I thought I'd pass along an update on the rebuild. The hull is almost completed. I've rebuilt the bow/stern using wood additions that I first screwed in then glued. I removed one of the screws but the other in the bow, I think, stayed put so I left it in. I figured that with the places I find myself a little extra metal in the bow can't hurt. The bow was [pretty badly mangled so I couldn't trim it evenly before rebuilding. I used three pieces of mahogany plywood for the build up. The first larger longer piece was anchored with a screw at the top of the keel then bent over and screwed into the hull. Any larger gaps were filled in with smaller pieces cut to fit snugly. I taped one side of each end and filled in any gaps with epoxy thickened with wood flour. Each day I filled in any remaining gaps with unthickened epoxy until all surfaces were even with the rest of the hull. I sanded all surfaces level and smooth until the bow/stern looked like a reasonable facsimile of the original. I used the VJ Guardian Spirit as a guide to shape the new bow/stern.

I glassed both ends two nights ago and am slowly building up the epoxy to smooth the work out. The hull looks like a patchwork quilt under glass. It seems fitting that I am building a "quilt" since my wife has been quilting quite a lot lately: we have something mutual to talk about now.

Next week I'll flip the hull over and begin the process of reattaching the deck pieces that are reuseable. I have two large pieces that can be refitted nicely. Once done I'll cut and shape new pieces of plywood to replace the missing pieces to create the new deck. I'll have to use my dremmel to remove the old sheer tapes to keep the weight of the finished yak at a minimum. I'll have to buy a new riser and coaming since I have only about a third of the original. I'm still thinking about whether I should use the third I have or remove it all and start afresh. I suppose I could use the third I have to keep the spirit of "quilting" alive.

I have no pictures of the latest work but I'm sure you can imagine what I have done so far. At any rate, you'll see it all soon enough when I get the rebuild completed. I plan on painting most of the rebuild to hide the patches but I'll be sure to allow some wood to show so I can prove it really is a wooden boat.

Robert N Pruden