I have proceeded to remove the masking tape from the boat. There were some areas where the paint soaked through so some uneven streaks less than 1/8 of an inch are visible. If you stand more than 6 feet away it becomes hardly noticeable. It bugs me a little bit. When the entire boat is done and the paint is completely hardened I will try to do some touch up work to fix those areas. WOW. The boat looks awesome now. I took pictures and then flipped the boat right side up to start working on the seats.

I have positioned the seats in locations where they need to be glued and looked things over. I noticed that the seat supporting ‘crossbars’ on the underside are not as well painted as the tops. Somehow I assumed that the crossbars won’t be visible but they are. I also couldn’t align the stern seat properly because its sides were not bewelled enough to the contours of the boat. I took the seats back to the basement and gave the underside another coat of paint. Before this I also ran the planer over the stern seat sides so that they fit better during gluing. The whole thing is drying right now. Apparently I won’t glue any seats today. I will have to wait for next time.

The weather has been nice in the past two days but very chilly. I’m kind of glad I did not glue the seats today as the epoxy would appreciate warmer weather.

I have also gone to the hardware store to buy some hex cap screws to replace my initial Phillips screws I had at the bow of the rubrails. I could not find any nice screws at the marine store or at Home Depot. I have decided to remove the screws altogether then and fill the holes with mahogany filler.

I have also bought 3 feet of oak dowel to see whether I could make nice carrying handles. This is my second attempt at carrying handles and again I did not like the way they would look at the breasthook. I might not have any carrying handles after all. The boat is easily carried by holding underneath the breasthook and the knees.