BY Lorne Swarthout

Over the last month the VCB boatbuilders have been busy working on all the inside details of our new gig. Installing the fore and aft decks which have a gentle camber (thank you, Marcel) was a challenge. The floors are in and the floorboards (which sit on the floors) are half finished. The thole pin blocks (which will hold the rowing pins) are painted and oiled. The stretchers (which will hold the dowel you push against when you row) are fabricated and ready for paint. The special cox seat with its mounting brackets is complete. 

And the final varnishing is under way. The fiberglass on the hull needs several coats of varnish to protect it from the sun’s UV rays. Several means four or five. Once we finish coating the inside we will flip the gig over and varnish the outside.

We are down to punchlist items like a mount for the flag, a holder for the drain plug, the mast step, the rudder mounts. Also…names of everyone who had a hand in the building of this gig: to be written on the bottom of the cox seat for the enlightenment of future generations who ask, “Who was responsible for this beautiful boat?”

If for any reason you don’t feel like rowing on Sunday afternoon, join us in back for some finishing-touches boatbuilding.Boatbuilding