A Major Milestone

I have most of the boat itself finished, except for the interior of the cabin which I may wait until winter to work on.  The boat is now living outside so I have room to work on the spars and, more importantly, get Jan's car back in there!  Here's a shot of the boat now sitting out in the yard.  It's a bit over-exposed so there is some lack of detail, especially at the bow end.

Another shot from the stern end:

I got the dropboards (actually they are acrylic) assembled and in place.  The lock won't do much to prevent entry, but at least it will require breaking in, which should keep casual thieves away.

I don't have a shot yet, but this morning I added a lip on the companionway hatch slide so it covers more of the dropboards.  I'm afraid, though, that the lip will just channel the water to each side where it can pour right in--we'll just have to see.  Still, it won't be much of a problem, just a bit of water I'll have to pump out now and then. [UPDATE: Yesterday I noticed near the back of the manual that you are supposed to insert a block under the hasp to move the hatch back over the drop boards about 1 1/2", so rain won't flow into the cabin.  I'm working on that now.]

Here's a shot of the solar panel now that it is installed.  I'm amazed that I was able to find a panel with dimensions that almost exactly match the companionway hood.  It's almost as if it were designed for this boat.

My next job is to finish the mast, spars (boom and gaff), tiller, gallows, and tabernacle.  I have those items all built, but what I have to do now is drill a few holes here and there, cover each part with three coats of epoxy, then three or more coats of varnish.  I anticipate that taking two-to-three weeks, and then I do the rigging.  I am still on schedule (just barely) to get the boat on the water before it gets too cold.