Had a big milestone this past week. There is now one layer of hull bottom complete from bow to stern!

Not that it sounds like that much, but when working on a project this big, you have to take the "eat the elephant" approach of one small bite at a time. I'll get very discouraged if I look at everything there is yet to do, but I take great pleasure in meeting each next step.

People always say how big these projects are... and you say, "ah, it's not that big." Guess what, I'll join the others in saying it's bigger than you think. You won't believe me until you get into it, and I'm sure that it's still even bigger than I think now, but I'll toss the warning in.

 

Honestly, I've been dreading those last few pieces. Some of the other curved portions up near the bow were a handful, and I was afraid these would be even worse. Got out there, mounted the inner stem (again), and they all fell right into place.

Obviously, they need trimmed and a lot of sanding, but we have the first layer now. I'm finding that slightly wider pieces than the plans suggest actually wind up fitting better, and will result in fewer seams also, so the next layer will probably be laid out slightly differently.

Also got the other side panel that I had mounted but not trimmed rough-cut to size. That's a long sidewall :-)