She is finally done and Launch day finally arrived. I hated that it took at least 3 weeks longer than it should have to get it finished, But a nasty sinus infection that took two rounds on antibiotics kept me out of the shop. This is my wife’s new boat and I was trying hard to get it done in time for her to take it for a paddle. But the weather turned cold and so did the water. She is not ready (or willing) to paddle in the cold so unfortunately she will not get to paddle it till next year.

Since the last update I have installed the bronze rub strips, deck bungee and perimeter lines. All of these are pretty basic items but very essential! The color combination was my wife’s and I think it came out really nice.

We took it to the ramp near our house to get some and make a brief paddle. First thing I noticed was the volume. Compared to Shad and Sling Shot, which I paddle most of the time, it seemed quite large. It is not really, it is just those are small boats compared to this one. After adjusting to its size it was actually quite comfortable. Back band feel at a perfect height, new coaming design was very comfortable and despite higher volume, I didn’t bang the paddle as I expected.

Second thing I notice was how quick it turned at low speeds. This is the difference in hard chines and the multi-chines shape. This hull has no abrupt corner and water seems to slide under the hull much easier. The difference was very noticeable! Leaning the boat to turn it felt much different than the hard chine boats. It’s hard to explain but it felt safer and like I could lean a lot more before it would capsize. But I didn’t test that, even in my drysuit I really didn’t want to swim.

I only paddled it around for maybe an hour but I liked it. Past that I will hold off on any judgments till I spend more time in it. We will see if it has any bad habits that hasn’t let me see yet.

Now for some totals. Labor ended up at  46 hours 17 minutes, Of course I have built a lot of these so you should expect to spend a bit more than that.

Materials were $526.16 Keep in mind This is for a well equipped boat. Not cutting any corners on this boat or wasting any money on unneeded items either.

I am going to do another blog and break down the costs and talk about some of my choices for this boat. Mean time I can tell you I did some quick figuring and by skipping some of the items like the Redfish Seat, brass rub strips, etc. you could cut the cost down to under $350.