So.... There were bumper guards on the rear corners and prow of the gunnels attached by bolts and rivets. Pulled the bolts and water gushed out. "This can't be good" So I cut into the bottom of the gunnels (I repaired the tops earlier but never hit the wood. The tops are a cap over an inner core) and this is what I found:

Major rot.

Ripped it out.

And cleaned it up (Not pictured, but I sanded out all the wood remnants and vacuumed it out). So worried, I also drilled a few holes into the transom to check for rot..... I didn't find any. The question now is to replace the rotten wood with new wood and a couple layers of glass, or pour in some 2 part foam, shape and glass?

It's Electric!

Bracket for electric starter found, acquired and installed. Next up, starter motor, solenoid and starter switch.

From the "He can be taught" department

In going from this:

with these:

to this: (5 hours with the power DA sander and 80 grit)

And this: (45 minutes with a sharp paint scraper and elbow grease)

It pays to note that that the old school way of elbow grease and a sharp scraper is 1o times faster than the power tool, despite my affinity for power tools.

Tarpon

Little L and I went tarpon fishing in Joao Pessoa (known as Jampa). Fishing was great! How many 7 year olds can claim to have caught a tarpon on a fly?

Flies:

Scenery:

Fish:

Had a couple like this, that either busted the line or the hook:

The Rio Paraiba is a first class tarpon fishery 15 minutes outside of a major metro area (that I had been visiting for the last 10 years without realizing there were tarpon).

Hotels and food are very affordable, as you are right in a big town there is great infrastructure and amenities (airports, hotels, restaurants, shopping, other activities) . If you are interested in fishing tarpon in Brazil, get a hold of me and I will put you in contact with a great guide.

Make it pretty.

Gunnels are pretty well done. I'll post more pics later. Now it is time to make it pretty. I pulled the motor off and put it on a stand I built:

You can just make out the ghost flames. Put it in water, made sure it was running, and deiced it will need a tune up shortly. Pulled the boat off of the trailer, and flipped it over (by myself). Had the wife help get it on the saw horses. Man it is ugly.

Spent 2 hours this morning sanding it. Under the black anti-foul paint is a couple dozen mollusks of some kind. Somebody in the past didn't clean it up. Just painted over it. Must have been kept in the water for a while.