We have a name and color!

The votes have been counted, the hanging chads have been examined and the delegates from Florida and Michigan have been included. Our boat will officially be named "Mending" and will be dark blue. Thanks to all that voted! And remember, if you didn't vote you can't gripe!

March 30th

We got a ton of work done today! RC, Paul and Stephanie got the supports for the rod shelves firmly installed and they also planed the shelves to fit snugly up against the hull. Mark and John got the rod shelves sanded "baby butt smooth". Dale, with John's help on the table saw, worked on adding a reinforcing piece to the transom to better support the motor. We also got the pedestals in place for the fore and aft anglers' seats. It may not seem like much when you read this short paragraph but we made huge strides!

March 19th

RC, Diane and John went to work coating the shelf frames and seat pedistals with epoxy. They are almost ready to install.

March 16th

More work today on the shelves and seat parts. Paul and RC got the shelf supports completed and the fore and aft seat pedestals were finished up.

All level!

Paul and RC get down to business fitting out the shelf support system.

Will she float?

Mark keeping up with the housekeeping duties.

March 9th

Progress began today on the interior fitting of the shelves/rod holders. After a little bit of figuring and some additional guidance from Jason we were able to understand the support structure for the shelves and how to secure them to the interior. There are lots of angles to cut during this phase and thanks to our latest volunteer, Paul Thibideau, and his carpentry skill and boat building experience, we were able to get the process started.

More work went in to constructing the seat pedestals for the three seats too. We ran into some minor epoxy problems but nothing that we couldn't solve.

No pictures from today though...seems we were all too busy working to pose for the camera!

March 4th

Diane and Dale met at the AFRH to put a little more epoxy over the fiberglass tape on the outside of the boat. They also put a coat of epoxy on some interior plywood pieces that will go in place later.

Dale's dogs, fresh from a visit to the vet, spent a few hours stalking a bird that had made its way into the shop.

March 2nd

This week we continued to work on the outside seams of the boat. RC had done some great work on Wednesday to smooth everything out. We did a little bit more planing, sanding and filling of some remaining gaps and then it was on to the fiberglassing. All of the seams were taped and saturated with epoxy. This is the last structural step in bringing all of the individual pieces together. Hopefully no leaks!

Dale does a little planing...

Dave and Diane do some final sanding...

And the fiberglass tape goes on!

A new volunteer, Mark Snyder (on the right in the tan hat), and Ferris Butler work on the guide seat. John, John and Dale are on the left pretending that they understand how the thing goes together.

Norris (here with Dave) and his mechanical know-how got the trailer put together without a hitch...well, there is a hitch of course...I mean that he put it together without a problem.