The plans for the boat were drawn around a mercruiser cad drawing of the engine . My main concern in determining the deck height was the height of the exhaust manifolds . The engine actually arrived last fall in a big blue box , and sat in a corner of the shop . I noticed however that the exhaust risers were higher than shown on the   mercruiser  drawing . Seems that they changed the engine without changing the drawing . While working on the boat during the winter , about once or twice a week I'd lift the corner of the big blue box , insert my tape measure , and the over to the boat and measure again . --- It was a relief to to finally physically install the engine and try the hatch on .It's a close fit , but it works .

After about 8 coats of varnish the boat was water sanded and the local sign painter came over to gold leaf on the name and numbers . Gold leaf is an ancient technique that is becoming a dying art with the advent of computer cut stick on vinyl letters . But to me nothing matches the beauty of real gold leaf .   The name is actually painted on with glue , and while the glue is still tacky microscopically thin sheets of 24 karat gold are stuck on . A brush takes of the excess gold leaving the letters in gold on the boat and the floor covered in gold dust .

By doing the gold leaf at this stage it will wind up with four coats of varnish on top of the gold . I've varnished a few boats in the past were the owner had , had the gold leaf applied after the boat was finished . The problem is, that when you put a " freshen up coat " of varnish on a boat you have to sand it first . If the gold is on top it winds up getting sanded off .