Getting a Handle on the BSI

Having successfully bagged the hatch lid last week, I filled the cloth grain with two coats of 105/207 and 410 using the standard technique.  After sanding for awhile, I was pleased to find the thickness just barely shy, and overall dimensions very close to perfect.  The next step was to shuttle it back to the office so I could cut the handle rebates, and the groove for the seal on the makeshift CNC router.  While a little tedious as I can only mill G10 in super shallow passes, and with a little luck, I was able to tease out a pretty good result.  Once the handles were in, I assembled the hinges, and burned at least an  entire evening to pattern, cut, and grind the pan in the boat to accept the aluminum ring.  After some sweat, I managed to get it to nest down nicely.

Here are a few pics of the process, and the results.  Note that I just temporarily installed a couple small bits of the final water seal as placeholders to check alignment until after I prime and paint.