whoops....its been a while since i have logged on.

anyway....some progress and questions.

after a busy spring and summer i finally found some time to complete the basic stripping of my petrel project. this was from material from the garage of a person who bought the CLC kit and had it sit for the better part of seven year...and i helped them clean out the garage.

one of my objectives for this boat is to build it light. so i ran each of the strips through a thickness planer to take it down to 3/16 from 1/4 inch thick. this was not particularly difficult and seems to have worked just fine even though the original strips were bead and cove. after a little testing i determined i could just took 1/16 off of one side and as long as i paid attention to the orientation of the strips (because they are no longer symmetrical)....it came together just fine with no significant gaps. fwiw...working with 3/16 strips was easier than 1/4 inch.

i also decided to make the cockpit and cockpit recess out of strips....just didn't seem to make sense with all that work to introduce plywood into the mix....and that has worked out just fine too....if not adding a bit of time.

so the questions i have are as follows:

1) i am thinking of doing the interior with carbon fibre. any concerns, cautions, tips or best practices in using that on the inside and getting a good finish? is it worth the trouble...does it save the weight?

2) i am thinking about a skeg....and would probably be just fine buying and installing an appropriate pre-made one. any recommendations?

3) any recommendations for an appropriately strong but light lay-up (cloth type/weight/layers/location. my objective is light....and i don't intend on doing anything crazy with this boat....but do not want it to be fragile.

ok...some pictures....not as fancy as some of the work here....but i will probably go with my signature mahogony stain, black fittings and a couple lines for accent.

as usual, thanks in advance for the tips and ideas. i always appreciate the advice i get here on the forum