Sorry, due to a blog mistake, this didn't appear to the world when it should have.

Yes, I'm still alive... I know it seems like I fell off the planet, but we're still out here.

4 years ago today I ordered the plans for my Mark V 28 and started down an interesting path. Good progress for a while, then had to take some time off for other pieces of life for a bit.

Anyway, thanks to all that have hung around and watched this and look forward to seeing where it takes me next. Next item on the agenda is getting the trailer finished up and the boat on the trailer, so maybe it can find its way to water.

Not a bad looking boat if I do say so myself :-) read more »

Atlanta had snow... again. Not the norm.

Now we have an inch of pretty much solid ice on things. It's pretty, and been fun to play in, but not driving today.

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Just as a quick update for those following along... the cabinet did flatten out after just a couple of days in the heat, so countertops do bend in heat :-)

Dane and I spent a little while and got the cabinet top set in place in the boat. Originally our bathroom had an 8' long countertop with a sink at each end. It's been sitting on our front porch (yeah, that looked really good) and needed to be moved. read more »

Remember that great idea I had of using the cabinets we removed from our bathroom as the galley cabinets in the boat?

And then I figured out that maybe that wasn't such a good idea, because they wouldn't fit through the door? read more »

Well, mentioned the other day that I should now be set with cabinets for the galley area.

Found a sticking point... they are too big to go through either cabin door. I guess I'll have to take them apart and reassemble them.

Note for boatbuilders... if you intend to use pre-fab units of any sort, not only do you need to make sure the boat will go out the garage door, but also that the cabinets, etc. will go IN the boat door :-)

On a positive note, the tile in the bathroom (in the house) came out nice. I've never laid tile before, so I'm impressed :-)

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Well, we're remodeling our master bath in the house (I really needed another project, but...).

Anyway, this will have the benefit of freeing up some old cabinets, and even a countertop, that I am planning to use for the kitchen/galley area in the boat... I'll try to grab some pictures, but I think using a pre-built cabinet with drawers, hardware, etc. sounds like just the thing :-)

Well, I don't think the front cabin roof will be sagging nearly as much after today.

Dane and I got out in the VERY hot afternoon sun and built two "trusses" of curved plywood with a sidepiece. The plans have a design for the correct roof curve, so we used that, jacked things up put them in place.

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Sorry I haven't been around much recently... yet again life intrudes in the best laid plans. Regretfully, our family has been dealing with the illness and apparent imminent death of a close relative, so I may yet be on and off a bit.

Did manage to go clean up a bit and look over the boat this afternoon. Noticed one worrisome thing... the roof is sagging.

The area near the front and the rear of the cabin where the front and rear walls, the head and the "kitchen bulkhead" are available to provide some support, its fine, but in the center of the longer span of the cabin, its sagging. read more »

Got some paint on the sole... it still amazes me how a simple coat of paint improves the looks.

Had some good porch and floor paint that we had used around the house that has proven to be very durable. I will probably add a layer of "carpet" or covering of some kind for the barefoot crowd, but wanted some protection on the wood (and it is pretty servicable with just paint). I rarely go barefoot on or off a boat, so being "soft" doesn't really matter to me.  read more »