The last week or so has been a hurry up and wait process.

Sanding, sanding and more sanding, spending, spending and more spending.

Had to order the Xynole fabric I'm going to use to sheath the hull (and a lot of the topsides... there was a significant price break to order more now instead of piecemeal). Then came trying to figure out how much epoxy it was going to take to wet it out. Most people said "a lot" which I didn't think was a real exact amount. The designer had some tips, and then the supplier of the cloth came up with pretty exact numbers from their experience.

That's one thing I've found in the boat supply world; people are willing to give you advice and help if you ask. Now you may not agree with the advice, but at least you've heard some other viewpoints.

In terms of actual construction, I got all the holes and cracks filled, fillets on the keel/hull joint, got some more seams taped and sealed and got the cloth cut to rough size. Got lots and lots of sanding done. From looking at things with the cloth laid in place, it will hide some imperfections, but things need to be reasonably smooth or I'm sure it will print through. It probably needs to be even smoother than I have it, but I'm not that fine of a finisher. Did trowel on some filled epoxy on the bow to try to smooth up the rather rough mess I have there. I think its better.

This Friday the family plan for the July 4th holiday is sheathing the boat! My folks are coming up to lend a hand and I hope to knock it out. It's desireable to get it all on (two coats) in one go while things are still tacky so that the epoxy can bond chemically to itself. It ifs allowed to cure, the next coat will stick, but its just a mechanical bond instead of a chemical one. I figure with several hands involved, we should be able to make it.