OK, now what?

That's a pretty good way of putting our status at the end of this week - inner bottom is on the Shepherd, hull is complete on the Mini-Hopper and the TNT is ready for the next step. Oh and Ray's Contessa will be out of the shop tomorrow if the engine test goes OK.

First the Shepherd - Great to see the bottom panels actually glued and nailed down - sucker's not going to leak through there anyway! However there may be a few little snags resulting from our inexperience...I'll try to explain. In the forward sections the compound curves seem more uneven than they should have been with hollows if you hold a fairing batten where the outer planks will lie. Do we fill these areas or try to force the new planks down into them....waiting to hear back from Dwight on this.

you can see the issue - the surface is wavy and seems like a problem.

On the other hand if you stand back a few feet it looks promising!

with old planks tacked in...

inner panels all faired to chines

Soon we will have to decide how to create the outer bottom planks. The originals have no rot but are very dry and stiff. We have no way in the shop to "re-saw" the 8/4 mahogany boards into the 1/2" plank stock we need - takes a very big band saw. New plywood planking was discussed - we could do it ourselves but I am not comfortable with this solution - one concern would be for the plywood to delaminate in a high speed hull. So we'll see if we can find help with the re-sawing.

Next the Mini-Hopper - Which is looking really good now. Bernie is creating the inner cockpit side panels but first we are trying to get a handle on the steering gear solution which might need to be glued into the side compartments before they are closed in. Looks to me like the solid parts are almost ready for mahogany stain!

all construction marks scraped and sanded out

and looking fast already!

Next to it the TNT with all bottom fastenings filled and faired pretty much ready for primer. A bit more sanding of the transom which was just stripped this week.

tempting to overlay a mahogany panel on the transom but...

On the skiff front Wayne set all the keel nails, removed the screws, filled the holes and faired the whole works beautifully - ready for stain.

using a nail set with the floor as anvil - real focus here!

and finally in the motor shop Joseph was in the for the day and after wrestling the test tank outside has several engines running and tuned for the opening of the season. He is open to a bit of outside work like this if it is a financial benefit to our programmes.

Our second Johnson 18hp is now resurrected!

If you know of any more derelict 3, 5, 7 or 10 hp outboards from the 50's that could be donated to the cause we would be most appreciative!

We have been offered a booth the Classics Against Cancer car show on Father's Day in Cedarvale Park - if you would like to be on this team let us know!