I started the decoupage work on the hatch linings today with Scott’s images from Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Pretty wild. Meanwhile Jim began lofting the rib sets for the new Betty Boop replica. It takes a while to get the hang of that, but we should be done drawing pictures ready to fire up the rib factory tomorrow.

After dinner we bolted the left-side gunwales to the Rio Rojo and used, as far as I know, the last four-inch, oval-headed, slotted, brass machine screws in the Milky Way. * sigh* They were my favorite fastener for gunwales, but I’ve been searching for more for about three years and no one makes them anymore. I did find one outfit who volunteered to make them for me if I ordered 2500 of them, and about a buck-and-a-half apiece. That’s enough for about fifty Briggs boats–a few more than I think I can rationalize right now. Fortunately I have exactly enough for this one last build.