Well I’ve trimmed back the bottom planking and Attached the white oak keel. In the photo below you can see me trimming the opening of the centreboard slot with a router and pattern bit so that it will match the centreboard case exactly. This was followed by a pass with a 9mm round-over bit to give the opening an nice rounded edge. If there is one thing you don’t want on a boat it is a sharp edge. Well maybe on the trailing edge of a rudder or centreboard and of course your knife. Rapier sharp wits are optional. Once the hull was sanded and all the edges are nicely rounded it was time to sheathe the hull in fibreglass and epoxy resin. This was a time consuming but undifficult operation. I left the skeg off until the hull was sheathed to make it a bit easier to sheath around this area. You can also see that I have added the outer stem piece before sheathing.The next step was to apply a thin layer of fairing compound to help fill the weave of the cloth and smooth out any wrinkles (there were none of course). I emphasise a thin layer because most if not all of the fairing was done to the framework before the planking was applied. Like hanging doors where he who makes the frame should hang the door the same applies to fairing, he who applies the fairing compound should be the one to sand it off.

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Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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