"Nice work! Interesting use of vinyl wrap, that's the first time I've seen that. "

"1708 cloth was applied to the bottom followed up by a couple coats of graphite/epoxy mix (~20% graphite by volume)... Chine battens were attached before fiberglassing the bottom so the cloth would overlap the chines.  No pics of attaching…"

"When I scarfed the 1/4 ply together for the sides, there was some color mismatch between the panels.  I ended up staining the sides to help blend the colors together... 6 oz cloth was applied to the sides.  I didn't get any…"

"It's been a while, but contrary to popular belief, I didn't forget about you guys (the two or three die-hards that still follow this board!) :)   Other than taking a 3-1/2 week flyfishing trip down to Chile, I've been pretty…"

"Thanks for chiming in Shawn.  The trailer will ever only be hauling the drift boat and nothing heavier, so sounds like the 750lbs springs should be the ticket.  I haven't started the trailer project yet.  All of my efforts up to…"

"Also understand that springs are progressive.  Pushing down on that spring pack 1" will usually only flex the outside of the main spring.  Another inch flexes it more and starts to flex the middle leaf.  A max load will engage…"

"To trim the 1/4" overhang on the bottom flush to the angled sides, I kluged up a jig for the trim router to hold it perpendicular to the sides with a flush cutting bit.  It worked better than expected and 15 minutes later that task was…"

"And just like that, the bottom is screwed down with 5200 applied to the frame bottoms and chine logs.  Used 2 alignment pins (actually nails) with mating holes in the bottom to register it to the outline of the boat and to minimize smearing the…"

"I think you'll be fine with the temps in the low 70s. One thing I could have been better at is babysitting the project for a few hours after you're done applying the epoxy. "

"Yeah, we've had some un-seasonally warm weather recently (Encinitas, Ca).  However it's currently raining and 71F.  Which brings up a question about applying epoxy.  I've always used medium cure hardener (Total Boat…"

"Looks like you've got some perfect weather for boat building!"

"Since the bottom width is greater than 48" (54" at it's widest point), I had to extend the bottom panel a few inches on each side (to keep symmetry ;) ).  I opted to use half-lap joints vs scarfing to do this."

"Next up was sanding the chine logs down to the bottom of the frames in prep for the bottom panel install.  I made an extra long sanding block (8ft) using a continuous roll of 80 grit sand paper from an old huge belt sander roll I picked up at a…"

"Okay, the arm is feeling a little better so back to making slow progress. I got the chine logs installed but didn't take many pics.  Even though I steamed them, install was still difficult and nerve wracking due to the extreme…"

"Very nice. That will make install way less stressful"

"It's been awhile since the last post.  Turns out I developed tennis elbow in my dominate arm so I've been babying it and not working much on the boat.  My kid came over and we did manage to complete the final assembly of the hull…"