Questions and requests for advice as I'm starting out

ThatPaddlingGuy · Sunday at 12:24 AM

great progress! It's good to see a first-time build coming along. I appreciate you sharing the mistakes along with the victories! Best of luck with the next steps.

JohnNevets · 2026-06-22T21:15:17-0400

Well, the last strip is in. And it felt good to get it there. Took a lot of finessing to get those last few strips in, and having to start over on a strip because it ended up just a tad to short. But was worth it. I had intended to glue up those last few up as one and then put it in, but it worked out better to just do them one at a time. Including that last really small one. I did wait to glue the last 3 in until I had them all fit. I used some brad nails not pounded all the way in to hold the last two boards in until I could get that last little strip test fit. And than used the same holes to hold the boards in place for glue up as well. Along with a couple of bungee cords. And of course as tradition dictates, I had to have a glass of whiskey once that whiskey strip was in. I figured I deserved it. The whiskey is aged and bottled at a local brewery I love, but is distilled in KY (they won't say by whom). But I also thought the name seemed appropriate.

Now it is on to fairing things out, sanding, patching the holes, and getting ready for fiberglass and epoxy. I just ordered that stuff yesterday, and should be here by the end of the week. I was originally thinking of going system 3 for epoxy and filler, but ended up going with total boat to save a decent amount of money. I hope it works out in the end. I ordered 42' of 50" 6oz e glass. Should be enough for the full 15' boat plus some. I know I have a lot of work left to do, but hitting this milestone felt like a big one for me. Unless I hit some major road blocks, I'd like to have this on the water in about a month or so. But I'm also not putting any pressure on myself to do it in a set amount of time, it takes what it takes.