Getting the Lead In

I think the Postal Service might have been a teensy bit dismayed when ten of their small flat-rate boxes were filled with 50 pounds of LEAD each. Ballast. :)

Putting the ballast in the boat required a little... Are you ready for this, my former physics students???  CALCULATIONS!  Of moments (torque)!  Omg, it has a use!

Putting the ballast in the boat was interesting... Mixing the pellets up with epoxy made it seem like a very heavy, toxic form of caviar. But then, I've never been much for caviar anyway. 

Getting prettier!

It's been slow going, but we're starting to realize that it really is turning into a boat. :)  We're finishing up putting 3 layers of epoxy on pretty much everything, cutting parts out of the bulkheads that need to go and cutting floorboards.  I am so grateful for Dad (of course you know it's Dan writing this!)... while I'm at school working, he is here also working hard on so many things, but among them is figuring out all the little details - where will the battery go?  How will the rudder attach?  Where do we put the anchor and how do we strengthen the bow?  He's very smart, and he always knows what's next to do.

Putting Holes in the Hull. Again.

Once you've spent time ensuring that the hull is smooth, the fiberglass cloth is even, and the primer is perfect, you put more holes in it to attach the keel. Yup. 

We finished the sheer clamps, which run along the hull to help it hold its shape and strengthen it, and then glued and screwed on the keel pieces. 

While Jay put the screws in from inside the boat, I bent the long keel piece into place.