I glued my first side skin on, it went on nicely, apart from not being big enough! After making card templates, I never thought this would happen. Ah well, it was only about 3mm short of the top edge at the bow, and tapering to nothing about 4 or 5 inches back, I have added a small piece of ply to replace the missing bit, on both sides..... Yes the other side was missing a bit too! This is the result of trying to get as much as possible from my 3 sheets of lightply.
Ah well, I was planning on painting the hull anyway as I dont have any varnish left.
Anyway, before I glued the 2nd side skin on, I took the opportunity to dry fit my propshaft, coupling, motor and mount so I could line them up from above and from the side before the skin went on. I superglued my mount in place and continued with fitting the second side. Resorting to fibreglass packing tape to hold the sheet to the extreme curve at the bow. Clamps and some masking tape too. I am now happy to report that my boat is skinned. 😁
There is still a lot of sanding to be done, and its tough. I am now preparing for deck fitting, sanding the upper edges of the chine rail and side skin. This is 3/8ths wide ply now, so it is heavy going.
There was also the issue of the jigsaw damage to my bottom hull skin, the 2 dents from the blade had a small piece of balsa forced as deep as possible and trimmed off flush with a scalpel then a spot of superglue and sanded while still setting to avoid having a hard lump to sand later.
The long dents left by the jigsaw soleplate were soaked with water then ironed over with a covering iron, amazing fix, the dents have vanished, it took two attempts on the deepest bits but very good fix. I managed to just scuff the surface with my 4 inch belt sander in a couple of places while sanding the excess sheeting off, so I have replaced my dents with some scuffs now!. Using full sized tools on models requires extra care. But it does get the job done quicker. Photo shows jigsaw dents repaired and my sander scuffs.
One more thing... I managed to snap the cockpit window frame off. I have been careful, but turning the hull about while glueing the skins and sanding makes the windows vulnerable to damage.
If I was to make another Sea Rover, I would leave cutting out the cockpit windows until after the hull was finished, this would give them more strength until the windscreen construction was completed.
A few mistakes on this build, none of them serious, I do make mistakes sometimes, they are part of the learning process.
I checked my friend's side skins to see if they were missing a bit in the same place, nope, his is fine, close, but it will just make it. As he has only one bottom skin on so far, I can only check one side skin, I will check the other once the 2nd bottom skin is on.
If I had more lightply, I would have cut new side skins that were bigger.
Next time I make card templates for skinning, I will be especially careful to give them a bit extra.
Very happy with how both boats are turning out, it is interesting to see how a raw beginner to boat building manages with a decent sized wood build. He is doing pretty well, with some pointers from me and learning from my mistakes.........
He wont be trying a jigsaw for removing excess sheeting, and he is being extra careful with his windows.