In our last segment, we cleared out all the belowdeck flotation foam. This boat looks and feels lighter and drier. It was noticeable when we jumped aboard. The weight loss changed the trailer balance enough that we had to re-adjust the poppets bracing the stern. Now it's time to address the transom.
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Our goal in this next phase is to cut out the wet core in the transom. We need to leave the outside skin intact to keep the hull shape - draw upon those old frog dissections skills from science class. After some discussion, we decided to also cut out the corner fish boxes. The old style boxes aren't really big enough to store anything, they're mostly shinbusters eating up valuable deck space. Admittedly, the heavy layup of the fish boxes added tremendous structural strength to the transom. But the stress cracks in the corner joint needed addressing regardless. We'll build a little extra reinforcing to make up for the loss, but the end result will be alot more usable deck space.
For precise cutting we used a Fein Multimaster with HSS Saw Blade. This tool is great for digging in odd corners and angles. But for this task it lacked the muscle to power through efficiently. The beefier Fein Supercut might have torqued through this material easier. Some advantages of the multimaster you just can't beat- it is light, easy to use, and will do things other tools simply cannot. But this isn't one of em.
After what seemed an eternity of carving out the score lines to pop off the inside laminate, the blade of the tool heated up too much and shattered. Perhaps there is a better tool for this work.
We grabbed a tool with muscle. The Dynabrade Cut-Off Wheel cuts a 1000 times faster than any reciprocating tool, but still is easy to control. The shape is more challenging to squeeze into contours, and impossible in some tight spots. The cutoff wheel also requires a compressor with a little bit more umph to power her (21 SCFM max). Because our compressor was a little shy on airflow, the tool would bog down once the cutting edge was buried. Frustrating, but still much faster than the multimaster alone for this job.
With our cuts completed and the March night mercury dropping to hand numbing levels, we retired for the week.
The following Wednesday we began the most tedious of all tasks- removing the inner fiberglass skin and every last bit of plywood bonded to the outside skin. The inside laminate came away without too much effort. Removing the newly exposed plywood was tougher, much tougher. The wringing wet plywood was still heavy and dense. The plywood must have been a good marine grade to have held up intact while soaking wet all these years. The challenge was to remove the wood without destroying the outside of the hull. We set to the task with chisels, pry bars and some heavy hammers. But prying would certainly crack through the outside of the transom. Instead we chiseled and chipped away. It took what seemed an eternity, like "sailing from tedium to apathy and back again, with an occasional side trip to monotony." Plywood is made of wood pieces or veneers bonded together in layers. It did not respond well to a chisel. Separating plywood bonded to fiberglass made for slow going. This job took us two complete nights of work.
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