There's a hole in the bottom of my boat

I faced my fears today and cut the hold for the dagger board trunk. I kind of did it on a whim because I had some time and it was too hot to work with the epoxy.

It was actually very easy and it APPEARS to have come out well. The trunk ws already in place, held by screws from when I used the bulkheads to bend the sides and make the shell of the boat. So I just went underneath the boat, drew a pencil line down each side of the bottom of the trunk, and also traced the sides along the bulkheads. Then I took the trunk out and used my trusty little 3.5" saw to plunge a cut on the lines using the laser guide. I wasn't able to complete the cuts with the saw, so I drilled a hole in the cutout and used a jig saw to finish the ends.

This is what the cuts I did from the inside...looked like from the outside. It wasn't all that fun doing the cuts laying under the saw, but it seemed to be the easiest way at the time.

The slot was a little bit too tight, so I used a dremel with a sanding drum on it to take down the sides of the cutout till the trunk slid in.

I did extend the trunk so it would go all the way through the bottom of the boat. I just felt like it would give me a better easier seal.

Once I slid the trunk through the hole, the lines I had drawn on the bulkheads make it fast and easy to realign the trunk.

Taping the seams

I did all of the spot welds with the woven tape and it held perfectly while I cut the zip ties and put the one piece seams over them. I went over the edges of the spot welds with the grinder so they wouldn't cause air bubbles under the long seams.

I've been doing the overlapping layers of biaxial tape on the outside seams. It's been really hot, over 90 degrees for much of the summer, so when I do the work, it's at night, and I still have to work fast because the barn holds the heat.

I have done two layers on all but two of the outside seams. I used poly tarp mat

erial "poor man's peel ply" on the second layer of tape and it worked fairly well. There are some creases to sand from where the poly sheet was folded in the packaging.

I had to grind out some air bubbles from the first layer of tape, but overall it has worked out well.

The corners don't seem to be that high relative to everything else.