So, it took me forever to get the pics together and publish things. Here’s the first of a series of webpages/blogs on our progress this spring! The countertimber work was performed in February.
Read more and look at pic here!
From the final webpage you can also link back to the original progress pictures and all discussion of the countertimber on the countertimber webpage.
For something that is supposed to be watertight, there are a lot of holes in Mahdee’s hull. The holes for bolting on the tailfeather were a special challenge…
After removing the tailfeather, we noted that the underlying deadwood was sitting a little high. I was convinced that we should remove two pieces and clean and resurface them before applying Dolphinite and rebedding them. The two pieces where held in by a large blind drift. We used wedges to pull the pieces off. Old bedding compound and rust from old plank fasteners and drifts needed to be removed from between the deadwood so that it would lay flat and stable. After refitting those two pieces, John wanted us to replace a piece of the stern post that contained heart wood and had cracked badly. Eventually, I gave into him. Then there was talk about the cracks in the other stern-post timber. We said no. The longer Mahdee is out of the water, the more cracking will occur. We need to draw a line and get her back into the water where she belongs. On the other hand, the new stern post timber John made looks very nice! And we definitely will be replacing some of the badly worm eaten pieces on bottom and sides of the keel.
David
See pictures of the progress of this project here
