I finished screwing on the bottom battens this morning. Let's just hope, when I hit rocks, that I am able to line up on the hard oak battens rather than the soft cedar floor.
With the new iron handles all nice and rusty, I oiled them up and installed them. Of course, when I crawled inside the turpentiney stern hatch to put nuts on the stern handle and tighten them, one nut refused. Bad threads. A half hour of swearing and grinding in the hatch and hey, no problem. The bow ring went on perfectly, and I eye-spliced the bowline to it.
The Kolb's had a cool spare oarlock system, which I was able to replicate in brass from a place on eBay.
The exterior had some bad drizzles of my favorite Linseed oil-Turpentine-Varnish (LTV), so I scrubbed the entire outside with steel wool and a new coat of LTV, let her sit awhile, then rubbed her dry. While she was soaking I planed down a pair of Port Orford Cedar oars, trying to get the outboard weight down enough that I can row them in the very narrow boat. And LTVed them three coats.
And now I guess it's time to fiddle around.
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