Chine down she is repainted, I did not bother doing from the chine up until the deck is on. I am running out to the mill later to get a few pieces of wood I need and then tomorrow I start tracing and cutting the deck.

I cleaned mine up enough to be passable, Norman. Thank you.

Spark now has decks. I used 6mm Okoume Ply. At the moment they are only roughed in, but hopefully tomorrow they will be attached and have at least one layer of varnish on them. Rather than copying the old deck exactly, I managed to trim the decks down to two piece per side, looks a little cleaner with two less seams in the deck.

Once the decks are secured, I can finally paint the hull.

week and a half later:

I got something shiny for Spark today.

Yes and yes, Oliver. From the pattern you so kindly sent my way. While I am setting Spark up for cruising, I never cared for the full width traveler. Yes, it is probably better for sail shape, but I think it detracted from the looks of the GP

and here we go, she still needs a rub down with some fine paper and a second coat, but after a summer of sanding, filling, sanding, more filling, and even more sanding.. Spark now sports a single colour on her hull. Kirby’s “See Red” which is more a burgundy than the bright red appears to be here.

I have them, Oliver, Just finished sanding them down smooth and putting the first coat of varnish on them. I was waiting for the paint to dry (the got a third coat today after I had to sand off a run I missed) and tomorrow she gets her rails.

Less than a month later:

I still have some small details to attend to, but she is as good as done. I am going sailing tomorrow

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Arthur.

what can I say, Oliver? you have good taste in vehicles.

And just to prove that Spark lives.

First time I had her out, well, second really. The first attempt saw me ripping the screws out of the rudder head due to high winds, a bad fetch, and my neglect in putting the rudder down. Thru-bolts are on order. This attempt was on a local lake, the winds were fickle, ranging from zero to 15 knots and clocking a good 45 degrees as they did so. I did not deploy the genny, but sailed along under main alone and still managed to get her to plane a few times.

I also found my vexing leaks

I meant to show this off. At the most recent Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival held here in the States at St. Michaels, Maryland. A festival that has been running for 35 years and is the event to go to for small craft on the East coast.. I got this in the Restoration Class.