Stop the Clock...I'm Finally Finished

After 886 days, I finally finished my Grain Waterlog kit. In that time, we had a child (Charlie), I found a new position, and we moved closer to the ocean.

Some observations and lessons learned....

* If I can build a Grain kit (albeit slowly), anyone can.
* If there was a way to make a mistake, I found it. Several small, less obvious mistakes and a few that were more obvious.
* You may never have enough clamps; seriously, I now own 60 3" clamps, 40 2" clamps, 6 bar clamps, 8 feet of PVC clamps, and several others. Does anyone need clamps?
* The manual is surprisingly helpful and clearly explains the process as well as potential pitfalls - kudos to the author(s).
* Mike LaVecchia at Grain is awesome - he answered numerous questions via email and bailed me out of a couple tight spots with his helpful advice. He always had time for my questions and responded really quickly.
* Take it easy when removing wood from your board, whether that be with a spoke shave, hand plane or sanding - once it's gone, you can't replace it. I ended up adding a nose block because I took off too much wood where the deck met the rails near the nose.
* Glassing the board was easier than I thought; sanding it was not. I eventually broke down and bought a sander/polisher. Of all the steps in the process, I was most anxious about glassing the board. Again, great directions in the manual, and once it was done, you could really see what the board was going to look like.   
* Be as neat as possible as you build your board, it will save you time and aggravation in the end.
* When it's all said and done, you'll spend way more than the cost a new board (maybe even two), but the satisfaction of making your own can't be measured in money.
* Be careful, these things are addictive. Half way through the Waterlog, I bought a Sapling kit. 
* There are quite a few other Grain build blogs out there and they're all helpful and inspiring.
* One unexpected benefit of the project was that many of my neighbors, whom I did not previously know, stopped by my garage as I was building the board to check it out. I got to know them all much better thanks to the project.

I included a few pictures of the finished board and my family. Each of them helped in their own way and I'm thankful for their contributions, support and patience.

The deck



The bottom

The bottom again

The deck again

Malia helped with the polishing



Charlie





Charlie sitting on the board

Vanessa with Charlie

Vanessa showing Charlie how to walk to the nose

Malia still polishing

There are only two things left to do: wax it and ride it. 

If anyone building a Grain kit has questions about my project, I would be happy to answer them.