We want to add more about building Badger but that is still work in progress. It was a long time ago.
Our next major undertaking was the removal of Badger’s keel and the fitting of a new one. The most difficult bit was getting the old one off, as we had glued it on with West system and with every intention that it should stay in place.
Pete made a whole saw to fit over the keel bolts. After removing the nuts sawed around each keel bolt, through the epoxy wood of the floor, down to the keel-hull joint. Now the only thing holding the keel on was the epoxy on the keel to hull joint.
Secondly, we took a hacksaw and sawed into the bottom of the boat all around the keel, to encourage a clean break. We then jacked up the hull and waited for the keel to drop off. It didn’t. In order to give it a start, we cut into the (wooden) trailing edge and then belted in an oak wedge. The joint split slightly. Encouraged by this, we continued forcing in wedges until finally only six inches of hull and keel were still glued together. One more bash on the wedge and the two tons of keel finally tore away from the hull, Good stuff this epoxy!
Fitting the new keel was relatively easy. Because we had one that was “surplus to requirements”, the keel bolts (all nineteen) didn’t match up with our holes, which were drilled through the 4” laminated pitch pine floors. Thus, the first task was to laminate a keelson in situ and then. measure where the holes were to go. Being somewhat impressed with our first attempts at gluing on a keel, we did the same again, drilling oversize holes and filling them with epoxy. In the event, this turned out to be a good thing, as the keel flange had not been tapped perfectly, so that several of the bolts were slightly out of true and would have been difficult to align in self sized holes. Our local crane driver did his usual masterly job, we had a “dry run”, slathered epoxy about and then placed Badger gently on her new keel. It suits her surprisingly well and I think that once she has been painted so that everything is the same colour, the hull and keel will look as though they were made for one another. We are dying to try it out and see if it makes any difference to her.
Late in the Autumn we got fed up with working, and doing our sums decided that we could jack it in and accordingly have done so. Since then, Pete has had numerous offers of boat building work, so there is obviously plenty around, not much in wooden boats however.