t’s time to join the hull and deck, and now the boat takes its final shape 😀! The gunwales are bevelled differently along their length to better accommodate the deck, paste some putty on the bevelled edges, then I press the hull and deck together, like the two halves of a peanut shell. 😀 Everything goes on quite smoothly, the bow and aft parts fit very well, just use some duct tapes to press them together.

In the middle part, there are some small gaps (about 3, 4 millimeters), so I need to fasten them with some cables. The bulkheads fit really well, firmly holding the deck and hull. To maximize the boat waterproof capability, I carefully fill the internal seams with some more putty at places which are still accessible by my arms. The whole thing is left overnight for the putty to set, permanently forming the boat shape!

The next morning, I carefully trim the deck part. Since the deck is cut oversized, it’s slightly larger than the hull, it need to be trimmed down to match the hull, apply some more putty here and there to fill some remaining gaps, then round the seams (the external sides) in preparation for glassing the hull. Months of preparation, consideration and hard works has finally “culminated” into a seeable, touchable object! 😀

It seems that, at this point, the boat would be able to see water in no time. But actually, there’re lots of works ahead: glassing the hull, install the rudder, rudder control lines and pedals, fitting the bilge pump and signal light, sticking the vinyl decorations (text and boat eyes), fitting the compass and all those bungee cords, various other accessories, etc… and finally varnishing the whole thing with transparent PU paint.