Launched! Finally!

I managed to lanch on time, a tak in itself. My friend Matt and I headed out to Grand Traverse's West Bay at about 8 am on Sunday for the Cirrus's first day in the water! What a great feeling it is to build your own boat and work towards this moment.

The boat handled fantastic, itis a great touring boat. It has a lot of room above your legs to stretch out and change positions. It handles like a charm, like Vaclv sid, it does not need a rudder, it will track straight.

After about an hour of paddling we decided to practice some rolls, braces and recoveries in shallow water. Matt's Anas Acuta, was used for this exercise.





More news is I figured out how to roll the Anas,
my first roll. Being I am a begginer and this was one of the first few times ot, I would have to give most of the credit to matt's teaching and patience.








Speaking of Matt, the expert roller that he is, managed to roll the Cirrus on his first try. Many may say this is an easy task, but he lacked, thigh braces, a footbrace and tight hip braces. Great Job Matt. Check out some Pics.

Varnishing!!

I am finally getting to the end. I am on y third coat of hull varnish and have to say that this my least favorite part of the build. I choose to use Captain's Varnish by Pettit. It works nice, but I keep on getting sags at the chines. I sand these with a 220 grit and rinse an recoat. I am hoping to get this process down, as I was only going to do four coats per side. I would appreciate any susggestions, and will be seeing you on the water soon.

ETA launch date, next Sunday, if all goes well!!

Almost, is not just a ways away!

I have made a lot of progress. I decided to perform some end pours, in order to seal the inside shearline, and to add some rigidity to the tips. This is a hell of a task! I have also began the under the deck mounts for the bungee cords. This also has been tedious. Also, I have siliconed the bulkheads in, three of them, fornt rear, and another rear for a day hatch area. I began the backrest today and it looks promising.

The only few taks left are to cut the slits for the nylon loops, epoxy that, then final sand, varnish, outfit and build a seat. Not much on what bean as a huge list. I may also add some in hatch bungees to ensure the hatches will not fall out during paddling. I have the itch to paddle.

Another interesting thing to look at is inside of the boat, check out the light of day!