Progress and more progress

With the help of my wife, Julie I have been able to spend more time on the skiff. I have continued to fit the skiff up for the season. I have been working on fitting floors, running shift linkage, installing gauges and more trim. It was a challenge to put the rub rails on alone but it was interesting. The gauges Pat Powell did are great! I had to get a replacement temp gauge since the one I had would not work for my set up. I created a basic ring painted black to make up the size difference.



It was challenging to run the new copper oil line and not kink it. I was able to fit it up but I wonder about the connection it cannot be tighten much which makes me nervous. I may disassemble it to re-check everything.

I finished up the floors and tried something different with the shift lever. My boat had problems with the linkage and someone tried to fix it. I have tried to sort it out further with repairs to the keelson and rework of their repair. It does not look nice but it is functional and I believe will last.


I worked on the rear bench seats by installing the supports. I may add a doubler to the seat to make sure I capture the screw. I also spent more time on my engine box sanding and rounding the table edge. I will try and cut the plywood for the sides. Thanks to John Paul for the loan of an engine box to make templates.



Here are some pictures of the bow after I put the trim pieces on.


I am hoping to borrow a shaft alley hatch to recreate it for the skiff, mine did not have one. With the warmer weather coming I am hoping to get some final painting and varnishing done. I need to install my running gear and need the temp higher for the 5200 to cure corectly. I am looking forward to my new tank arriving and finishing the interior. I want to get started on starting my motor to get it ready for install.

Snow melting, mud sloshing, is this the start of Mud Season?

Time is flying here at Button Bay. The ice is still with us and the snow is melting pretty quick. The past few weeks have been a weather roller coaster of snowing one day, raining the next with flood warnings to boot.

Work on Frolic has really been steady and progress shows. Last update I was working on floors. I painted the floors and have now covered them with Nautolex form an idea of Myndy Woodruff. They look great. I did not glue them down but pulled the fabirc around and stapled them with 1/4" monel staples. I really like how they turned out.





The engine box is going together well. I borrowed a plate joiner form my brother-in-law Jeff Spencer of Red House Building to assemble the basic frame with West System and biscuits. Clamping the angles was interesting but I used wedges to make the pieces square so the bar clamps would hold. I to assemble it in sections, sides first, then assembled the box.



Once I had the basic box frame together I put the cross pieces in for the table top. I also worked on making the table top like I did the frame with Biscuits and West Sytem epoxy.






With the top set I began sanding then fitting it to the box frame. Once I had the top on and secured I took a 1/2" round router bit and finished the sides.





I also ordered a Rayco fuel tank for the boat instead of trying to reuse the original tank. Once I have the tank I can finish putting the stearn section back together. I think I will also try to fasten some of the floors in so I can finish the front fit up and install the seats.