Fifth time's the charm on the deck panel. I was experimenting and decided to make kerfs on the backside of the panel at the points with the most bending stress. I made the cuts about 1/3 of the way through the panel, and it made a huge difference. They almost felt like I could bend them into place without steaming. I didn't want to try, of course, so after 10 minutes of steaming, they went onto the boat with ease.

What a relief! This panel was giving me plently of frustration over the past couple days. I was getting pretty sick of tracing the template, cutting out the panel, drilling the holes, steaming, breaking, and repeating.

Won't get to work on the boat for the next few days. Im traveling down to Tennessee for the weekend. Hopefully I'll experience something a little warmer than it has been here in Iowa the past few weeks.

I'll keep updating as soon as I have made a little more progress on the boat.

Oh, and I did start a webshots album, so I can post some pictures online without too much trouble. (I'm not too great with these computer things.)
The URL is:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/562236507FILvFt?vhost=outdoors&action=refreshPhotos&albumID=562236507&security=FILvFt
I'll try to keep adding pictures as the build goes on.

Brian Boston