Over the last weekend and holiday, Dane and I managed to get the rear half or a little more of the boat hull bottom in place and fastened down. Adhesive and screws seem to have it nicely. Obviously, there will be another layer of bottom to place after the sides are done.

This really has things looking boatlike. You can see what some of the hull shape will be. Of course, it also shows where fairing work will be involved. I've been planing off imperfections in the frames as I find them, before the skin goes on, but there will always be things that don't fit quite right, at least when I'm building something.

For those of you wondering about the crack down the center, remember that there will be another layer of hull bottom, then this area will be planed off "flat" for a couple of inches to each side of the centerline and an external keel fitted. This keel will be laid up from 1x and 2x lumber and bolted into place, covering this center area.

The front will get to be more of a challenge, as the hull curves more there, but I think we'll make it. The biggest issue I've had so far is fitting things "correctly" when I'm laying out lumber at a 45-degree angle. This would be much easier to me square with the hull.

We've had some worse weather here (but finally getting some rain!) and our shed cover has taken a bit of a beating. Most of the plastic ripped in the high winds and we've had to fight that. Tonight is slated to be very cold, so no boat building for a day or two probably. I have found that when the plastic is in place, it does a nice job keeping things warm enough to work in this climate. Keeping the wind off and holding in some solar heat really helps. On the flip side, without the plastic, the pictures can show more.