Varnish

Nearly everything is varnished. Lot's of education and frustration with the varnishing.

I never learned how to get a perfectly smooth, bubble-free surface. Rubbing hard with brown paper bags after the varnish has dried smooths out the bubbles, but they are still visible. I put four coats on the plumbing cover, bow foot well floor, gunwales, and helm station post; six coats on the benches and table; and eight coats on the rear deck.

Here's a picture that shows the true color of the hull in early morning sunlight,

which has been a rare thing lately!

I made two chairs out of White Oak boards that I bought in the 1980's to make a boat out of. The chairs fit in the open bow area of the boat, but can also be used as beach chairs. Obviously they are not done in these pictures. The head rests will be rounded over and then everything will be sanded and varnished. The long legs sticking out the back have been shortened because they looked silly.

The seats are from the Eckerson family canoe, which had an unfortunate encounter with a  rock.

The backrests will have purple webbing.

I've started on the design of the canopy. The fact that there are no flat surfaces on the hull or aft deck  makes it quite tricky to get the canopy post mounts to be vertical. That is the challenge for this week.

I also have to get the truck that currently lives at the Cape house so I can get a trailer to move the boat around, including getting it to my local boat launch for testing!!!

It is truly hard to believe this project is actually nearing completion.