Sanding planks at transom

February 19, 2011
The planks needed to be trimmed back to be flush with the transom.  I used a plane that I inherited from my father; I wonder if he got it from his father.  I'm of an age where I feel the connection with past generations, and tangible things like tools make the connection more real to me.  Anyway, I was pleased that it was in working order, but I really need to work on sharping the blade.  I bought a water stone, but now I need to put it to use.  After planing away the extra wood that extended beyond the transom, I used the sander to smooth everything out.  Although I was careful not to sand too heavily on the transom itself, I don't know if I'll be able to varnish it.  It may be too marked up and have too much epoxy showing to use varnish--maybe the whole thing will have to be painted. I also still have a little slot where the bottom piece connects to the transom that I'll have to fill with epoxy.

The transom after I sanded the planks down to be flush with it.

I also sanded the stem and tried to round off the edges.  One of the planks doesn't seem quite right; it sticks up more than the others.  I may need to sand it down in order to put on the fiberglass. 

The entire edge along the bottom needed to be rounded off by sanding.