"Off with her Head!"

Time for the ceremonial first cut - Would the person responsible for the derelict white power boat please step forward... It's a funny feeling when you actually hold a saw over any boat with malicious intent. We're about to make every boat owner cringe - literally cut the top off this boat. Once we do, there's no turning back. TJ and I comfort ourselves by agreeing, "well, we can't make it any worse!" So here goes nothing - we grit our teeth and plunge in.

See, it's not so bad. Just like a friendly dentist visit ;)




Our basic plan with this cut is to leave a flange of at least 4-5 inches of remaining deck. The flange will provide area needed to tab the new fiberglass deck into. Check out the West System repair video to get an idea of basic fiberglass repair principles...




We will return to the flange of remaining deck at a later date to prep it for laying in the new deck.




The Sawzall rough cut through the old polyester fiberglass deck handily. This reciprocating saw is a great cut anything tool but beware - if you plan on keeping stringers and all intact for re-use, be careful in the depth of cut. Or you may unwittingly cut through stringers and other structural members unseen. It was challenging to contour the 90 degree corners with a Sawzall. If you plan on re-using the deck later, a jig saw will make a consistent, cleaner cut at a controlled depth, thus it may be a better choice.