Day 2 - Attaching the deck

First step, remove the tape and the pins that were used as a guide for the boat bottom:

Inspecting the fillet, it all seems nice and full and pretty even all the way around. Note also that I have marked an approximately 1 inch circle around where the mast step will be located to insure I keep this areas free of epoxy in the upcoming steps:

I had also previously marked the area for the rudder post. Note that I did not really do the neatest job but was not concerned as this part will not be visible:

The instructions are pretty clear about pins not sticking in to the hull sides more than ⅛ inch. Here's what happens when you don't heed that warning - the pin protrudes through the fillet and, once removed, leaves a hole from outside to in. I will touch this up on the next round with thickened epoxy. For now, I marked the spots with a sharpie to be sure I don't miss them:

Inspecting the transom, I was disappointed to find that the side had moved away from the transom during the previous day's steps. Noting the overall shape of the hull, and given that this can easily be filled with epoxy, I am not concerned:

Here is a shot of how the two halves of the hull came together at the bow. Not perfect, but again, not a problem as this will be sanded flat in preparation for the mahogany bow piece:

In preparation for the next step, clear coating the inside of the hull, I marked off the area around where the keel will be mounted to insure that no clear coat is applied in that region in the upcoming step:

In this shot, on the right side, you can see where I began applying the clear coat to the edge, a little bigger than the suggested ⅜ of an inch and then decided to clear coat the whole side. I am not concerned about the very minor amount of additional weight and prefer to have things nicely waterproofed everywhere:

I have clear coated the whole left and right sides and the bottom, leaving the marked off area for the mast step and keel mounting free of epoxy:

Same with the rudder post area:

Next, I quickly moved on to clear coating the edge of the deck (on the underside-as marked by the X from day 1):

And again, I opted for clear coating the entire underside of the deck (next 2 shots):

I then moved quickly on to mixing up the pre-thickened/phenolic epoxy combo for application along the entire top edge of the hull on the inside. I was frustrated using the brush for this step and if I had to do it over, I would have used a small trowel or knife, like an oil paint artist's palette knife. I suggest moving quickly here as you want to get this step and the next done before the epoxy begins to set up so that it will run freely with gravity once the boat deck is inserted and the boat inverted, per the instructions:

I applied a generous amount near the bow:

Then I applied a bead of epoxy all around the inside edge of the deck. In hindsight, I would have applied a bit to the actual edge of the deck to help fill in any gaps and create a strong bond between the hull sides and the deck. Again, if I had this to do again, I would have used a knife or trowel to apply the bead. It would have resulted in a much neater job and better control than the included brushes, even with the brushes trimmed as instructed:

Here you can see just how much I have built up the bead inside of the hull sides:

Next step was to insert the deck carefully between the hull sides, on top of the pins. Again, be careful that the pins only protrude ⅛ of an inch to the inside. I used more tape than suggested:

Next, invert the hull and place it deck down on plastic:

Stephen King weights come in handy again. I placed a paper towel between the hull and the books:

Leave this to setup overnight.