1956 Collegian restoration

 I've actually been fairly sick for about 18 months, I had an auto immune reaction to the Covid vaccine and it made for a miserable year and a half.  It confounded 3 doctors as they performed just about every test under the sun to get me diagnosed.  In the end they feel that as my immunity started to wane my symptoms did also and over the last 3-4 weeks I'm really feeling good again.  Started working out regularly and am getting back on a ski this weekend,  it's been too long.

The other issue due to a lot of factors is we sold Action Screen Print back in January of this year.  That process was exhausting when not at 100% but we got it done and couldn't be happier.  We are both still working at the business but my last day of full time work will be July 20th.  

The boat hasn't moved in quite a while, I did manage to get the bottom painted and it will get flipped over as soon as I "retire".

This is where it's at right now.

Thank you sir,  I am slowing down a little bit these days but I am enjoying this project quite a bit.

Got one spray rail laminated today.  Only had enough clamps to do one side so we may get the other done tomorrow.  Decided to wrap it in wax paper, should make cleanup easier and certainly kept us from making a mess.

 Happy New Year Everyone!

Dry Fit

Glue up

Also plan to laminate the forward spray rails now while the chines are open and clamping is available.  Probably do that over the weekend.

Material problems still exist.  A 4x8 sheet of marine fir plywood that cost $65 a year ago now sells for $135,  almost no availability of stainless wood screws.  5200 adhesive is almost non existent too, I was able to find some in white which will be fine for the bottom since it gets painted but there is little to no Mahogany color left and where I did find it they want far more than it's worth.  Luckily I purchased most of my supplies last year but going forward might be interesting.

Hoping by the fall the material shortages start to ease up because everything I've needed has been quite a task to source.  I had to go with black 5200 because there is no Mahogany at my usual sources,  I can find it elsewhere but they want twice the normal price for it.   Same goes for screws.  We've been struggling with getting just about everything we sell at work also,  That's why we didn't run our typical sweatshirt sale on the CCfan webstore this spring, It's been very difficult to fill orders.  Reports show late summer we should start seeing inventory levels come back up but it has been a challenge.

Only thing I may do over the summer is get the motor home and dig into it to see where it stands, compression check, manifolds, etc.  I want to have it somewhat ready so when I flip the boat back over once the bottom is done I can test fit it before the sides go on.  Learned a lesson with the Hurricane so some mechanical work will get done before I close the hull up.

It sure looks good. I've never heard anything bad about their lumber. 

Are you still getting lumber from LL Johnson?

I had to get Dana one so she'd stop driving mine!  155,000 miles and still running like new.  Her's is a gasser because the eco Diesel is no longer available in the JGC. Shame because it is without question the best vehicle I have ever owned.  Lot's of hate for the Eco diesel in the states but I must be the exception.

All kinds of brands like Festool, Bosch, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Black&Decker, Makita...

I bought a brand called Parkside, made in Germany. These are good quality hobbygrade electric tools. Have made quite some projects with these tools and they never failed me. (I did look at tons of YouTube reviews on them before purchasing them). 

The good thing is that they cost a fraction of expensive brands like Dewalt or Festool.

And I am a hobbyist, not a professional carpenter 

I try to limit my moneypit to the boat and the model aircrafts 

Next up will be to fair the chines in, fit and install the outer chines, CPES and paint the framework and then I'm going to try to get the inner plywood bottom fitted and installed.  Slightly optimistic but I've got a full head of steam so I'm going to keep at it.