Deconstruction & modification.

Sail,Oar & Canvas – the bushcraft boat.

Stage 1 of the CLC Skerry refit.

Today iv’e had that really uncomfortable experience of taking apart perfectly competent work while knowing that this was a necessary stage before I can begin on the positive modifications which I hope will turn a good boat into a very good one. I’m glad to say that there hasn’t been as much destruction and major surgery as I had to perform when I changed the Pathfinder rig from gaff sloop to balanced lug yawl and what’s more I didn’t have to work on my chest with a screaming power tool right next to my head. Today. on the little Skerry, all iv’e had to do is cut surgically around the center thwart to get it out, modify the ‘frame’ that is also right there and then cut a hole in the bottom panel to get the whole of the daggerboard case out.

My goal here is twofold : first, to have a clear space in the center/bottom of the hull such that I can lay out a camping mat and sleep in there and second, to build a new daggerboard case and build that into a buoyancy tank just outboard of the flat, central hull panel. I intend to use the central cross web as my guide and form to aid in building the buoyancy/storage tank each side – that in itself is a large part of increasing the boat’s buoyancy and potential capsize recovery.

Filling the original daggerboard slot and starting to cut and dry fit the case/box for a new, off center daggerboard – due to the depth of the case i’ll have to build a new and longer board. The frame/web to stbd will get trimmed back a few inches to aid in using a long and wide camping mat.

I checked today while I had the measuring tape in my hand and I found that a short, self inflating mat will just fit between the new buoyancy tanks and the stern frame/web – all it will need to make a comfortable bunk is a short section of rollmat in between the side buoyancy tanks and only for my legs as my hips and shoulders should fit nicely on the thicker camping mat.

And then I had a new thought – new for this boat that is but something iv’e done before with the Pathfinder build and seemed to work well.

Modification of my ideas and intentions.

Thus far iv’e always been thinking in terms of a buoyancy tank built in each side but, as you can see in the above picture i’m well on the way to having the port tank – the one that’s going to contain the daggerboard case – already starting to take shape. My new thinking is that the port buoyancy tank can be both higher and a bit longer to accommodate a longer and thicker daggerboard although the main change in my thinking is now to not have a similar buoyancy tank cum storage locker to stbd as well and instead to leave that space empty : it also gets around the camping mat problem as one of my existing ones (longer and wider) will go in there nicely plus I can work out the details of how best to use that space for stowage while sailing.