: Thanks for the well wishes, Scott, it was worth the struggle. I'm sure you'll
: find out soon enough. I haven't started the Night Heron yet. I doubt I'll
: get it going until the wee hours of winter, maybe Feb or March. The
: important idea is that "I have them". I have a few repairs to do
: on the VJ to ready it for the next leg of my big river trip. I ground out
: my stern keel so I plan on setting a brass strip in it. I may use ash,
: that is yet to be decided.

: Robert N Pruden

I inlayed a 1/8" brass rod in the last 3 feet of keel. The tips are bent into the hull and epoxied so they are fastened well. It has done a great job of protecting the keel and it looks real perty, but it gets gouged up on rocks being soft metal, and it wants a bit of sandpaper to be smooth again. If I do it again on next boat I'd probly use 3/16" stainless or a strip of really hard wood or plastic. I hope to find a way to make this wear strip easily replaceable.

: Robert N Pruden