We just have to learn to take the bad along with the terrible.

Hi guys,

Picked up my spotty gum today, and dressed it down to 25mm X 19mm.

Got the inside all cleaned up.

Got the fore and aft mini-decks cut and on

AND got the outwhales glued on.

Back to work for 3 more days and should get the inwhales and thwarts on on Saturday.

A couple more piccies.

All cleaned up




Spotty Gum gunwhale all dressed up and ready to go on.


Fore & aft minidecks cut and on.

Outer gunwhales on

Hi guys,

Made pretty good progress today.

Another piccie

Mick
You are getting into the fun part of building a boat , She is looking good.

Chuck.

Thanks Chuck,

The whole process has been fun. I've really enjoyed building her and having access to this forum and yours with all the tip and advice freely given has been an enormous help. Thank you.

I reckon that, when finished, she will weigh around 20kgs (45 lbs) which is a heck of a lot lighter than my 14 foot fibreglass canadian.

I have been inspired to get my old Puddle Duck down from the wall and resserect her as well. I now have the skills, confidence - and access to help to do a job worthy of such a beautiful little stripper.

Even better, Through a couple of Aussie forums (kayak Fishing) I think I may have even inspired a few others to have a go at building their own.

Mick

You absolutely lose me with your 20kgs and centigrade measurements, I am just an ole fashion nut (USA) who still uses pounds and inches for measurements and non centigrade ( You know the F word) for temps.

I want to thank you for saying my forum helped you but for the life of me I can't see how it did..... We never stay on the subject and always get over to food, adult beverages or something totally non related to the matter at hand.... My guess is Matt's forum helped you a lot more because he controls it and stays on the matter at hand.

As far as inspiring others to build boats ... That is why we are here. "Have a boat your way.... Build it"

Chuck.

Hi Chuck, You are waaay too modest. You guys this forum as well as on your forum have helped me more than you know.

Not only that, but with your beautiful workmanship on your stripper progue, you have inspired me to take that little bit more care with what I am doing..Thank you

I am truly sorry about my constantly changng betreen metric and imperial or Americam measurements.You see, I too was taught when things were in feet and inches and temperature was measured in fahrenheight. Our governement in its wisdom, embraced all things decimal some years ago and I have been compelled to learn this new BS system. I get confused with it even now. I still have to convert back to miles or to feet and inches to work out how far or how big something is.

By my guestimate, my swampgirl should weigh around 44 pounds

Mate, there are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram. roughly 2.5 centimetres to the inch, 393/8 inches to a metre and 1.62 kilometres to a mile. As for temperature, roughly the comparison goes a bit like this.

Centigrade.......................................Fahrenheight
0 degrees ......................................32. degrees
10 ................................................. 50
15...................................................58
20 ..................................................68
25 ................................................. 75
30 ..................................................87
38 ..................................................100

Hope this helps a bit mate.

Got the gunwhales finished today. A couple more piccies.

Mick,

I have a Black & Decker Work Mate similar to yours. I added a larger work top to mine that is handy. I can now satck more "stuff" on the bench than before.

I started with a 4' X 2' piece of 3/8" plywood, 1/2" would be nice too. Then, I cut a 2 X 4 about 12"-15" long to fit in the jaws of the table, in between the two jack screws. I squoze (past tense of squeeze - rise rose risen; squeeze squoze squizzen) the 2X4 in with a wide 4" surface flush with the bench top.

Then, I aligned the plywood with a 4' edge superimposed on the front edge of my Work Mate. VERRRY carefully, I marked where the 2X4 was hidden beneath the plywood, and drilled four holes. I sunk in large wood screws to secure the plywood to the 2X4. These are screws with flat heads that countersink down into the plywood.

My plywood is centered symmetrically on my bench; it doesn't have to be.

G'day Blokes,

She gets wet tomorrow Will take her for a walk in the local weir and work out seating etc. Post some piccies tomorrow night.

Had a bit of an accident today. Cleaned up all the runs on the outside and re-epoxied. As it was allmost touch dry, I had a fall and kicked a bucket of wood-flour all over one side. more sanding nevermind, all good fun and no real harm done. I guess I must have had too many of our lovely Bundaberg rums to celebrate.

Getting nervous, will she float, will she track straight,will she be as stable as she looks etc.etc. I feel like a bride on honeymoon night.

Long as you don't "kick the bucket" as a result of paddling her.