week 6-7

A lot happened these two weeks. In preparation for a new piece of Mahogany keel, I had to chop out the old floor timber aft under the deck. The nut came right off the keel bolt and I was able to tap it through the keel without many problems. The floor came out easily after that. I was able to use the old pieces to trace a pattern and cut out a shiny new timber. Once this was removed I was able punch out the two keel bolts that were still attached in the keel that also went through the stem. Once these were out, there was nothing holding the keel in place since all the other bolts have rusted apart between the keelson and keel.

Using my trust Japanese saw, I cut off a five foot section of split keelson and prepped the remaining surface with my block plane and a sander. The old piece will be helpful to use as a patter for the new one to be put in later. With this piece out, I was better able to assess the broken keel bolt situation, which doesn't seem too drastic. I should be able to punch the remainders of the bolts out from the top while providing support from the bottom.

A couple days this week, Pascal came by and began reefing out the seams under the water line. By the end of the week, we had all the seams cleaned out and most of the 5200 put over then scraped off. You will notice in the photos that some of the seams in between the planks are fairly wide. We're hoping that these will swell up when she's put in the water. We have been thinking about putting her in early to get her to swell up before we put new cotton back in.

There was some small repairs down to the aft hood ends on the STBD side using epoxy and another 100 bronze #12 screws were put in throughout the Port side where the previous fasteners had failed.

I was able to remove and re-make three backing blocks out of new white oak and get them installed as well as begin the repairs to two sections of broken cap rail at the oar lock brackets. One of these repairs was made with epoxy and clamps, whereas the other has been cut out and a new piece will be fit in place.

Eric was busy visiting Beetle, Inc on the mainland and came back with two beautiful Sitka Spruce spars. The mast will fit perfectly in the surf boat step and needs only slight modifications.

Looking ahead, I plan to finish the keelson repairs, scarph in some new floors FWD where they have cracked at the keel, begin sanding the bottom, and ordering lumber for new sole beams.