The build has slowed recently, but some progress has been made. The deck was sanded some more with the ROS and the long board using 80 then 120 and finally 240 grit. Super smooth surface and only a few gaps opened up. Here I again used the glue/sand method and they mostly disappeared. The next step was to cut out the cockpit opening. I didn't follow Rob Mack's suggestion of laminating the cockpit as I didn't want to have to try and source thin pieces of wood and I don't really have the space to build the laminating frame. I intend to use vertical strips for the riser and some ash for the lip as I did on my Petrel Play. I chose a cutout the same size as my PP so I can use the same spray skirt and I find the size a good fit. So I drew up a paper template and used that to cut the opening. Rob's instructions show a dropped front to the opening which I think looks nice and probably stops some water from splashing up when the boat hits a wave. The deck is pretty flimsy at this point and care needs to be taken not to crack or break things.

I also stripped the aft deck which is on a different plane to the main deck, and I wanted to continue the main deck pattern to the very end.

To try and get the best finish I put a thin seal coat on which brings out the colours.

Here you can also see the gap between the dropped deck and the main deck with a thin fillet.

And finally time to glass the deck. Here I decided to use 4oz S-glass. It has a much finer weave and is harder to wet out than twill used on the hull, but it turned out fine, even if the weave is slightly more discernible at close quarters.

Next steps and some boring bits, building the skeg, a couple of strip planks for the bulkheads and cleaning, sanding and glassing the inside of the deck. Part 6