[Rhodes22-list] CB trunk repairs / update

[Lou Rosenberg]

>  For any of you Rhodies following this delicate intense microsurgery 
>I am attempting on my boat to get her ready to sail ( someday!)..

   I am in the process of  cutting away delaminated and bulging 
laminate inside my centerboard trunk.  Using a diamond cutting tool 
attached to a dremel 's flex drive I am under the boat while its on 
the trailer, fully masked and goggled, trying  to extricate a 32"x8" 
section on the port side first.   Saturday I was able to complete 
most of my original cutting started back in the late fall.   After 
the largest piece is removed, I believe I will still have to cut a 
noticeable bulge on the stb side at the narrowest part of the trunk 
corresponding to the lower end of the board.
  I plan to carefully calibrate the current aft dimensions of my trunk 
opening (with the bulge) and compare that width  with the board width 
since I have stripped almost all the old paint on the board.   The 
narrowest section will be the most challenging, as my jig that I made 
for my flex drive so I can maneuver it into the mid  trunk  region, 
will NOT fit the aft end of the trunk at its narrowest.  The flex 
drive itself , w/wo the jig, will not fit the narrowest section .
  I am trying not to have to use a sawsall- as they rip too much. The 
diamond tipped cutting tool is like a dentists drill and can make 
very narrow and deep cuts into the laminate easily.


  Does any one have any  advice on a connecting  a dremel collet and 
nut  to  reg hand drill ?


  I also realized that the stb  side of my bilge around the trunk 
flange is delaminated.
   In the interest of future buyers who may be buying a used boat, 
using Don Casey's book, he outlines how to test for delamination 
inside and out.  Had I opened the bilge completely, instead of just 
the small sq hatch by thee bilge pump and float switch, I may have 
found some of this delamination before buying..  I think in 
retrospect I still would have gambled and bought the boat anyway..
but,
   It would have been a clue that water had seeped below and done this 
damage. But it is not that difficult to repair the delamination in 
the bilge and seal the cracks around the flange.
  The most difficult part is going to be removing the bulging laminate 
and installing the patches.
still workin it out..
  Lou