# Skerry daggerboard finish **URL:** \ **Category:** Builder's Forum\ **Created:** [December 13, 2015, 10:40am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/skerry-daggerboard-finish/43704 "2015-12-13T10:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert\_Whitehurst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Robert\_Whitehurst](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Robert_Whitehurst)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 10:40am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/skerry-daggerboard-finish/43704/1 "2015-12-13T10:40:51Z")
  I am painting my Skerry hull now. Given my inexpert epoxy skills and limited passion for sanding, I decided on flattening the green Brightsides to a semigloss and settling for a "10 foot finish"...don't get closer than 10 feet and it looks pretty good.  After the holidays I'll turn my attention to the spars and foils.  Before I varnish the daggerboard, I'm wondering if I should 'glass the leading edges or entire board for durability.  The one sea trial I did before starting the painting showed me that I will definitely be dragging the tips in shallows and otherwise bumping them around.  This daggerboard is a bit thinner than the stout board on my family's old Sailfish, so I wonder if a reinforcement is in order.  I have plenty of clearance in the board slot for a layer of glass. I'll be varnishing the rudder blade also, but the close clearance on the cheeks means I won't 'glass it.  One thing I've done is enlarge the pivot and made a little compression tube from a piece of heavy wall stainless tubing so the bolt can't squeeze the cheeks together, binding the blade.  I have always used compression tubes on through bolted boom bails and vangs on my aluminum spars to avoid crush forces on them. ---
**Author:** ![Jeffrey\_Hoeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Jeffrey\_Hoeper](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Jeffrey_Hoeper)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/skerry-daggerboard-finish/43704/2 "2015-12-13T11:31:16Z")
I can see your point about the daggerboard and rudder taking a beating. I hung my rudder from some rafters while I was coating it with epoxy and managed to drop it on its tip three times. By the end the tip was crushed enough that I had to reform the last 1/4" with some peanut butter epoxy. So if you don't mind the weight, glassing the daggerboard could be a great idea. (But I'm going to just use mine as is for a while and glass it latter if necessary.) The heavier daggerboard might stay down in the slot a little better. Mine tends to float up and needs to be kept down with a bungie cord. On a related topic, has anyone tried creating a vinyl or rubber or plastic closure for the daggerboard well on the bottom of the boat? One of my sailboards has such a closure and it seems to me that it would help keep the daggerboard down as well as perhaps limiting the slopping of water into the boat when under oars.  ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_Whitehurst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Robert\_Whitehurst](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Robert_Whitehurst)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/skerry-daggerboard-finish/43704/3 "2015-12-13T11:55:33Z")
     I already have shock cord to hold the board, after seeing how it floats up so easily in light wind or a slow tack.  Our Sailfish had a friction fit (maybe a spring if I remember?)  so it didn't do that.   ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Trumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Doug\_Trumper](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Doug_Trumper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/skerry-daggerboard-finish/43704/4 "2015-12-15T04:00:18Z")
   I didn't glass my daggerboard and it has been fine. There are few sandy beaches around here so it has picked up a couple of knocks but has suffered no real damage. I don't have a problem with it floating up, after a chat with John at CLC I made the slot in the daggerboard trunk narrower than the plans said and it has been fine.  I row the Skerry more than sail her so to prevent the wet bum I made a short dagger board to fill the trunk. here it is - you can see the bottom of the boat has met the stony beach a few times :) [img]http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg152/Hugh\_Jar/dummy%20dagger\_zpswyrbjqje.jpg [/img]  ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Trumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Doug\_Trumper](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Doug_Trumper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/skerry-daggerboard-finish/43704/5 "2015-12-15T04:04:51Z")
   Mmmm, it appears I should have done something different to put the photo up and I don't know how to edit the post so I'll try again ![](http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg152/Hugh_Jar/dummy%20dagger_zpswyrbjqje.jpg)