With the hull painted, my next step was to install the skid strips on the bottoms of the skegs. I ordered UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight) plastic from US Plastic Corp. I got two 1 1/2" wide10-foot lengths cut at the 7 foot mark for shipping. I ripped them in the table saw to 1 1/4" wide, cut them to final length, rounded the ends, and routed a roundover on the edges.
I then drilled and countersunk screw holes in the plastic to match up with the prepared spacing on the skegs. I drilled into the skegs in the places where I had previously overdrilled and filled with thickened epoxy. I first put a tape flag on my drill bit so I would not go too deep and drilled pilot holes for the screws.
I then countersunk the skeg a bit, because I found when driving the screws in I would auger up a little epoxy and then the skid strip wouldn't lie flat on the skeg. On the second skeg I used a bit bigger drill and things went better. You need to use a larger pilot drill than you would if driving the screw into wood.
The Weldon countersink shown here works great for any kind of counter sinking -- much superior to the other style that is star-shaped on the end and always tend to chatter.
Here's the little countersink in the skeg.
Before screwing down the skid strip I prebent the most severe curve, holding it in place with a couple small clamps.
Screwing the strip on then went smoothly.
I continued to drive in all the screws.
Here's a closer shot of the front end.
And an overall view. I think it looks nice.
