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A glorious sight, believe me. Plugs filling holes left by removing the remains of screws once the ribs are torn out and plugs covering the heads of screws fastening the planks to the newly laminated ribs. The plugs are sawed off flush with the plank surface with a Japanese saw, they are then sanded before fairing.

Above the water line we removed and replaced the screws only as the ribs and planks were intact and without the ravages of electrolysis.

Another dramatic scene because it illustrates the fact that new screws are in place and covered with plugs. Notice the fresh plugs covering up the new screws used to fasten in the new butt blocks replacing the one destroyed by electrolysis.

OK. Guilty of envy. During all of this marathon effort (the lay days in the boatyard were $125 per day because we were doing our own work. This compares to $20 per day in Berkeley, where we did the major reconstruction of CHELSEA"S sstern, Roy Disney polished up the bottom of PYEWACKET, plopped her in the water, and took off on the Transpac. Here she is moving out of her "on the hard" location.

PYEWACKET and the swarm of crew (out of camera angle) approaching the ways reminding me that I probably should have been doing this project on the proceeds of a schrewed investment strategy rather than consuming my monthly cashflow, savings and retirement capital. Oh well, as one who resembles the Grasshopper more than the Ant in the fairy tale about the two insects' approach to life, I can only say that I truly live out the philosophy of "eat your desert first".

After the laminating-in-place process was completed each rib had an uneven surface coating of cured epoxy/filler which had oozed out during the curing process. This was ground away on each and every rib, a task which took Doug about 6 days to complete!!! The "raw" surfaced ribs are taped off in anticipation of the finish treatment we have chosen to seal them from the elements. It took 3 people over 6 hours to complete this taping. (18 hours)

This photo show the taped-off ribs in the head. Remember the earlier pictures of this same area as we saw it after removal of the sole? Quite a difference!!

SMITH'S penetrating epoxy is used to fully penetrate each rib. Here one of our volunteer "boatwrights", Richard, shows the difference between penetrated ribs and raw ribs. This step took 3 of us about 5 hours to complete. (15 hours). Please see the note below about using penetrating epoxy.

With bulkhead of the head in view to the right in this picture you are looking at ribs and sisters which will eventually be covered up by the portside salon berth. This photo show them after having received the penetrating epoxy.

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