Managed to finished the deck planking. The black card swelled with the glue, so filled any variation in space around the planks. Although I used some glass paper, I found that using a Stanley knife blade to scrape the planks seem to work quite well. There has been one very thinned coat of varnish applied.

The next step is to add the edging around the hatches. The cockpit and entrance door/way needs som thought and the pieces are just for now, clamped in place to see if the idea will work.

Managed to finish the deck, hatchway edging and cockpit. It’s had one coat of thinned varnish and have decided to just keep adding more coats, rather than apply any stain. The final colour will become more golden, which may not be totally true to life for a working boat but stains always worry me as I’m never confident of the final colour.

The inside face of the bulwarks and frame tops will be painted white, including the inside corner and out to the inside edge of the frame tops but will finish the varnishing first before adding a coat or two of white paint. The gunwale capping will be made from some 4mm mahogany. This will need to be made in pieces and shaped before gluing in place, think some card templates will needed first. The finished capping will be varnished and the darker colour will hopefully contrast the lighter deck colour.

The front hatch cover will have a planking top to match the deck planking. On the real boats this hatch was quite small and just to one side, but that design would not have allowed the required access. I’ll make an initial main hatch cover with a painted top, so it will tend to represent a canvas cover. Perhaps later I’ll consider making a replacement with sky lights. Once the boat is set up, these two hatches will not need to be removed, unless there is “tangle” inside?

I have an idea about how to make the cockpit and entrance doorway. These will be two separate constructions. The cockpit can be left in but the aim is to have the entrance doorway easy to remove to provide access to the on/off switch.

Not quite certain about the colour for the outside of the hull. Thinking about black topsides, as white water line and a matt red oxide for below the water line.

The skipper is looking on - "When is this going to be finished?"

The next idea was to make the cockpit and companionway. Made an initial start and have fabricated the basic structures but am uncertain about the detail aspects of finishing them, so they have been put aside until I've made some decisions.

The gunwale capping was made using some 4mm mahogany. Initially some cardboard templates were made and these we used to mark out on the wood. I haven't got a bandsaw, which would have been ideal to cut the mahogany. The solution - which is not very safe - was to clamp the jigsaw the wrong way up in a vice and use a fine blade. With some care it worked ok, the cut shapes were then finished with a small plane and glass paper.

Once the deck had received several coats of varnish the edges were masked and then the white spray paint was used to finish the inside of the bulwarks.

The front hatch is made from some of the deck planking, added some West Epoxy on the inside/underside face to help give its strength. The main hatch is really a short term solution, which will be fine for some first sails. But will look at remaking this again, either with a skylight or place for a dinghy.

The capping pieces were initially glued in place to the bulwarks with Titebond 3. Then a fillet of West Epoxy was added to the outside of the hull, blending the underside of the capping into the hull.

Its only had one coat of varnish so far and there was a need to use a very short brush to get to the underside of the capping. Some light sanding and more coats of varnish are now needed. There is also a need to make small cutouts for the shroud plates to fit flush with the hull.

Think the final colour scheme will be - dark blue top sides, white water line and red undercoat for below the water line.

Making the cockpit and companionway did prove a little bit of a challenge. Both need to be removable, the on/off switch is under the companionway. Wanted some details, hence the indication of handles on the doors, but did forget to scribe the seat surface, to indicate individual planks. Some boats had a commode under the seat, so the helm did not need to leave his post - perhaps something to model in a future project !

Some boats paint the panels on the side of the companionway white. I might cut some paper to fit and see what this would look like before actual painting.

The belaying pins are currently just 2mm dia brass rod, which are functional but there is a need to make some that are more realistic. There will also be the need for some more cleats, perhaps on the side of the mast but need to ensure that any additions do not provide a source for the jib sheets to catch. The shroud plates will be painted black and held in place by 2mm hex head bolts.

The final colour scheme reflects a more contemporary style, but should look appealing once on the water. The masking went quite well, just a need for a slight tidy up in a small number of areas/corners.

I added the shroud plates, just bolted in place with M2 stainless hex heads. The shroud plates should be black - did think of painting but this would not be durable and would start to look "tatty".

I've got 7.8Kg of lead, most in shot form. Added 7Kg of it and fixed in place with some resin. Once cured I'll use the remaining lead to trim the hull. However, even with all the lead the hull still floats above the water line. Perhaps after some "sea trials" some more ballast could be added.

Did another flotation test, with servos and batteries in place, which showed I needed to move some of the ballast forward, as the stern was definitely sitting down, also removed some, so the total is about 6.5 Kg.

Once the rudder, cockpit and companionway were added I realised the tiller was really to long, so this needs shortening.