The sheers and chines have been replaced. The newer cypress I had used for them had warped and twisted so badly after installation that they were unusable. I finally finished removing them and replacing them with antique cypress and they are much better!

I spent a heckuva lot of time on my back on the ground with a hand plane shaping the sheers (the long pieces running from front to back at the bottom of the photo, which is actually the top of the boat). After a couple hours of it, I said to myself, "This is stupid," and I got in the truck and went purchase an inexpensive portable electric hand planer. I got more done in the next hour with that thing that I would have all weekend by hand. There are times, my friends, when the elite, magical, old-worldly ambiance of "hand-crafted" ain't worth two hoots nor a holler, and I'll take power tools any day!

The keel was shaped, as you can see at the forward frame, to bevel in. There is also a slight bevel beginning way back at the transom. This was done with a 20" jointer hand plane, a Stanley No. 5 plane, and a block plane, not to mention LOTS of sandpaper! Note the mahogany dowels covering the screws.

New view looking forward. I'm much happier now.

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