Two projects one post.

The Powell boats have really hit their stride as the oar factory continues. At last count all the oars were either finished or on the bench being built. Meanwhile team sand and paint were getting their ducks in a row. Say good bye to the oaken exterior of the hulls, its primer time. 

 I must admit Seattle grey is a good color for the Powell boats. However it will not be so, i think their supposed to be blue and green. I wish they would have picked some other colors (especially if their going to depart from the historic white) because blue and green are dead colors on the water. Ah well, not my problem.


Meanwhile in the garage the IRH is getting her for and aft decks on. So just a brief explanation of how its done. Strips of red cedar are first coated on three sides with un-thickened epoxy.

Next, using a syringe run a bead of thickened epoxy down the side of the strip that will but up against the adjacent one. Then the strips are stapled down. Once the strip is down scrape off the squeeze out. After its all done using a 1/8" foam roller roll un-thickened epoxy over the whole thing.

After the whole mess has cured cut the excess deck off using a hand saw (not a flush cut router, unless you want to ruin the deck angle) and fair it down using a hand plane.

I rough sanded the decks to semi fair them. If i decided to take them to completely fair i would need to add a layer of cloth to the assembly and i don't want to add the weight. So here it is, lookin' sweet.

All I've got to do now in build the seat assembly, install the bilge pump system, install the hatches, paint the interior, flip and do all the glass work on the hull, install the gunwhale and oar locks then paint the bugger. Seams like a lot but over all real progress has happened over the last two weekends.