Well, I’ve been working on my boat some, just not posting here very much. Thought I’d give you all a before & after update.
When I last left you, I had just completed some creative destruction.
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/1fd5416e52.jpg)
Which resulted in the boat looking something like this.
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/3fa49075a3.jpg)
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/f24c036a22.jpg)
The next step was to smooth things out across the top of the bulkheads. Recall that the point of all this was to give me a smooth, level surface on which to put new stanchions and the last of the planking. So, how to sand smooth that curved surface of the deck? I came up with this idea.
Since the bulkheads were provided to me laser-cut, I still had the leftover frame from around the bulkheads (See! It’s important not to throw anything away!)
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/4b717efad9.jpg)
I figured that I could use those already pre-curved pieces of wood to make a sanding block. So I cut them all out. Stacked and glued them together.
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/1d6748b05c.jpg)
And then glued a piece of sandpaper to the curved surface and voilà! A perfectly curved sanding block!
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/69c6831e29.jpg)
The next step was to start re-attaching the waterway. These are the deck planks that run between (cough, cough) the stanchions and for a couple of rows inboard. These are typically thicker than the regular deck planking. So, this is what I ended up with.
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/24e534dcd3.jpg)
Another feature I implemented when installing the waterway was to color the edges of the wood with pencil. Why would I do this you ask? Well, on a normal boat, there would be caulk between the deck planks that is normally a darker color than the decking. I read online that an easy way of achieving this look is to color one edge of each plank with a pencil. Then, when sanded and finished, thin dark lines will show up between the edges of the decking and look like caulk!
![](https://jimdab.micro.blog/uploads/2023/fbff68502d.jpg)
That’s it for this update. Next up, trenailing! (I’ve said that before!)
Jim