's instructions (from his Whiptail...nice looking design), shaping a mold from builder's foam, then fabricating a fiberglass insert.

Stay tuned.