Unicorn, a small electric fantail launch

 Ballast Tank, Ballast Pump, Bilge Pump, and Rear Seat Lot's of progress!   The ballast tank is closed in. The floor is 3/8" AC plywood. The dark hole above the charcuterie table post is access to the tank. The hatch that goes over that hole is gluing up in the upper left. The front edge of the rear hatch is unsupported so I added a small oak board (eventually two boards) under it. That's what all those clamps are for. The rear floors are also installed. I cut the slot for the ballast tank fill/drain port in the wrong place in the rear hatch and had to fill in the goof. The end result is probably a better fit than if I had cut it correctly in the first place, and the grain in the plywood patch miraculously matches almost perfectly! Here's what it looks like with the rear hatch removed. The bilge pump and float switch are screwed to a piece of plywood that is set in an epoxy puddle. The grey hose at the top is the bilge drain hose. The blue valve and pipe below it are c...

 Outwales: Bending Wood the Hard Way A little review. The top most part of the hull, the part you would grab when pulling yourself from the water into a small boat is called the gunwale, pronounced "gunnel". On a wooden boat, it usually consists of an inwale and outwale. On my boat, the inwale was installed when the boat was upside down because it supported the final run of the strips used in the hull. Now that the boat is right side up (why is it "upside" down but not "upside" up?), the outwale can be installed. Because the inwale had to support the hull before there was any other structure, I wrapped it around the stern as one piece, then scarfed in second pieces on both sides to extend up to the bow. But the outwales were installed from stern to bow in one piece: 16' of 3/4" X 2" ash boards with their ends butted together on centerline at the stern. First the paint had to be sanded off the hull where the outwale would go. These two picture...