Kenneth Dodson's blog

On Monday after work we decided to head out to Big Lake in the Crystal Dawn to see if we had fixed the fuel issue.  THe good news is no more fuel issue.

My wife, son and I hooked up the boat, grabbed the dogs, Chevy, our black lab and Jade, our white boxer.  Unfortunately we forgot the camera.

I spent a lot of time this weekend on the boat.  I got 2 coats of Sys III primer on the outside of the hull and back bulkhead.  One coat on the cockpit sides.  I used Rustoleum Topsiders marine paint for the above waterline paint.  I also used the Rustoleum non skid additive for the gunnels.  This is a shot of the gunnels after the non skid was added.  The non skid is a Battleship grey and the inside of the cab

I haven't updated the blog in almost a year. I continued working, had some camera issues and took some time off. At this point I have rough finished the cuddy and main cabin. I have installed some bench seating in the cabin, and installed the fuel tank and ran a vent line to the front of the tank to assist in filling the tank if it is stern down in a station. I plan on splashing late spring if all goes well. I purchased my main motor from Alaska Yamaha and Suzuki. I got a DF115 suzuki. A number of reasons for the selection went through my mind but it came down to recomendations and finances. The 115 was $1100 cheaper that the 140 and should do everything I want. Time will tell if I made a good choice but I am excited about the prospect of getting it wet. Kenneth

I am making progress. Since my last post I have fit the windshield panels in place. I needed to fit them so I could fit the upper panels in place. I needed the upper sides in place so I could fit the lower side in place. Once I got everything fitting like I liked it I started with the lower side and glued it up solid.

Where to start. Over the last few weeks I have been doing a lot of little things. I have some photo's that I will upload soon.
I have completed the bulkheads and epoxied them in place.
I epoxied the 2 roof beams in place. I made them from the 1/2" oukume ply by ripping them to 1 1/2 then epoxying 2 pieces for each beam. I then glassed the 3 exposed sides of the beam with 6 oz tape for added strength. I set the beams at 26" inside to inside. This will give me several option for the hatch when I decide which style I will get.

I have been remiss in updates and I will try and catch up. Time has kind of blended together so if I repeat steps I just forgot and didn't actually do them twice. Let's see, over the last 10 days I have:
I epoxied the cuddy sides and sanded a bit on the inside to shelf corner.

Epoxied the rear bulkhead in place.

I haven't got a lot accomplished other than continuing to cut parts in preparation for some epoxying work this weekend. I have cut all the upper sides out as well as the solid wood 2" shelf pieces that will join the upper sides to the lower sides. I am using the process that Neal did on his jumbo. Neal was nice enough to provide me with a couple of pattern pieces that allowed my to quickly reproduce them on my table saw.

It has been a while since I updated the blog. I was out of town for about 4 days so most of the work took place the weekend 18 - 20 and 24 - 25. I had a 3 day weekend on the 18 - 20 so I worked pretty steady during that time. I will try and remember what I did.
The weekend of the 18th I finished cutting the filler for the middle bulkhead and installed them. I also glassed one side of the bulkhead and epoxy coated the other. I epoxied the bulkhead to the filler, framing member and hull.