Oxford
Just before we left, I tidied up the first few coats of varnish (went with the rapidclear stuff from Epifanes, because it goes on fast, no sanding, and I had a can laying around), peeled off the tape, and took her outside to have a look at the finish.
I think it turned out with a nice amount of depth and really pulled the grain out of the areas surrounding knots. Here is a closer shot of the retainer blocks specified in the plans:
I used a little cedar that was laying around, and I wasn't impressed. I think its going to require some good fir or maybe mahogany to hold the feet down and not split out.
And since the boat is sitting outside, its a sunny day, and we are leaving the country the following morning, why not cram the skeg in really quickly and have a go?
I have noticed the boat doesn't hobby-horse nearly as bad as the Thames did, that extra few feet seem to really help. The ends are very fine, so there isn't a ton of reserve buoyancy, and this seems to make her very smooth going over bigger waves. Definitely not a big rough water boat, but she handled a little chop just fine. One boat went by throwing a footish tall wake, which it rode over with aplomb.
Today, once it warms up a little, I will go out and tape up the varnished areas to lay on paint. Off white she says, so off white it is.
Why did I build this boat? I think this sums it up perfectly:
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