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Okay, time for THE BIG REVEAL!! After seven months of work, Sha-Sam-Kat is ready for her debut. Some concluding thoughts will follow, but first let's have some pictures. The name Sha-Sam-Kat is a nod to my three great kids, Shannon, Samuel, and Kathleen. I got the lettering from a place that does custom boat decals. Got the left side just a touch too high during the application process, but it's not especially noticeable from a distance. All told, I spent probably around $1600 for the kit, tools, and materials -- more than a mass-produced fiberglass or aluminum canoe will set one back, but far cheaper than comparable custom-built wooden canoes. I might get her out on the water this weekend -- pics to follow if that happens. Some concluding thoughts: Building a boat is a love/hate relationship. There were times when I was all ready to have a go at a second boat and other times when I just wanted the darned thing to finally be finished! Can you say "sanding"? I'm happy with the Chesapeake Light Craft kit -- nothing to complain about in that department. Whatever flaws are visible on the finished item come down solely to me and not the kit. If I had to do it again, I would pick a simpler design for a first effort. Although rated for beginners, the lapstrake planking creates about twice as many seams to tack together and fill. A slab-sided dinghy or skiff would've been easier, but also much heavier. This was my first time working with both epoxy and fiberglass. It sure would have been handy to have those skills before starting construction! If you have building a boat on your bucket list, do it! Don't wait. So, that concludes my 1:1 build. I hope you have enjoyed the journey with me, and I also hope that it has inspired other potential builders. Perhaps we will see other 1:1 builds in the near future. Thanks for tagging along, everybody!

Chris is leading the way in making complex subjects more accessible to modelers of average ability.

Yup, exactly. I already have the paddle. It is longer than a typical kayak paddle on account of the higher freeboard. Neither the canoe nor the paddle are designed with aggressive paddling in mind.

Load capacity is only 250 lbs, so it would have to be a really small MSW member. 😳

Sassafras is designed as a sit-on-bottom canoe. I'm going to assume for now that the designer(s) had a good reason for the lower center of gravity.

I tested one small spot as i suggested in my earlier post. I'm not entirely satisfied -- you can see where the touch-up has been done, even though you might have to squint just right to see it. I may reconsider and do only the spots that really need it.

Zooming right along ... Next task was to glue down the seat. Not easy, since instructions specify a linear distance of exactly 71.375" from the stem to the front of the seat. But of course, one can't measure a straight line down from the stem into the boat, can one? Solution: a primitive plumb bob made from a miniature clothespin hanging from a thread wound onto a piece of scrap wood. Measure from the stem to where the scrap meets each rail to create the base of an isosceles triangle, hang the bob over the center line, and presto! Location of seat identified. The seat consists of two foam pads. The lower pad is hollow as you can see; that allowed me to run a marker around the inside to see where the glue needed to go. The base is glued down with contact cement, then the top layer is glued on top. The hollow construction will allow my tush to settle in comfortably (hopefully). With the inside finished, it was time to flip her over again. Here I've identified spots that need a little touch up and flagged them with bits of tape. These are mostly quite small, so I think a a light scuff and a dab with a good quality brush should do the trick -- I intend to sacrifice one of my white sable modeling brushes for the job. I can easily get another at the local Hobby Lobby. I will test this procedure out on one of the more obscure boo-boos before going at it hammer and tongs. The finish line is in sight!

I assume that most of our members already realize this, but it's worth mentioning that the build is 1:1 because it's not a scale model -- it's a full-size replica of a craft that was designed from the get-go as a pond yacht. Should be interesting -- good luck!

Congratulations -- a very attractive finished product! The Spanish kits do tend to have nicely contrasting woods that look great sans paint. Your photos look good from here -- don't forget to create a gallery album. Cheers!

Did I mention that both my parents grew up in Stockton? High school sweethearts at Franklin, class of '59. My mom lived between Cherokee Lane and Waterloo Road, and dad lived on the other side of 99 off Walker Lane. One grandpa worked at Sharpe Army Depot, the other was a night watchman at Rough and Ready Island. Still have family in the area.

The great thing about wood is that you can nearly always fix boo-boos like that one.

Moving forward. I decided that four coats of varnish were enough, not because four coats made everything pretty, but because I felt like my sanding between coats (scuffing, really) was making things look worse, not better. So I moved on to hardware and fittings. 😮 First up: drain plugs. Holes were cut with a 1" router bit, then plugs glued in with marine adhesive. Set the screws with adhesive, too. For tie-down points, I settled on inexpensive eye screws. These are also set with marine adhesive. The screws are set at the points where the inner rails join together (not visible in this shot); there's a healthy amount of wood and epoxy for the screws to bite into. Next up was the thwart. You know, I totally forgot to give consideration to which end should be the front -- I just got carried away installing stuff. Oh, well -- now it is carved in stone, er, wood. Each end of the thwart is attached to the underside of a rail by two countersunk screws. I bought myself a small ratchet driver for this job -- worked great, and it came in a set along with one of every type of driver bit known to man. Lastly for today was attaching the back rest. It is secured to the thwart by a bungee cord and tensioned by two adjustable web belts. We are getting close now!

Lookin' good so far.

Excellent work, Dave! Congratulations!

Don Dressel of the Ship Modelers Association spent ten years bashing this kit -- ended up using only the profile former and bulkheads and pretty much nothing else. Spectacular model, though, even out-of-the-box.

Lovely work, Tomek, and a fine addition to your catalog!

Nice work, James! You must have done all this before the pub visit with Shirley? 😉

Just finished sanding and putting on varnish coat #2. It's quite warm today, and the varnish gets tack-dry quickly, which I discovered when I carelessly rested an arm on one of the varnished decks (the one not pictured, obviously). Oops. Good thing it wasn't the finish coat. And stop with the name guesses -- you guys aren't even close! 😝

It fits on a canoe.

She does! And I have already ordered the vinyl lettering for it, but the name shall not be disclosed until the final Big Reveal. 😯

That is the plan.

Great choice! I built their cannon yawl kit and loved the way the kit went together just right.

First coat of varnish on the topside woodwork.

A bit of speculation on my part -- BlueJacket have a good reputation for fidelity to original subjects, and Dusek have been updating the old Mamoli kits as they re-release them, so either of those two is likely to be a good choice.

Hi, Jeff. I merged your update with your original build log. You can add updates in the reply window. I think the work you're doing will produce a much better result than a straightforward out-of-box build. Cheers!