Let the fun begin!

The deck is starting to take shape. This is the first step in the process. I'll strip almost the entire deck, then cut out a lot of it for inlays and design.

Beginning to lay out the design for the deck. This took me a while because everything needed to be symetrical.

You can't really tell in this picture, but the deck is covered with pencil marks for the layout.


In this picture, you'll see that I have filled in some of the area that is to be cut out and later inlaid with other types of wood. I had so many lines on the deck, I decided to color it in so I wouldn't make any mistakes when I began to cut.

I began cutting at the bow and worked my way to the stern.
In these photos I'm about half way cut out in one and fully cut out in the other. I just need to clean up a few edges and then I can start my inlays.

Here's a shot of Lucy's stern after Marie got the outside stems epoxied on. She's finished striping her hull and is ready to sand and prep for glassing her up!

Stella's deck has begun. Lucy can almost float.

Marie stands around a lot.....

and smiles a lot, too!

Here, Marie is showing me up by adding some Bloodwood to the bottom of Lucy's hull. It'll be very cool.

scribing her keel line in order to cut it.
Cutting the keel line with the japanese pull saw. Tedious and no room for errors!

The saddle. I built one that can just be placed onto the strongback since we have limited room in the small garage.

Sitting pretty. Ready to go.
Here I'm trimming the glass down to the sheer strip. Then I will mask it off in order to keep the deck and hull seperated. After the deck is built, it will be taken off in order to sand and glass the inside of the hull.

Stella's first deck strip is laid into place.

I have Western Red cedar, Alaskan Yellow cedar and a strip of Bloodwood. The deck will be really fun to build.
Stella's deck is taking shape. Once I strip the deck, I'll cut out most of it in order to inlay a Peruvian Black Walnut design.

Beginning Stella's deck....Lucy's hull almost done

Putting Stella's dress on....draping the hull with the glass and trimming it to length.


You can just see through....ready to wet the hull out with epoxy.


Wetting out the glass with epoxy. It's very helpful having a second pair of hands here.






As I finish wetting out the glass, Marie is following behind me and squeegies off the excess epoxy very carefully. This is a critical step. Care has to be taken not to remove too much epoxy or the glass will show through. If this happens, just apply more to the thin area. Continue going back over it as you work, checking for runs or bubles in the glass.

I had trouble getting the glass to lay flat on the bow and the stern, so I added some weight at the bow to help hold the glass in place while curing. At the stern, I had to cut the glass. I'll go back later and add another layer of glass over the cut area, which is the crest of the stern.



Control yourselves, ladies....my turn to squeege after the next coat of epoxy.




Taking Stella off of the strongback in order to build saddles for her to sit in while I continue with building her deck.


Pretty cool moment seeing her off the strongback. The stations will remain in the boat until the deck is built. The deck will not be married to the hull until later on in the build.

A side view of Stella.....sleek and sexy!

Stella's hull completed!

The pictures seem to running backward, but here I'm sanding Stella down in preparation of fiberglassing her hull!



Ready to glass her up! Isn't she pretty?!




Marie is cruising right along with Lucy.




The pinstripe in Lucy's hull below, is a hardwood called Bloodwood. Really beautiful but difficult to work with. The rest of her hull will be cedar.





Here I'm finishing the filling in of the hull. Each strip is mitered on both ends and has to fit precisely. Dry fit it first, then remove it and glue it into place. Take care not to damage the mitered ends or you'll have to make a new strip. If this happens, save the strip for the next piece, since it will be much shorter.
The stern before I shape it for adding the outside stem.


This is the outside stem, which is Peruvian Black Walnut. This is epoxied onto the hull after carefully planing it with a block plane. It has to cure for a few days before you can remove the clamps. Then you can plane it down to the hull and get it shaped.


Getting down to the last few strips.....finally.


ever closer....this really takes a lot of patience.
Stell has a hull!