Perfect Sailboat - Northeastern Dory from CLCBoats

Phase 14: Sanding, Sanding, and More Sanding

If I had a nickel for every time I sanded this boat, I'd be a wealthy man. I'm joking, but seriously, sanding, re-sanding, and sanding again is the most time-consuming and common thing you'll do in boat building.

My honest recommendation: put on some earbuds and noise protection over them, and just settle into it. You need to get comfortable with sanding, because you'll probably spend forty to fifty hours or more on it, especially if you're a perfectionist.

I'm showing a few photos of the exterior sanding here, including some of the imperfections, on purpose. It's okay to make mistakes. The way you fix them is more sanding. For instance, if you have a low spot, one way to fix it is to add more epoxy and re-sand it down to a level surface later.

A couple of helpful hints: if you're planning to paint the exterior, TotalBoat sells a specific product that builds up layers on the hull so the final coat looks much smoother. I forget the exact name, but I used it. Even so, nothing replaces hours spent sanding and bringing everything down to a smooth, flat surface.

Phase 15: Painting the Exterior

On this next step, I painted the exterior. It took two or three coats before I got it completely level, sanding lightly between each one. I went with a blue paint from TotalBoat, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Phase 16: Building the Inwales

Next, I built out the inwales, and I chose to go with spaced inwales. I think they look much better on the finished boat, as you can see here. That said, they're a ton of work. This option probably added an extra ten to fifteen hours of work.

If you have the time, I'd say go for it. It doesn't add much extra cost, just a lot of extra time sanding and epoxying.

Lastly you can see I am fitting the rudder for hardware assembly.

Finishing touches and rigging the sailing gear. As you can see in these photos the boat is done and ready to launch!