Ready to Head for the Lake

 She's a sailboat again!

Now I'm just waiting for the weather to cooperate.

I discovered today, though, that one of the shrouds was damaged.  Still appears to be plenty strong but I'm going to replace it as soon as I can.

Gaia is Whole Again at Last

The original stringer was glued to the plywood, so I had to cut out a relief on the replacement to allow the plywood to fit flush with the nose end of the stringers. 

In this shot of the starboard side of the nose you can see where some of the original plywood was ripped away when the breasthook came out.  That gap will be filled with good old epoxy thickened with wood flour.

 Here is a section near the nose on the port side.  Quite a bit more plywood had been ripped out there.  I decided to fill it mostly with the silica-thickened epoxy I am using to glue things back together.  The masking tape is holding the glue in place because it is much "runnier" than wood-flour-thickened epoxy.  That low spot will be filled with wood flour/epoxy later.

Bowsprit restored!  All it needs now is four or five coats of varnish.

The breasthook and stringers all glued in place.  Three or four coats of paint and Gaia is ready to be re-rigged.

Painting finished.  I have repaired and replaced the old tabernacle so I can get the boat back on the water.  The tabernacle is constructed of red oak and was always intended for replacement at some point.  I have purchased white oak for the purpose and will begin construction of the new tabernacle sometime soon.  I'm glad I bolted the tabernacle in instead of gluing it.  If I had glued it I would have badly damaged the front of the cabin removing it.  I plan to also bolt the new one and not glue it.  I don't see any point in gluing it--all the side pressure on the mast is taken up by the jib stay and shrouds.  If one of those breaks under extreme stress, the tabernacle will probably sustain the most damage, and again, it can be unbolted and replaced.

The bowsprit is varnished and ready to go.  I decided to varnish the tiller too--it takes a beating.  My plan is to fashion a new tiller from the white oak also, but the old one will serve just fine for now.

So all I have to do now is re-rig and bend on the sails and she's ready for the water!

Starting to "See Light at the End of the Tunnel"

 I found the missing piece of the tabernacle (just above the mast-swivel hole at the top) in the anchor well.  So I decided to glue it back in place . . .

. . . and to glue a large split on the other side.  This will get me back on the water sooner.  I have purchased white oak to construct a new tabernacle but now I can wait and build it at my leisure.

 Using several different methods (saws, grinder, sander) I finally managed to get what was left of the old stringers off the hull.  (What looks like some kind of stick above the hull is actually the mast.)

A test fit of the stringers and breasthook.  Pretty good fit if I do say so!  I put the bowsprit in place to make sure it fits under the breasthook.

 Here the stringers/breasthook have been glued in place and clamped.

Another view from lower down.

A Little More Progress

I was able to trace a fairly accurate outline of the breasthook using what is left of the old one.

From that I was able to fashion a replacement.  CLC Boats sells scraps of wood for various projects and they were able to find me some of the right size to make this from.

The pieces I steam-bent will fit very well.  They are actually a little too curved in spots but that will be easily dealt with.

Here the steam-bent stringers have been screwed to the breasthook so I could cut the ends.  Ready for glue-up!

Screwed together and glued.  Next I need to figure out the best way to separate the old stringers from the hull--probably rout them off.  Then I can glue the replacement stringers and breasthook in place.