25.) Can't Wait to Plank

I can't wait to install those beautiful mahogany planks the Timesaver helped me make. It will be a real boost knowing that the work of rebuilding the boat has begun—as opposed to just removing material from it (which I have been doing for a long time).

Problem is, there's still stuff to do before I can start planking. I still need to remove the highs and lows inside the boat. The interior surfaces are very bumpy. I'll need to make them smooth and fair using a variety of tools and sandpaper, and I'll also need to do some fairing with epoxy putty.  The planks need to be able to go in with no air voids or bumps below them.

I also need to clean up some edges along the kelson—the piece that runs along the centerline of the boat and to which the planks are joined. This edge has been banged up, stomped on and battered from decades of racing, and is not straight enough right now for the new planks to fit flush.  Some of it is broken and in a few places missing entirely.

I am expecting this to take about a week.

And, yes, I blew it, because to do this work I have to remove all those screws and washers I painstakingly applied to get the boat to conform to the cradle. They can't go back in until the new layer of mahogany is applied.

Postscript: Friday was a fun day in the shop. Work was kind of slow so many of the woodworkers gathered outside with a homemade slingshot to try to shoot pigeons. The pigeons were not in great danger because the ammo consisted of large caliber wine grapes (courtesy of the Red Hook Winery's trash bin). I didn't join in the war against pigeons, but heard the groans and verbal jabs that accompanied many missed shots. It also sounded like the pigeons were laughing.