In update #1, I mentioned we welcome the challenge of restoring this hull.......................and that is exactly what were going to get!
Yesterday, a few few of us were set to meet and take our final pictures of the hull before opening it up on Tuesday, but curiosity got the best of us.
After taking some reference photos, we decided to start on the L/H sponson. Since this was likely the most deteriorated section on the hull (and not original anyway), we made our first cutout at this location.
As we peered into the opening we made in the sponson, we naturally wanted to see more. And then we really started opening the sponson up. What we found was it was in really bad shape, the wood frames were completed rotted out, as were the batons. The Jones sponsons (which replaced the Knowlen ones in 1981) were made of resin, so they are salvageable for potential other hull restorations down the road if needed.
No doubt, it was pretty bad. But, the good news is we opened up the deck behind the sponsons near the non trips and found those areas to be in better condition than we thought. That was promising, because that part of the hull WAS still original.
We will try to open up the entire deck on Tuesday, so come down and lend a hand if you like take things apart!
Check out the photo gallery below and judge for yourself, pretty nasty! But hey, you have to start somewhere.
Sometimes you have to destroy before you can rebuild.................that's the nature of the beast. Gary
Tearing into the hull for the first time - part 1 (Gary gets the honor)
Tearing into the hull for the first time - part 2 (Gary gets the honor)
Photo Gallery: tearing into the hull for the first time!