The skinning of the hull is probably the hardest part of the assembly as it involves careful trimming and shaping to ensure a good fit without resorting to fillers for making good. The skins can be bent quite successfully with the application of steam or with a heat gun. I used a combination of the two with the steaming initially relaxing the wood allowing it to be bent to the correct curvatures and the heat gun (electric paint stripper) to 'set' the shape and dry the skins. The bottom skins are fitted first and the edge that meets the keel is trimmed to get a good fit and the edge given a slight chamfer to eliminate a gap where it meets the keel.
I marked the keel with pencil marks at the centre of each bulkhead and marked the skins with a line meeting the chine stringer so that the brass pins in pre drilled holes would drive in easily and not split the bulkhead formers.
Working from bow to stern the skin is pinned to the false rebates on the keel and the bulkhead formers with the application of aliphatic glue, the edge that meets the chine stringers is just clamped into place along its entire length with as many clamps I had to hand.
I used pins temporarily to hold the skin firmly where it lays on the bow chine former and these were removed when the glue set. When the glue has thoroughly set the skins are roughly trimmed where they meet the chine stringers and finished with a plane being careful not to take any material away from the stringer and keeping a good straight edge with no hollows or bumps.
Having repeated the process for the other bottom skin it's the side skins next and they are a bit trickier to do !

The temporary pins holding the bottom skins on the bow chine former are removed and the bottom skin is very carefully cut back to reveal the upper half of the chine former back to bulkhead B1 as the side skin needs to butt against the bottom skin at this point, the remainder of the side skin overlaps the bottom skin all the way back to the transom.
The side skin is then temporarily clamped in position and carefully measured and marked for trimming to abut the bottom skin on the chine former.
I can't afford to make a mess of this so I measure three times and cut once !.
Once I'm happy with the fit the skin is steamed and formed to the correct curvature. The fixing process is the same as with the bottom skins with pins into the bulkheads and the chine former but clamping only to the gunwhale stringers, no pins were used to fix to the chine stringers, the aliphatic glue provides a very strong bond and the joint will later be strengthened when the chine rubbing strakes are fitted.

The skins have now had plenty of time to set and now need trimming top bottom & stern, the skin is first trimmed with a saw along the chine and then planed flush. Similarly the top of the skin is trimmed and planed flush with the deck all the way round including the transom. I can now shape the keel to the hull profile, fill the nail holes and a tiny bit of filler on the bow and rub it all down to get quite a nice 'pointy'end.
The filler is a two part wood filler from Screwfix that is not as 'hard' as isopon P38 and can be sanded a lot more easily without removing too much of the surrounding area, it's also wood colour !
I'm very pleased with the bow section, particularly as I remember making a bit of a hash of it on my first boat, but then I was only 15 years old.
I need to think about the motor and mount so that I can set the prop shaft in the keel but before that I need to make a supporting cradle for the hull as it's getting a bit big for the bench now.

As I need to work on the deck and superstructure now I'm going to need something to support the hull securely so it's time to build a stand.
To get the profile of the hull I used a couple of wire coat hangers, the sort you get from the dry cleaners, and carefully bent and formed them to the hull shape at bulkhead B2 and B5, they bend and keep their shape very well and it's easy to transfer the shapes to the 18mm ply end boards. I marked around the outside of the wire to give a clearance gap to allow for the strakes that will be fitted later and some neoprene foam pads to cushion the hull.
The waste wood out with a coping saw and the cut edges filed and sanded smooth.
Both end boards were then clamped together and drilled with a suitable wood bit to take the four large diameter dowels which were glued and pinned, all the while ensuring that the entire assembly was as square and true as possible.
The end result is a very rigid and stable stand that will protect the hull, keel and rudder etc.
I won't bother painting and finishing this properly until the construction work is finished.

Now that the side skins are fitted it's possible to get the motor mount in position so that the prop shaft can be set into the keel properly.
The kit includes a very clever mounting system for the motor that once fixed in place will still allow for minor adjustment to get the prop shaft lined up as straight and true as possible.
The motor mount is carefully marked and drilled to accept the motors mounting plate and is then bolted in place with cap head bolts and self-locking nuts, the mounting cheeks are the bolted to the mount with wing nuts and spring washers which will provide the motor adjustment.
All of the mounting hardware I have used is stainless steel and is not included in the VMW kit so these were sourced from eBay suppliers.
I also found on eBay a 5mm to 5mm rigid coupling and used this temporarily in place of the flexible coupling to hold the motor, coupling and shaft in perfect alignment while the motor mount is glued and pinned to the hull side skins.
Once I was happy with the alignment I could epoxy the prop shaft into the keel, the rigid coupling can then be replaced with the flexible coupling.
Spinning the outrunner motor case with the shaft attached proved very smooth without any tight spots or noise, at this stage the shaft is un-lubricated and I will be fitting an oiler sytem for this.
I also fixed a brass angle plate between the bottom of the motor mount and the keel to further locate and support the motor mount. it should also (hopefully) prevent any twisting or deflection when the motor is under load and reduce any vibration.

So the instructions say "make up a brass skeg from 22swg brass strip", OK so how difficult is that !
Bought some 22swg brass, cut some strips, formed one strip around an 8mm drill bit to make a tube, cut another strip and soft soldered it all together.
It looked rubbish and had no strength at all. 😭
Time to think again...hmmm.......need some expert help here.

So I called my younger brother, who has........ a lathe !
'No problem' he said, 'send me a drawing of the bit you need turned and I'll post it to you'.
A short while later it arrived in the post, it fits the shaft like a glove and looks the part too.
I carefully cut and filed a flat bottomed groove along it's length and with some new 14swg brass strip and a 'silver soldering kit' I set about putting it together.
Despite my rather heavy silver soldering, (never done that before) it cleaned up very nicely and the solder joint is strong and firm, but best of all it actually looks worthy of fitting to my boat 😊

The skeg was fitted at the same time as the prop shaft, set into a slot cut through the keel and epoxied firmly in place.

Here are some pictures of the skeg fitting, and the position of the oiler system on the propshaft.
The latter is supplied with a short silicone tube with a stopper and also a syringe for applying the lubricant, grease or oil?...a controversial subject it seems, so I have yet to decide ❓ .
I wrapped a single turn of gas PTFE tape (slightly thicker than ordinary plumbing PTFE) around the tube before clamping it into place and drilling through into the shaft tube. This should ensure an oil tight seal. it's very important that any swarf that ends up inside the shaft is flushed out as it could damage the bearing within the prop tube. I have added a ply reinforcing plates on either side of the bulkhead for good measure.
The ply strips either side of the keel will form part of the battery supports in that compartment.

I'm not very happy with the quality of the plastic water scoop that I have purchased, the threaded portion is only just sufficient to pass through the keel and frankly it looks a bit naff.
Equally, the water outlet I have as similarly poor and I can't seem to find a brass equivalent anywhere, so I decided to make my own.
The tube is 6mm brass and needs to be bent and flared as a scoop so to do the bending I made a jig with a fixed circular former that I filed a round groove in around it's circumference and a square block to retain the tube.
The tube was then annealed to soften it and bent around the former, I also put a curtain wire inside the tube to prevent the tube crushing and although it helped the tube did distort slightly.
Perhaps I should have tried the 'dry salt' or 'fine sand' method but overall I am pleased with end result.
Once in place in the hole I drilled through the keel it looks like it will do the job but it definitely needs a flange of sorts to make it look better.
Maybe a bit of turned brass ?...... 💭

"Hi bro......any chance you could ?....great, I'll come and visit and watch the master at work"

Clever bugger, and so modest too ! 😁