Lots accomblished, but on the wrong boat!

Progress has been slowed due to getting a paying gig. We are fixing the gray center counsole boat pictured here. We had to cut out the cockpit sole to remove the gas tank to get at two 12 inch long cracks in the center of the hull, both following the strakes. Noone involved owned the boat when it was "damaged" so all of us were really just guessing at why the cracks were there. There was no evidence of external damage and overall, the boat looked well built. As it turned out, the gas tank was the culprit. It was set on one cross piece, that allowed the tank to pivot, and was not very securely fastened to start with. SO, when full, about 300 pounds beat on the bottom of the boat and eventually stressed the hull to failure. The final damge ended up being two three foot long cracks. We are now in the process of putting things back together.

At least I did have a chance to keep working on fairing the keel strut, which is ready for final paint, and the cabin top, which is driving me crazy. I also put together the new vacuum pump system for bagging and made a cedar core for the future carbon tapered tip sprit.

We have had some issues with warpage of the deck panels we made up by laying up one side and letting them sit around a bit. we are trying a couple of ways to deal with that right now as well.

I am also "playing" with some divinycell, for both cabin top and a future project.