Keels planed to a clean edge
Began piecing in the last sections of the hulls. Considered a couple of quicker ways to do this part – ways that allow you to fill in the strips first and trim them all at once – but each of those only give you once chance to get it right. Doing each piece individually takes more time, but if you mess up you just toss that piece aside and grab another.
One Ocean Kayaks shows instructions for making easy miter cuts here, and it works very well. I found I can make a decent approximate cut with a Japanese pull saw, and then quickly shape to a final close fit with sandpaper using a lazy man’s technique. You use a stiff coarse piece of sandpaper and hold it flat against the keel edge, then slide the strip into place snug against the sandpaper. The cedar is so soft that a few swipes up and down with the sandpaper flattens the edge to the exact bevel of the joint for a nice clean fit. I used a 40 grit 6” adhesive sanding disk with the slick backing paper still on.
Where it gets tricky is when you have miters on both ends.
The hulls should be finished by the end of next weekend.
In the meantime, Winter gave us one more look before heading north, spilling snow on fields edged in jonquils and foaming forsythia.
melonseed skiff, mellonseed skiff, melon seed, mellon seed