Then the coaming riser...

Whereas my friend Sheldon is doing the final prep before varnishing his Petrel 107.

Finished laying out the cockpit recess.....

...rough sanded, then wet it down to raise the grain before a final sanding. This begins to give a sense of what the colors will look like glassed.

Deckwork

Have nearly finished laying out the deck....

beginning the scraping,

planing

and sanding

that will fair the shape.

Hull in Fiberglass

Applied the fiberglass this afternoon, which gives a sense of the color of the stain on the hull. Two layers of 6 oz. glass.... have to clean up some of the loose threads and roll on another coat of epoxy tomorrow to fill in the weave.

Am I Blue?

Wanted to stain the hull, using an alcohol-based dye, but was having trouble deciding on a color. Subtle variations in the wood can affect the absorption of the dye and the application of epoxy and varnish can add a slight amber-yellow tint. So I ran a bunch of test strips to get an idea how it might appear. I'd thought of a deep blue or perhaps a dark green, but also flirted with the idea of mixing dyes to obtain a deep purple or turquoise. Ultimately I decided to try a Trans-Tint blue, something like the fifth sample from the right.

I applied the dye in dilute coats, each one deepening and evening out the color. There's a great deal of grain on the wood I chose for the hull, some of which resisted absorbing the dye, revealing the grain and the original color of the wood. The process also left a few small, dark navy spots where the wood seemed to suck up the dye. But the overall effect is pleasing, and the blue's brightness should be highly visible on the water. The test strips suggest that the color will become a little deeper after applying the epoxy, but will fade again with time in the sun.

This is where things stand this morning, after three applications. I may or may not add a fourth, and then, glass and epoxy!

Hull stripped!

Finished closing in the hull this afternoon....

....now begins a few days scraping, planing and sanding to fair it out.

Closing in on the hull....

Gradually stripping the hull, working in from the chines, then laying two strips along the keel....

....and last filling outwards from there.

Chines finished

Working on the hull over the past few days, avoiding the unusual 100 degree heat by hiding out in the cool 80s of my basement.

Finished the chines this morning and will now turn my attention to the bottom of the hull.

That's TwoPaddles' red hull and deck in the background below....he's just about ready to join them together and make a boat of it!