Wacko Ways to Build a Boat

The long finishing process has begun on the CLC Annapolis Wherry.  Since building my last boat, an Expedition Wherry, Interlux has stopped producing both their Perfection paint and Brightsides paint. But they've reformulated their Pre-Kote primer and their line of Toplac paints. Both now end with a "Plus".  Interlux Pre-Kote Plus primer is not supposed to go over clear epoxy though! Ugh... But luckily I had 1/2 a quart kit of older "Epoxy PrimeKote" and used that for a first layer of primer. It stinks to high heaven but does a pretty nice job filling low spots. It sands easily too... just wear a mask! Next I rolled on a coat of Pre-Kote Plus. It went on easily enough and doesn't smell as bad, although you do still need to wear a mask both while rolling it on and sanding it off.  After two primer coats and two sanding jobs, I think it's now ready for paint.  Stay tuned!

The CLC Annapolis Wherry manual says to drill through your hull and secure the skeg in place until the epoxy dries. I don't want any visible holes in my hull, so I am only epoxying it in place. It will be plenty strong.  I clamped my 4' level onto the skeg as a straight edge, and then used blue tape to securely hold it. I also used large pushpins slightly pushed into the hull to keep the edge of the skeg where it meets the hull from slipping out while the epoxy cures.  I used clear epoxy on the edge of the skeg that meets the hull, and then added a lot of silica to thicken the remainder of the epoxy and spread that on the hull.  The next day I removed the tape, level, and push pins, and then epoxied on the wormshoe and added a nicer fillet. The day after that I sanded the fillet and skeg, and added another skim coat of thickened epoxy to the fillet. When that was cured and sanded, the fillet was good enough. So that's it! The construction phase of the this build is complete

This boat is for my wife, and she wanted the seats dyed. She picked a "Vintage Cherry" from General Finishes. They look great. I dyed them a couple weeks ago and have since added two coats of epoxy to all of them, sanding between coats. They're ready for varnishing.  Today I installed them, but I'm doing it in a few steps instead of all in one shot as the manual says to do. I am first just tacking them down and using weights to keep them in place. Tomorrow I will sand those "spot welds" and then run nicer looking seams. The weights will be out of the way by then and it will be easier to make the seams without the seats moving.  For the thwarts, I first sanded a line down the middle of the underside of the thwarts so that epoxy would stick well, and then also lightly sanded the top of the bulkhead too. A small bead of thickened epoxy was added to the top of the bulkhead and then the seats were set down on top. When cured, it will be much easier to then add