Skol Deconstruction, part II

The thanksgiving turkey had vanished and the tide of relatives had receded and so with a couple weekend days of warmer and drier than usual weather in the forecast I decided to have another go at the Skol.

A quick session with a Fein multimaster tool had the cockpit tub and decks removed without too much trauma.

This shows how Rondar constructed the original king post for the deck stepped mast.  Basically it's a piece of 4mm plywood sandwiched between a pair of timber staves.  This was in turn bonded to the bottom of the fiberglass hull with glass tape.  Not seen in this photo is the big chunk of mahogany which capped off this king post to help spread the load from the mast.

That big piece of mahogany lived under this domed portion of the fore deck.  I measured and noted the distance from the bow to the center between the two screw holes for the missing mast pivot pin.  The mahogany beneath the fiberglass was rotten.  The additional screw holes, diagonally flanking the ones for the pivot pin, were from fairleads for sail shape controls.

In order to remove the remaining bits of decking from the shear of the hull without inflicting too much damage I used a chisel and mallet.  If you have friends with high class woodworking skills, don't tell them that you use good woodworking tools in this fashion--they'll call you names which shouldn't be repeated in a family oriented blog spot.

I returned to the Fein multimaster to remove the cockpit scupper drain.

The next item for removal was the strong back which tied the centerboard trunk to the transom.  It was filled with foam which provided both stiffening and floatation.

Should I stay or should I go?  No apology to the CLASH.  I never liked that song--what a bunch of whiners!  When Joe Bousquet converted another Skol to Classic Moth spec he decided to keep the original CBT.  He later regretted that decision and wished that he'd installed a trunk which would have permitted the dagger board to be raked in addition to being positioned straight up and down.  I decided to take his advice.

Final decon photo shows a clean hull with all the internal furniture removed.  Joe B. also removed the glass transom and replaced it with a wooden one.  I may or may not do that but for now I'll leave the original one in place since it provides a bit of stiffness to the unsupported floppy hull.  The only tasks remaining before a rebuilt can take place are to repair a few small holes which I've previously noted and trim the winglets off to satisfy the CMBA string test and max beam rules.  Maximum beam for a Classic Moth is 60 inches and this boat is roughly 64 inches wide with the wings in place.