It's Closing time!

For the bottom at least. The keel strip kicked my butt. It took a total of three days to make shape and glue it in place. This is one part that I am sure that I could have done a much better job. I had a mid-build idea and added a very subtle feature line. For this I used some Spanish Cedar that was cut two years ago for the Night Heron Hybrid. The material was too stiff for what I was trying to accomplish. The lines follow the chines and keel and outline the side herringbone pattern of the bottom strips. So far it is looking pretty nice. I am hoping it will stain darker than the surrounding Cedar. If it works, it will be a very subtle feature on an otherwise blank bottom.

 The keel strips blended in at the bow and stern well (above). I am very happy with that aspect of my execution of fitting the strips. To the left is a view of the Spanish Cedar accent strips. Since I am not using any fasteners to hold the strips while the glue dries, the clips pictured below, hold things together. I have a multitude of different sizes to hold the strips in line with each other.The long clips pictured below do a great job of keeping the alignment straight but are too big to be used in the shrinking area of the bottom.

I find that I have to know how things are going to turn out, before I get finished. I broke out my trusty plane and fairing board to see how the transition to the bottom was going to turn out. It Looks and feels pretty good. Now for some ugliness.... The picture left is the keel strips at the stern. I put too much bevel on the strips and had to plane a significant amount off to fair the surface. The seam opened up and I will have to do some repair work here. I will wait until the other side is planed to make a decision on how to fix this.

So, here is where I stand with the project now. Two more strips on the left and I will move on to the right side. I am going to do the "Whiskey Planks" at the same time. There will be a celebratory drink, of some sort, to commemorate the closing of the hull. I hope, that I will be able to finish next week. I am looking forward to staining and glassing the exterior very soon.