Back to the Planking

With the broken drywall screws removed, I could get back to finishing the planking.  I countersunk all the drill holes with a 3/8" countersink.

Then I started plugging.  I used scrap planking to make the plugs. The material was 3/8" thick and what I found was that the tapered plug cutter couldn't go deep enough into 3/8" stock to get the small end of the taper to fit the hole. I found this out after I made 200+ plugs and was ready to start.  So, instead of making new plugs, I chamfered the ends of each wood plug to get them to fit.  What should have taken a few hours took all day.  Anyway, they all got in.

Here you can see all the plugs inserted.  You can also see the coaming I added around the cockpits and motorwell.

I used the multifunction tool from Harbor Freight to cut the plugs.  This thing worked so slick!  It took about 10 minutes to trim them all flush.

Then it was sanding time.  I rolled the boat out into the driveway to minimize dust in the garage.   I belt sanded with 80 grit to take down the epoxy and rough spots.  I switched to a random orbital sander with 80 grit to get at some smaller spots that needed work. 

The sanding exposed some seams that needed some filling.  I decided to use Famowood filler for these cracks.  Next up is more sanding with the RO sander and finer grits.  I then can stain the coaming and the outer cover boards with mahogany stain.  I am not going to stain the inner planks because that would take too much masking (each maple strip would need to be covered.)  I also think I will get a nice contrast between the outer mahogany boards and the inner boards plus the distinct contrast with the maple.   We'll soon find out.