August 3rd, 2003
It's been quite a while since I last updated the site. I've been up to my ears with my sweet girl, chores and work. But I have had little windows of Jumbo building opportunity here and there.
At last update, I'd finished glassing in the stringers. Since then I've capped the stringers with fir to raise the deck 1 1/2" as per recommendation by Renn. Seems that the stock height will allow water in through the scuppers in nasty seas or when one person stands in one corner at the transom. I decide to go ahead and raise the center of gravity up a bit and keep the water off my feet. The wood is cut out but not glassed in. This will take at least a partial weekend to finish.
Two weekends ago I was climbing around the boat, and eyeballing the hull, when it occured to me that something did not look right. Siting down the center of the boat it looked just a tiny bit out of whack. So I took a straight 8' 2x4 and my level and started checking the hull from stem to stern to see what was up. Turns out that my trailer had sunk down at the left rear wheel and slightly twisted the hull. The bow of the hull sits on two saw horses to stabilize the boat while I crawl around on it. I ended up jacking up the trailer on the left side and shimming it up with a piece of plywood. Then I went back and re-checked the level of all pieces and parts. It looks good now. Good thing the hull is still flexy and not locked into place.
I've got the side deck plywood cutout and temporarily screwed into place and I've got the combing cutout and ready for installation. Since I've used the specified 3/8" plywood for the side decks and made them the suggested 9.25" in width, they seem like they are going to be a bit thin and flexible. Since I will be walking around on these side decks I've decided to glass both sides. Also will fill in the area forward of the transom to the cuddy bulkhead. This way the deck will end up being 1 1/8 + 3/8" in the areas that will have the greastest traffic and the areas that will have cleats and downrigger pads.
Combing design is different than I thought about earlier. Have gone with 1 x 4 oak for strength and for a larger area to lean against. Corners will be rounded over and the top edge/side deck connection will have a small fillet.
August 10, 2003
Also, I actually got to go fishing for a change, so no boat building this weekend. Went to Bodega Bay in search of Albacore with my buddies Dick and Joe, on Dick's boat the White Bear. Well, we found them about 25-28 miles off shore. Dropped the lines in when we came across a huge flock of birds feeding. After five minutes we pulled them in and headed to the numbers where someone said they'd just gotten a triple. Well we got there, put in and three minutes later we had our own triple. Started out with football 
sized albies, but by the end of the day we had a quad of twenty plus pound fish. Talk about screaming reels! Mother nature also put on quite a show. We saw at least six pods of whales lifting their tales and spouting. Also had a school of hundreds of dolphins/porpoises swimming close enough to touch. Now if I could only get rid of that Tuna smell.
Dick and Tuna
Joe and Tuna