I Really Need a Picture

We havent done any pictures since January, and havent done any videos since... well, its been a little longer. The reason we havent done any pictures or videos is because things havent significantly changed in months. At least it doesnt seem that way to me.

Weve still been working on the hull... sanding and fairing, filling in the inevitable pinholes and sanding, and repeating as necessary. Weve added a couple more coats of tinted epoxy, and weve blended and shaped the spray rails to Gregs satisfaction. Weve been in sanding and fairing hell for over a year now. We started fairing in February 2006. By July, I was beginning to see the Law of Diminishing Returns kicking in. Id say that by August of 2006, we were firmly in sanding and fairing hell.

Greg and I have discussed this in depth on several occasions. Greg is a perfectionist by nature. He wants things exactly right before we paint. Im firmly convinced that the primer and paint will cover many of the imperfections we see now. I think that Greg is starting to come around to my way of thinking. But as I say this, I also acknowledge that some flaws weve corrected would not have been corrected by simply slapping a layer of paint on the hull. In the end, this is Gregs project, and Im his assistant.

Greg has said that if he had things to do over again, he would not have built up the perfectly sharp chines. He doesnt think that the performance payoff will outweigh the amount of work weve put in as a direct result of the chines. I tend to agree. So if youre thinking about building a boat, skip the sharp chines.

Part of the issue is that Greg and I are both family men. We have pretty busy schedules, so we can only get a couple of hours per week to work on the boat. This naturally extends the project by an order of magnitude. When I get frustrated, I try to keep this all in perspective.

With all of that said, I went back today and looked at our pictures from January. It doesnt look a lot different, but there is a noticeable improvement in the hull. The tinted primer helps smooth things out. The spray rails are shaped and blended. Yeah, I really need to take a picture.

Id also like to say hello to the newest member of my blog roll, Bruce Dillahunty at Craft-a-Craft.

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