Cockpit Rim

I decided to go for a fiberglass rim again. This time, I went for fat 10 oz. fiberglass. The stuff is hard to wet out with epoxy, which it drinks up greedily, but I hope it will build the thickness up faster.

I used various rolls of tape to hold the foam down. I used 5 layers of 10 oz. glass, and finished with one layer of 4 oz. It appears to be thicker this time.
I also cut the hatches out today. The usual amount of shaping and correction.

Skeg Control Box

I had tried routing a fancy control box from a single block of wood, but I really couldn't get satisfactory results. I ended up using the box I made according to the plans, made of many little pieces of plywood.

 Filleted & glassed to the underside of the deck. I turned the boat upside down to do this, and made an amazingly silly mistake:forgot that left is right/vice versa when upside down, and installed it on the left side! I was concerned about not interfering with the knee braces, and put it rather far forward. I hope that I can reach it.

Had a little trouble finding where to drill into the cavity, and nicked the box a little. Repaired it with dookie fill, and routed out the hole. Doesn't look bad.

Back To The Deck

My random orbit sander bit the dust. I replaced it with a big, 6" job that has variable speeds, and two diameter-of-orbit settings. I always thought it easier to do a small job with a big tool, than vice versa. The new tool really made sanding the deck a breeze.
Glassing the deck went easily, except for one glitch: I discovered that the 30" glass wouldn't cover the deck the widest spot! I improvised with a patch, that I think will blend in o.k.
I think I may have finally gotten the hang of saturating fiberglass, after five builds. The trick seems to be to saturate the glass evenly, always using enough resin to fully saturate the glass. Whatever it is, it must be one of those "indescribable knacks", because no matter what I read, I had to get the hang of it myself!

Closing The Clam

I did, this time, use the spreader sticks of the recommended size in the hull, after glassing the interior. It may have helped a little, but the hull still shrank.
I resorted to using the spreader sticks, tethered with strings, to spread the hull. Oddly, the hull was wider  than the deck, near the bow. I resorted to using two Big "ol Clamps to pull it back together: 

This time, instead of using the pre-made 9 oz. tape, I made a long 2" strip of 4 oz. glass for the inside seam. The usual scramble to wet it out with epoxy.