6/25/05: Major surgery and business have kept be away from the project since late December '04. Finally found source of white oak in 12' plus lengths. Laminated the motor stringers and keel. Have sealed all frames and stringers with a marine sealer and will follow up with several coats of marine varnish. I decided against the epoxy route because of the additional time and mess. Plus, the boat will not be in the water nor outside except when in use. My major dilemma remains the drive train - engine, transmission, v-drive, prop shaft, etc. Based on comments in the Boat Builder's Connection I elected to shift my attention to building a mockup of the last four frames and transom (only 4feet wide). I intend to set up the entire drive train, engine to propeller, on the mockup and, after the Thunderbolt hull is completed, make the transfer with known measurements and locations. Hopefully, I can limit most of my mistakes to the mockup.

8-18-05: After ordering a V-drive, struts and associated hardware from Glen-L, I tackled a major concern, how to drill a 1 3/8" hole through the keel for the propeller shaft at exactly 12 degrees at precisely the correct location. I am working on a mockup of the Thunderbolt before moving on the the finished boat. I located and mounted the propeller shaft strut and the whip strut. (Note - I moved the location forward 1/2" from the drawings so that the bolts on the shaft strut would clear frame number one. There is a warning in the instructions on page 12, figure 30 - but it is frame 1, not frame 2, that's the potential problem.) I bored out the base of a 1 3/8" hole saw to 3/4", reversed an old 1" propeller shaft, inserted shaft through the strut and whip strut backwards, attached the hole saw with a 3/4" nut and drilled. Actual drilling time was probably less than 5 minutes. Cleaning out the plugs to advance the hole saw took another 55 minutes. Next step is to purchase the engine and transmission followed by fabricating mounts and trying to have every thing line up on the mockup. Slow but sure.