Nutshell Pram EXCUSE ME 10 Sep 22 Trunk Plug and Paint

 10 Sep 22:

The sailing version of the Nutshell has a daggerboard, and when in Tow Mode, a plug is recommended for the trunk, unless you like bailing swamped dinghies. Since we made the trunk a tiny bit bigger to repurpose a Sailfish daggerboard, we thought why not find another crusty Sailfish board and use the top part for the plug? So we put out a query to our Sunfish Guru Alan, to see if he had a board with suitable patina in his boat barn, and of course he did. We traded him a gudgeon backer plate and he sent us the top  1/3 of the board, so as to save on shipping costs. There were several emails back and forth with him checking to see if we sent the correct trunk depth measurements, 8 3/4 inches, as this small of trunk wouldn't register in his brain. He left an inch or so on the cut pieces and dropped the package off with USPS (Uncle Sam's Pony Service).

We cleaned it up with water and TILEX, then ran it through the dishwasher...

...okay I didn't really run it through the dishwasher, but if Skipper hadn't been around...

Later we put a sealer coat of TotalBoat Gleam Satin on the plug and the daggerboard.

This damage is common on the older daggerboards, and at one point we'll replace the handles with handles that are bigger, to match the top of the trunk and create an effective plug. Right now this plug is good for show. 

Turned our attention to paint, here is the first coat of dry Kirby paint.

And here is the second coat going on.

Our tips on how to roll and tip paint onto a small boat. You'll have to peek around the shop rag at times and a brief period where the shot is out of focus, but the information is there. If you like, you could send us money to hire a videographer and editor, we accept paypal and patreon...We'd also like to read your suggestions on your favorite materials and methods.

Video: https://youtu.be/kW8g0kBLmRw

Log of EXCUSE ME.