Ta DA! She's finished! My new, Corbie 5 wooden IOM RC sailboat is completed. Wood hulls look so much more classic than fiberglass. They may be a bit slower, but they look great. For my first IOM I think it turned out well! Might have to make another one in the future though to fix all the mistakes I've made on this one...  And I just had her maiden voyage. It went much better than expected given the confusion I've had with the rig. The helm was almost perfectly neutral and I can easily adjust for a slight weather helm if desired. She floated, to my eye, right on her waterline. There was at most 1 knot of wind in the gusts and hardly any otherwise, but she still went very well. It was a very exciting and trouble-free maiden voyage! And afterwards the inside was bone dry... not a drop. I must thank Ian Dundas of Scotland for all of his incredible help and advice throughout this project! His patience in putting up with my incessant questions was endless. Thank you Ia

I waited 48 hours after my second coat of Klass Kote clear 2-part urethane , and then tonight wet sanded starting with 1000 grit and worked up through 2000 grit, and polished the hull with three different grades of compounds and polishes using my Porter Cable 7424 polisher. It turned out really well. It'll look even better with a coat of wax on the topsides. It still doesn't have the depth of shine that I'd like, but it's really close. I might even do the old scale modelers trick of spraying some Future floor polish on the topsides. It would really shine it up.  I still can see a few pits and dips, but whatever... it's a hobby not a profession. I'm getting better but am a ways away from the guys who can get those deep, deep shines. Maybe someday. To totally eliminate the small pits and remaining orange peel, I'd have to sand much more aggressively, and then risk cutting through the clear coat. Someday I'll try harder, but when I

Today I wet sanded with 800 grit and then sprayed on a second round of 2-part clear urethane. It looks better regarding the underlying scratches, but I'm still getting some orange peel. I'll see how it looks when dry and then decide if I'll wet sand and polish the whole hull or just leave it as is. Aloha!

I've decided to forego any and all varnish for the Corbie 5 IOM sailboat. It would weigh too much and take too much time. Instead I'm spraying Klass Kote Clear Urethane . It'll give a nice shine, good depth, and it has UV blockers. I've only used this product once before and didn't get great results. This time I have a much better gun and so far it's clearly (pun intended) better. Still, it's not perfect. I'll let it dry overnight and then sand it with some 800 in spots and 1500 overall, and then give it another round of coats. The pictures look good, but in person you can see at least two runs and maybe a sag. There are also some spots that just aren't that glossy. I think I had my gun at too high of a pressure (50psi) and I'll lower it to 35 psi tomorrow. Should be better. Overall it's much better with this new gun, but it's still tricky to get a really nice coverage. Ugh! But to be fair, it's already looking be