Bottom and footings

Once the gunwhales were tied into the bulkheads at either end I was happy with the shape and decided that it was time to start replacing the bottom. To do this I have lifted the back end of the boat high enough to cut out the bottom 18" drop it down and throw it away. The quickest way to do this job is to use a Stihl saw, but after a few hours of cutting it doesn't feel that easy. I am replacing the base plate with 12mm steel as alot of ballast will be needed once the boat is finished to get it sitting right in the water. The plates have come in a standard size of 2mx4m, this means that i will be cutting out 4m sections of the bottom starting at the back, taking care not to have any joints in the engine room as i will be building integral fuel tanks either side of the engine. Once the old section of bottom was removed i rolled the first plate into position, lifted it on chain blocks and fixed it in the right place.

The swim on Oakley is in remarkably good condition and i have only had to cut out the chime angle. this means only 2" of footings need to be fabricated for the back 8'. I have chosen 8 mm steel for this job as it is closer to the original size of 5/16" but it does make it more difficult to fit these pieces as they do not bend so easy.

Once this is done I am replacing from just above the bottom guard, so the next two plates should be pretty straight forward, leaving me with the front section to do at the end of the week, all going to plan.