It is funny how I cannot give up being anxious over this hull bottom. If I were to sit with a psychiatrist I am sure they would diagnose some sort of obsession mixed with fear of completion. I am rationalising it by arguing the boat will never be upside down again…
Hopefully.
I expect the last thing you want to be going is working on it lying on your back, cursing the past when it was all at an arms length, waist level.
The other thing I am wrestling with is those little wicked creatures that sit on your shoulder and whisper in your ear, suggesting this or that.
My particular creatures come from the sail boat racing world, where speed is everything. The creatures are echoing my old racing friends criticising my choice of boat, questioning the rig….will it go to wind…blah blah blah.
I distinctly remember how impressed my friends were at a crew spending the morning before a race, wet sanding the boat for that extra speed. How dull. I recall discussions of re-fairing a hull for the next season (further cringing). I do not know why this bothers me.
So it is fair-ish. As you can see in the photo, I have screeded it. I used a builders trowel and epoxy thickened with micro-baloons to a fluffy-sloppy consistency. You will notice the wood showing in places, suggesting I have done some degree of levelling.
It still looks lumpy to my eye.
I asked Sensai Ayliffe for his opinion, and he gave me the “…but grass hopper, are you happy?” line. Exasperating.
He did suggest I lob off the forefoot and replace it with an epoxy-made sacrificial one. Which to my reasoning seems much easier than studying the fairness issue. So I bolted after this distraction.
Paul's boat blog 