Blast. If it isn't one thing, it's another. I realized I forgot to drill holes through the end-pours for grab-loops. So, I purchased a 7/16 inch bit and set about doing that. I say "blast" because this means I probably need to put some epoxy on the bare wood. So, here we see the hole I drilled in the bow. Turned out just like I expected.

Double-Blast! When drilling through the wood for grab-loop #2, I drilled into air. But I was within the end-pour. There was a pocket of air at the tip. I don't quite know how that happened. But it sucks, to quote our Vice-President, "big time."

So, it's time for problem-solving mode. Nothing in the book about this. I lashed the 'yak against the stands sideways, and did my best to get the back tip level. I plugged the hole on the bottom side (strapping tape, leftover strip, more strapping tape) and proceeded to mix up some epoxy. Oh, yeah, the other problem -- I'm just about out of epoxy and really don't want to have to buy even more. I was hoping to simply be done with epoxy after my last skim coat. I mean, I was planning on a coat of varnish today. No such luck.

Another pic, lengthwise. It's a nice lookin' boat, huh? Yeah, I think so too -- I just want to paddle it sometime soon!

So, the plan is to tape up the hole on the backside (still trying to figure out how come I finished drilling it after I hit air ... sigh) and then fill with more epoxy. I've got some resin dust as well as some silica/microballoon mix to use as thickener. I'm sacrificing a funnel to the cause to get the stuff in the hole. Here I've taped everything up, taped some plastic onto the boat as well to try and keep the epoxy as clean as possible. This photo has some filler in the hole already. I didn't know if the resin would expand or contract, so I didn't want to fill it up all the way. The bad news: it contracts (which makes sense). The other bad news (which I already knew): this stuff gets hot when it cures. I had to do something to keep the thing cold. So I taped some ice in a ziploc bag to the bottom, then I got some chili base (I had too much last time I made chili, and froze it) to the top part. Hey, I was planning on making chili again soon, I just get to do it a little sooner now. I guess there's a silver lining in every cloud after all.

So, after the first pour cured a little, I popped more on top of it, filling the hole. Sure, great, I'm done, right? well, no -- this stuff contracts, remember? That means my plan is to re-drill the hole (from this side) on Monday. Then tape up this side (the side I poured from initially), and then flip the boat. Then make some runnier resin (hopefully not too much -- I really am about out!) and dump it in from the filled side, filling the hole (again) so that when it contracts the bottom will still be full. Got it? Cross your fingers. If this doesn't end up working, I have no idea what to do apart from cutting off the back end and slapping a rudder on.