(click on any photo to enlarge)Got alot of work done this weekend, although I must admit I am de-motivated. Spring has sprung, I'd rather be fishing. So the plan was to do a float on our favorite big trout water, but with 2 inches of rain in the last 48 hours, everything is blown out. Might as well stay home and work on the boats.
As of today, the hulls are complete. outer and inner rails are on, transoms trimmed, everything sanded and ready for finish. It's a little cold still, otherwise I would have oiled the interior and get a coat of varnish on the outside panels.
The boats are looking good, they are gaining weight however. with seats and floorboards still to go, they'll likely put on 40- 50 pounds more. I'll do a weigh in when this is over.In the picture below, you can see that I've clamped two rails in place and made some plywood brackets. What I am planning to do is put both the rower seat and the front seat on the same set of rails, and between the rails and the hull, will be a large plywood pocket. This way, the front seat can be removed, the rower moved to the middle for those solo trips. I think it will work out nicely. This will also simplify my seat designs- no side pockets. I may make a rower bench, rather than a rope seat as in my other boats. Quite possibly I'll make hinged seat tops for extra storage.
I anticipate another 2 weeks to finish, but I do need some warm weather to get some oil and several coats of varnish down.
There will be some other distractions coming up- April 23rd is Youth Turkey day, so well get after 1 of the few gobblers in the area on Saturday. Once regular Turkey season opens, I'll need to be done with these boats, cause I'm a turkey hunting nut! (look at the walls of my garage) Not to mention hendricksons and caddis will be popping.
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