Right side up again

The boat was successfully flipped over again and moved back into the garage for topsides finishing work last Tuesday. I had sanded most of the fiberglass previously so I was ready almost immediately to start painting.

I test fitted the bowsprit and made the adjustments that were not possible when the boat was facing the other direction in the garage.

You may remember in a previous post my difficulties with the tortured rubrails at the bow. My worst fears were realized and after the stress of flipping the boat the rubrails pulled apart on the first foot of the bow. It appears with all the struggling I had pulling the rails together that some sections were joint starved of glue. It has now been repaired and I have left some stainless screws in place for reinforcement.

The topsides now has two coats of primer and one coat of finish paint. I am using Brightsides white on most of the topsides but I am using non-skid white Interdeck on the cockpit bottom, cabin decking, and bottom of the anchor well. The Interdeck is also non-glare so the sun's reflection won't be blinding; which wouldn't have been much of an issue during this year's disappointing summer.

The companionway hood is now glued to the cabin and since I constructed it entirely out of varnished mahogany I am not going to put a fillet around the edge. The fit turned out to quite tight when screwed in from the cabin decking but for complete water tightness I will put a small bead of clear marine caulking along the edge. You can also see that the tabernacle made from the leftover ribbon striped tiama used on the transom turned out nicely. The manual suggests that the tabernacle could be made from 1 inch timber instead of 3/4 inch for extra strength. I figured using plywood should give me at least the equivalent strength of 1 inch timber.

A couple more days of painting and it will be on to all the rigging and hardware. With a bit of luck with the weather So True's maiden voyage could be in a couple of weeks.