Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Made some progress over the last few weeks.

Finished wet sanding the gunnel and polished it, went around three times, looks pretty good! Had some issues while sanding, it turned out that some of the flakes actually came loose and would end up under the sanding paper and before you know it, would cause a scratch. I probably should have given it another clear coat after wet sanding, but I ended up sanding out the scratches and polished over it. Still looks pretty good!

Fitted the bow mounted NAV light.


And tested the Wiring, WORKS


Rub rail is fitted, both sides, finishes the sides off nicely. Struggled to get end pieces for this rub rail, so I made some wood pieces that I have now made a silicone casting of and plan on making some resin casting to go on the ends of the rub rail to give a clean finish.


Finished the switch plates and test fitted all the console goodies, everything seems to be fitting well and I think the layout will work well. The left side upper plate gets 5 switches for the pumps, the middle one gets the switches for all the instruments, and the right one - switches for all the lights.
Bottom left will house a 12v socket and a 12v lighter plug. The right bottom will house 2 digital volt meters so I can check the voltage of the house and trolling motor batteries.


Also started with the carpeting, after I painted the rear deck. Carpeting is a slow going process and takes some time to get right

Hi Wouter,
Your boat looks fantastic and I wonder how you get everything on it so perfect. If my boat would be so perfect I hardly would dare to put it in the water.
When will be your splashing time and where will you mainly fish with your boat ?
Build on and always let us see your progress.
Greetings from Karl

Hi Karl,

Thanks for the compliments!

I'm hoping to be ready for the Splash by August, have a big event I would like to attend with my own boat

Predominantly I'll be fishing the Kavango, Kwando and Zambezi rivers.

It is an amazingly beautiful boat.

Ja, boet - that looks really good. Bagging composites is a great way to get a good finish. Is that a refuge black bag? Great work.

Correct Antonie, standard black refuge bag It does the job! At least for flat parts that don't have sharp edges that could poke a hole in it.

Stunningly beautiful ! Wow. Cant wait to see her with the motor attached...

Finished the trim pieces for the rub-rail.

Used balsa to make the original plugs, then made a mold out of silicone and corn starch mixture - worked very well! Poured in colored epoxy en Bob's your uncle, nice clean sturdy weather proof end pieces.


Bow section rub-rail end piece


Stern rub-rail end piece


Painted the bow deck section. Taped off a piece in the middle just so that I could reach everywhere with the spray gun, will do that middle section this weekend.


Also took the plunge and got the Trolling motor, Motorguide 82lb, 24v with transducer for the bow mounted fishfinder.
Test fitting it here. Looks pretty good and leaves plenty of deck space

Nicely crafted end pieces.

Bob is certainly your Uncle! That is just too much! You would be scary with a 3D printer. Love the craft you employ throughout the whole boat, but those end pieces blow me away. Such a small detail and yet so important to the big picture. She is amazing!

Nice trolling motor too...