Attached seats tonight.

Compartments foamed. Working on the deck support/ cabin arch. Finn's helping as always!

Drilled the thru-hulls yesterday. Seats and deck getting glass.

Finn and I had a big week. Seat tops are all cut out and the deck got a preliminary fitting. I am hoping to get it all installed and glassed in next week and so I can start working on the cabin top.

Working hard this week cutting out cabin supports and seats. Hoping to get the cabin built before the end of the year.

We finally got her flipped! Fun night. Neighbors helped. We rehydrated with margaritas after all of our hard work.

Keels painted. Just needs a few days to cure. Then we got to rally the troops for the flip!

Took a break between coats of paint to to work on a few side projects for the Huckleberry...

The first is a water cannon. Its constructed of PVC and coated with spray-on truck bed liner (the cheap type from Home Depot in a spray can). It will be powered by a raw water washdown pump using a thru-hull under the seat. I am still working out details of the mechanism for aiming the cannon, but it will likely utilize a tiller handle under the front deck.

The other addition is a trumpet style horn, which will be mounted on top of the pilot house. I am hoping to build a mechanism that allows it to be triggered via a pull cord handing from the cabin top. I really wanted the double horn, but felt 150dB was a little excessive. This one only puts out 115dB which should be more than enough to alert the neighbors!

One more coat and hopefully ready for flip next week!

Paint too thick. Weather too humid. Guess we'll try again.

This little elf got impatient and stayed up late!

Laid down the final coat of surface primer last week. Sanded the whole boat with 220 grit today. That was a lot of dust.

Brushes came in today - Corona Heritage. Tomorrow the first topcoat goes on. Still undecided if I am just going to paint the bottom and save the sides for after the hull is flipped, or just go ahead and do the whole thing.

One step forward, two steps... sideways? Nothing like painting on a can of primer, then sanding most of it off. Filled a few low spots with fairing compound. Will sand them today, then apply a few final coats of primer.

Applied primer. After months of sanding, it feels like I am finally making some progress.

Fairing complete... or as complete as its going to get. Applied the first of 3 barrier coats of epoxy this morning. Hoping to get the rest on tonight. Plan to prime later in the week... then more sanding!

This is my life now!

JD came over this weekend and we flipped the boat. It went much easier than I expected.

Fairing the hull is now under way. After the first coat, I am not sure if the hull is any smoother. This is going to take a VERY long time. My hands are numb from using the sander.

I built the front bulkhead, bench seat support, and transom support/bracket, and everything is now fiberglassed in. I will build the seat tops later, as I want access to the compartments underneath for mounting bow/stern eyes and filling with foam. 

Next step is to flip the hull back upside-down for fairing and paint. I just have to round up enough troops to make that happen.

Last week I fiberglassed fiberglassed the rub rails and reinforced the transom corners with fiberglass tape.

Today, I began cutting out the bench seats and engine support for the transom. I still need to trim them to size a bit, and notch out the bottoms so they clear the chine rail and sit flush with the floor. 

I modified the plans a bit. I will be deleting the shelf seen in the plans as I don't need a dash since I am using tiller steering. This will add a little leg room. I am building a box in the front which will eventually be foam filled, as will the rear corners of the transom. 

Between Sawyer being born in August and working 2 jobs for the second half of 2018, progress on the Huckleberry has been slow. Things have finally calmed down, and I am getting back to working on the boat.

Rubrails were build from Southern Yellow Pine. Too lazy to build a steam box, I soaked them in the pool for 3 days, then secured them to the boat with a bolt every foot or so, with a little help from a heat gun for some fo the more difficult bends. They were allowed to dry in place, then glued to the hull with epoxy. Bolts were then removed, and thickened epoxy fillets were formed around the edges.

Last month, we flipped the boat for the first time. The inside was fiberglassed. 

I also bought a motor from Northeast Marine in St Pete. It is a 2019 Tohatsu 4hp 20" shaft. For simplicity, I have decided to go with tiller steering, with a tiller extension. 

Next, I plan to fiberglass the rubrails and build bench seats into the boat. Then, it will be time to flip back for fairing and painting the exterior hull.