Removal of Original Bulkheads

     The serious work begins on Hull #667.  I have taken the week off from work and coordinated assistance from one of the best in boat restoration work - Tim Lackey of Lackey Sailing, LLC.  Since all of the boats furniture will be built off a few key reference points (primary bulkheads and cabin sole substrate), it became increasingly important that I have a skilled and experienced person on site to guide me through this critical phase.  So, for Monday the 11th of November, we started with removal of the 36 year old bulkheads...

     We started with just surveying the boat and finalizing our plan for the day.  This Westsail 32 came out of the factory as a kit (WSSK stamped) with the primary bulkheads.  There was some water damage in only a few places, prompting me to want to replace them.  However, the more concerning aspect of these bulkheads was the polyester used for the bulkhead tabbing - in many places one could pull off the tabbing by hand!  This was definitely not something I wanted on my boat.  Further, the primary bulkheads were not tabbed to the overhead - something that is standard practice in today's boat building yards.

We moved onto patterning the existing bulkheads using a great technique being demonstrated in the following picture by Tim Lackey.  Using rosin paper, we covered the bulkhead so as to more or less replicate the existing shape.  The rosin paper is held on to the wood bulkhead by cutting out triangles and then placing tape over the paper and onto the wood surface.  Finally the outline is scribed with a compass, using a known dimension.  This pattern will be transferred to new sheets of 3/4" meranti plywood. 

     Patterning complete and full respirators donned, resembling an episode of Breaking Bad, we jumped in to removed the old bulkheads and generally prepare the boat to accept the new bulkheads.  I took to the reciprocating saw to cut out the bulkheads, flexing the blade to get as close to the hull surface as possible.  I then used a hammer and chisel to de-bond the old tabbing, and as I said before, some of the tabbing could be pulled up by hand.  Tim came behind me with the angle grinder, fitted with a 36 grit flap disk, and took the remaining uneven surfaces down to generally "fair" so as to be ready for a mechanical epoxy bonding of the new bulkheads.  Finally, we removed a factory installed engine bed as well - which nearly kicked both our butts!  

Now this is a "bare hull!"  Looking forward...in an empty boat.

Looking aft...in hull #667.