Seams Sanded

In preparation for taping the seams, I spent a couple of hours with the random orbital sander going over the seams on the hull. Rather than attempt to use fairing material to fillet the places where the deck overhung the sides of the hull, I sanded the edge of the deck back to the hull. This was no more than 1/8 inch or so in the worst sections, but it doesn't look too bad. The alternative would have been to fair in the hull to the deck. This would cover up the wood and generally look worse - unless the hull was painted. Fairing would also add to the weight, but holding the shape of the hull a little closer to the design might improve the performance a little.

Still, the sides of the hull and the bottom of the hull are generally in close agreement even if the sides didn't quite flare out as much as the deck. It should perform as designed.


I flipped the boat over for the first time and sanded down the resin drippings. It is just about ready for taping the seams!

The last thing I did was weigh the hull. According to my semi-accurate shipping scale the hull sans seat is about 36 pounds. Considering that fiberglass surf skis are in the 32 to 37 pound range, this isn't too bad. Of course, the boat will be much heavier once the seat back, gearbox, cranks, pedals, propeller, prop shaft, rudder and outriggers are added. Sigh....I'm hoping it will end up less than 60 pounds overall.

Adding cloth and more resin to the seams and bottom of the hull will add still more weight, too, but this is needed both for strength and for protection of the wood from scrapes and impact.