With the clamps now off, it was time to inspect our work. To use up leftover Marine Tex, we went ahead and  ran a bead top and bottom around the metal gunwales. Thirty years of dings and dents had left some suspect spots and the last thing we needed was more holes in the boat.

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Not bad for the first coat.

Ol' girl's looking good.

William was in town from Hawaii just in time to remount the tiller. Remember that the oversized tiller mount was the root cause of the entire structural failure. The tiller post had rubbed a hole in the transom gunwale which resulted in catastrophic failure that fateful day in Charleston Harbor. The trick was to remount the old tiller without causing the same problems. The solution? A plywood spacer block.

William reaming the 3/8 hole with a 1/8 bit 

I decided that since we had the whole thing taken apart for the first time in thirty years, we should go ahead and replace all that corroded hardware. Well at three dollars a piece, those six bolts, washers and nuts added up to almost forty dollars! 

We applied a nice layer of silicone behind the mount, in the holes and along every wooden edge.

There she is boys.

It was cloudy and windless last day in town for William...that is until the sky's opened and 10 knots of wind showed up just in time to load up and head to Sullivan's.

Fate Loves a Challenge

In order to see the full extent of damage to the hull and deck, we had to remove the aluminum banding riveted along the gunwales. Since half of the rivets had ripped through, drilling out the rest was fairly quick. 

After drilling out the rivets, I used a large flat head screwdriver and a rubber mallet to tap the banding off.

"We'll there's your problem."

After a jaunt over to West Marine for some Marine Tex and pirate stickers, it was time to start prepping the surfaces. We used a combination of 150, 200 grit sandpaper and a metal file to clean inside and out. 

Chef Andrew shows perfect form.

And now the hero of our story appears. A true knight in shining armor.

We worked a thick, gloopy consistency of Marine Tex between the deck and the hull and then all around the edges as heavily as possible.

The trick now was to devise a clamp arrangement that would hold the seam flush on both a horizontal and vertical axis. Thankfully, I have plenty of vices.

We employed two 24" clamps together to span the horizontal axis.

It was getting dark, so we decided to start the grill. First course: Bacon Burgers and pickles. Then Brooklyn Brian got it done on some country ribs which were expertly paired with PBR cans by Sommelier Andrew.

Captain Longbone inspects the repair closely.

The recommended drying and curing time was twenty four hours, but considering the structural importance of the joint, we left the clamps on for about two days. Next up, Sanding.