OK, I meant, "on the underside of the DECK" on question 2.  Yup, I am a newbie, and the terms give me fits....  Now you know  :-)

Jim,

1. Definitely recoat anywhere that you've sanded through to the wood. In addition, for high traffic areas, recoat if the coats have gotten thin, even f the wood is still covered. For really high traffic areas, a layer of 4 oz glass would be the best. I now glass the inside of my hatches, no matter what the plans say, because of an encounter with a catfish...

2.Filling the weave inside is optional, If it's smooth enough not to bother your skin, strictly speaking you don't need any more epoxy. However, if you're going for that beauty contest look and don't care about weight or epoxy consumption, go for it.

Varnish is sort of the same way. It's only strictly needed to protect against sunlight. Areas that will get no sun at all, or only small occasional doses (like hatches) don't actually need it. However, the beauty contestant will have varnish everywhere.

If it's not too late, you may also want to consider the no-hole footbrace mounts. They're stronger than through-bolts, don't have any ugly metal heads showing on your nice wooden hull and completely eliminate a potential source of leaks and discoloration. They do work best installeed before the deck goes on, too.

Have fun,

Laszlo

Ok Laszlo,

 I have to ask about the catfish! How big was it? :)

--

Ogata (eric)

Laszlo mentioned no-hole foot braces before I attach my deck on my S&G Shearwater.  CLC sells a kit for cheap.  I have also seen some pictures of other techniques using simple wood blocks.  How are others doing this?  I can order the CLC kit, but curious about optoins.

Also, Laszlo, was this a barking catfish?  Did you get spined, or just the boat?  Do you have phots...?  :-)

Jim 

How I did my WD12 footbraces:

http://www.morocz.com/BoatBuilding/DuckBuild6.htm

 As for that catfish... The wife & I were out fishing one day and we caught some catfish, 3 I believe. We tucked them into the rear hatch compartment on her CH16LT, paddled back to the dock, loaded the boats on the truck and drove home. Once there we unloaded the boats, opened her hatch and found only 2 fish. I even upended the boat to slide any fish that were in the back forward, and still only 2 fish. So, out came the flashlight and into the hatch went my head. The missing catfish was all the way back at the stern, held in place by his spines which were firmly anchored in the wood.

The only way to get him out was to break his spines, which to this day are still embedded in the wood. Took most of an hour. Since then, every hatch compartment has been glassed, no bare wood anywhere for the catfish to get his spines into.

Laszlo

I used the CLC kit for no-holes in deck foot brace mounting. I just did one side at a time. I figured out where I wanted the foot braces and then glued the "pegs" in with the plastic "keepers" foot brace attached. That way I knew the pegs were the right distance apart and would not slip while drying. The epoxy does not stick to the plastic foot brace, but I may have put some tape on the foot brace rails anyway.

I have built with both styles of foot braces.  Both work well, but I would do the through bolted in my next boat.  Its a pain working on the no-hole style.  I had to take the foot braces out of the kayak  because it was set up for me and my girlfriend wanted paddle the boat.  One was locked solid with sand. Tough getting to that second nut to get the brace out!!  I little dad of silicone and you don't have to worry about the hole leaking around the through bolted.  Just giving you a heads up.

When installing the sliders for my rudder peddle set up I made some plywood blocks and pressed some flange nuts into them so some short allen head bolts could hold the sliders to the hull from the inside and allow the sliders full movement. Mounting them and glassing over the blocks before the deck was joined was my choice bolts thru the hull on a bright finished wood hull sounds like a last resort.

A handle extension on a socket driver makes it easy to get the nuts off and on. No need to punch holes in the hull just for that.

Laszlo