Stella's deck ready for glass

Marie has a lot of her mahogany inlay done now. She's working on the cockpit area now and should be ready to start the cocpit recess soon.
So, I have Stella's deck inlays finally finished!! I've sanded her down and she is patiently waiting for next weekend when I will glass the deck! This is the nautical inlay which was placed into a solid pice of black walnut that I hand carved the star into. Behind it is the paddle dock, which will have deck rigging added later in order to secure the paddle.


A view from above with the cockpit recess nearly complete and prior to the final sanding.















Sometimes we like to just look at the girls....not really believing it, but they are starting to really look incredible!




With the final sanding done, all I need to do now is prep her for the epoxy and glass. I'll have three coats of epoxy to add over a 24 hour period. This week I'll have to get the dust out of the garage and clean and prep everything.
I can't wait to see her glassed. I wiped her down with a damp cloth and the colors of the wood really jump right out at you!

October progress!

The cockpit recess is taking shape here. Once I finish the recess, it will be time to sand the deck and get the glass on her!
This is the Birdseye infill which will get the other piece in the picture infilled into it, leaving just a ring of Birdseye. The following picture has the completed infill. The compass at left is inlayed into a solid piece of Black Waltnut. I hand carved the shape into the walnut untill I got a nice fit and then glued it into place. I will cut this piece into the Birdseye, leaving just a ring.

Another view of the recess.
Marie continues with Lucy's infills, in between chapters of studying.

Finally got some work done...

These pictures are somewhat out of order here. This first one is of Stella's cockpit recess after I've cut the shape out. Here I have started the infill of the Birdseye Maple.

Here you see the template for the cockpit. The round hole was cut for the nautical compass which will be a challenge. It will be made of Birdseye Maple and Bloodwood and inlayed into Black Walnut and another ring of Birdseye.
This is just after I finished cutting the cockpit recess. You can see the piece hanging on the bow of Stella.
Here I've glued strips of Bloodwood and Birdseye together in order to make the Nautical compass.
Each piecs was hand shaped with a table top belt sander and here they are all sitting before gluing. The small diamonds haven't been finished yet.
After the compass has been done, I will hand carve the recess for it into the Black Walnut. It was trial and error to figure out how to get this all put together and originally, I tried to cut out individual pieces of walnut, but it proved much easier to carve it into a solid piece, which you'll see in another picture.
Lucy is on the right. Marie has been busy studying for her Architecture license and I've been busy with work, so until recently, we haven't had much time to work on them.


Finally finished the inlay of Walnut on Stella.
Stella with the cockpit recess traced on her prior to cutting.