The keel turned out to be a lot of work. The first step was to decide on the location of the new floors and to design new floor brackets which would determine the location of the keel bolts. Tim and I then drilled and tapped the ballast keel for the new bolts. At the same time we fabricated and fitted a new shoe for the lower rudder pintle.
The rudder lower pintle shoe
And now it was time to turn the ballast keel from a rusting block of old iron to a smooth racing finish.
Descaling with a needle gun – a very messyjob
Fitted to the boat and ready for final fairing once the bottom planks are in place
The next step was to fabricate the six new floors above the ballast keel. These were made from iroko.
A typical old floor. Note the crudity of the shim on the right hand side
And a typical new one, being test fitted
One by one the new floors were installed and fastened to the planking with silicon bronze screws. It was not without problems as we struggled to recreate the correct shape.
For example, at the top of this floor, the port side of the boat is about 25mm wider than the starboard. And it must have been like that since build
But we finally got there and for the first time in some 15 years Dione’s top and bottom are reunited
The final step in Stage 1 is to plank up the bottom which will be difficult due to the tight curves involved. But that challenge won’t start until the autumn.
So far the project has taken some 170 man hours including building the shed.
President: