At this stage of the build the boat is essentially put together, what follows is lots of sanding, varnish and the addition of some accessories. I started the sanding process with the bottom. If you remember from the glassing stage there are three layer of glass in some areas, this will require that the layers be feathered to one smooth surface. Here’s apicture of the bottom sanded.
Next to be sanded was the sides. I ran into some issues here. First I had some frayed cloth in the glass that have been applied to the deck and folded over. In trying to sand the frayed cloth smooth I sanded through the glass and it required some fresh epoxy.
Patience and persistence with the random orbital sander and sanding block and about 10 hours of work and the boat is sanded smooth.
Once sanded the hull is vacuumed, dusted with the compressed air and wiped with denatured alcohol. Ready for varnishing. The varnishing process took about a week. Day one final clean and alcohol wipe down, and first coat of varnish, days 2 – 5 wet sand with 400 grit, alcohol wipe down and varnish. Then Flip and do the deck side for another 5 days. It’s a lot of work but sure came out pretty.
Building and Restoring Small Boats 