I finished the Arctic Tern 14 I've been working on, at least enough to put it in the water and paddle it. Lots of finish work to do yet -- sanding and varnishing (or S3's clear LPU, which I'm leaning towards); hatch hold down system; rigging; etc. But its done enough to do some paddling, and this is the time of year, that's what we all should be doing.

Thanks to all of you for great advice and moral support (direct and indirect). I lurk here a lot, sometimes posting, but mostly lurking. I built this Pygmy differently than I have the others. Folllowing Dan's advice (thanks, Dan), I joined the seams without the fiberglass on the outside seams. It worked well, and I much prefer the look of the seams without the outside glass tape. I also stained the hull a dark cherry (looks more like mahogony) using the kind of stain Nick has mentioned--Behlen's Solar Lux. Great stuff (thanks Nick). And from many posts in the past, I presaturated everything using CPES--which made the stain risk proof, given that CPES adheres to most stains, and epoxy likes to adhere to CPES.

All in all, everything has gone well, in large part due to the experience I gain vicariously on this forum, along with the trials and errors of a few past projects. Again, thanks everyone.

And here's a pic, now that I think I've finally figured out how to post one.