Everybody kept telling me how big this project is, and I could understand that intellectually. But from a "feel" standpoint, it just didn't t seem that bad.

As usual, the people were right, as I'm finding out. Ah well, that's ok. We'll deal.

Just getting started has taken longer and been more involved than I expected. Getting supplies has been by far the hardest thing. You just can't get affordable marine plywood in Atlanta. You can either buy it at lower cost and pay for the shipping, or buy at a higher cost locally. It comes out about the same.

I've decided to go (at least for the initial purchases) with MDO, which is a exterior grade, 5-ply plywood with a rosin impregnated paper overlay on one or both sides. I'm not planning to finish anything "bright" and I think the paper overlay will help immensely with checking and finish work. I hope to be able to get away without epoxy and fiberglass coating on some of the interior of the hull, if the MDO finish is of the quality I want after I get done mounting it.

Another advantage is that I can get it from a metro area supplier of sign materials (who will even deliver to my house).

The other big time user in the last couple of weeks has been making a SketchUp 3D model of the frames/bulkheads. This let me get several relationships between pieces straight in my mind , without cutting wood and making potentially costly mistakes. Being able to form the units in 3D, turn them and look at them from different angles has enabled me to have a much better idea of how it all fits together.

SketchUp is a very powerful drawing program with a free version available from Google, but make sure and run through the available tutorials to get up to speed.

In terms of actually accomplishing anything, I've drawn out full size the frames of most of the boat, and cut the 1x4 frame pieces for the front 7 frames. At least a little sawdust has flown!

For background on the project, read my story: First Time Boat Builder Begins.