Well some how I have made it this far, with much help from all of the folks on woodenboat. I would like to thank you all for all the help and advise through out the past few months. My Rouge is down to the finishing details: oar blocks, sanding, oiling, etc. Here are a few pics over the last weeks:

 

Got all the decking cut and in place, there are some sizable gaps where the decking should be closer to the boat, but they will be taken care of by the 5200 edging. The biggest one is on the back deck that you see in the pic:

 

Then to go along with the theme of the build I broke an inside and an outside sheer rail. I know I did not use the best quality of wood, but when I look at the bends im asking the wood to do, its not suprising that this happens. This one I just epoxyed and clamped, the other one I had to fully replace (luckly it was on the end):

 

After gluing and screwing everything in place I taped the heck out of it for the 5200 fillets (not sure if thats what they would be called in this case). Chris, I hope you like this pic:

 

The lines are about 1cm from the sides and deck. At first they really stood out and were super shiny. It was difficult keeping them clean and free of debre... like spiders and other insects:

 

Then I flipped her over and started with the glassing. I used 17oz biaxial with 3 flow coats of graphite epoxy on the bottom:

 

Then 6oz on the sides. I could not get one single piece to lay flat, possibly due to the accented flair of the boat. So I did it in 3 seperate piece, overlaping by over 3 inches. Taped the tops not to keep the fabric from sliding down, but actually if you look closer it is keeping the fabric off the bottom so I could epoxy all the way to get a good tight fit. I used a fairing filler on the flow coats so it would be more sandable to get a smoother painting serface. But I was considering just leaving it that nice pink color of the fairing mixture!:

 

Sanded her as flat as I could and painted. Used serwin williams raging sea (suggested by chris and looks great, thanks chris). I had never used oil based enamals before. Sure does take a long time to fully dry! After that I spent a few days struggling with the chine battens. Finally they went on, but not with out a fight. Again after looking at what I was asking of the wood its no wonder it was such a struggle:

 

Flipped her back over today. The 5200 looks much better. It has lost its shinny ness and will continue to pick up dirt to look more natural. We'll have to see how it looks after I oil the interior. I painted the insides of the compartments an off white so I would not have to oil them all the time, plus it makes finding things way easier.:

 

I noticed that my chine batten had started to crack (sticking with the theme). I epoxied it an added another screw in the hopes of stoping any further spliting. I think it looks worse in the pic then it really is (hopefully!):

 

Now starts the detail work. Adding the hatches, handles, oar blocks. Hoping to take her down West Water at the end of the month, depending if the Sawyer Square tops I ordered get here in time. Thank you all again for all the support, I could not have done it with out you guys!

 

Still much more to do!!!

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Comment by Terry E Walsh on April 17, 2011 at 5:32pm
Looks great the finish will tie it all together! Sand the crack and fill with saw dust putty. Almost time to have some fun.
Comment by Rick Newman on April 17, 2011 at 4:42pm

Ben, Congratulations! I think that your boat looks great, you will remember this build and the lessons learned for a long time. Pretty soon we will see your name with advice to the next new builders! The really cool thing is you took a fairly difficult boat to build, added decking and made it look good. You will soon have it on the river, keep us informed on your first trip and the christening. See if you can top Ukaladies first float. I don't know how you will look in some of the river outfits she wears, but it would be a first!

 

Happy Waves to You!

 

Rick Newman

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