Thanks to all for your input. Some off topic but all informative and
welcome! Got the SeaKayaker article and it is a great place to start
which will happen this weekend. I joined a gym with the wife and
maybe we will influence each other; thankfully there is no contract to
the gym! They do have great equipment and for $19 a month, I need to
take advantage of it. They don't have a pool but I have one of those
so when spring comes around.... I am also going to try and find
someone in the Atlanta area that knows how to roll and teach and see
if they would like to come over and show me how to roll this boat in
my pool or teach a class in my pool or have a BBQ and rolling class
or something.

I am building a Cheasapeake 17. A very good learning experience. I
had hoped to keep a natural wood finish throughout but due to a little
too much ambitious sanding of the chines on the hull resulting in
irregular plywood plywood layer patterns showing, it will be a dark
navy blue or emerald green (haven't decided yet). The deck however
will be left natural and varnished. It should still be a pretty boat.
The next boat (BIG GRIN!!) will be a stripper hybrid! My wife will
probably get this one since she will not be going as often as I will
be (this boat doesn't have an outboard and a head! grin!) Since this
is a "learning boat", it is going to have a 750 gal per hour bilge
pump for the cockpit (draws 2 amps) running off a small 12 volt 7.5
amp gel cell in the aft storage area. I will also carry a manual
pump of course. It looks like the weight of the boat is going to
come in somewhere around 48-50 lbs before decklines, batteries, GPS,
solarpanels, radardome, sonar,etc. grin! my wife thinks I am a geek
for some reason!.

Actually, I have been looking at some rollup solarpanels for charging
batteries, since I have a handheld GPS with nautical charts for the
Georgia coast and area lakes, and a VHF radio as well as cell phone.
But all this I guess is for another topic.
Again, thanks for all the help and advice. I will keep you all posted
on progress on the boat, If anyone needs advice on maps or
mapmaking, please let me know. I have been making topo maps for about
20 years now.

Steve

Steven Laughmiller
S&S Mapping

770-722-8459