Stemhead

Initial concerns about the stemhead are over now. It seems that wood has been glued around the stemhead and it is this that has degraded, not the stemhead itself. Good news!

I still keep swinging this way and that in terms of whether or not to epoxy the boat. I think that I do favour at least an epoxy soak to help preserve the wood. However, I'm still not clear about the notion of epoxying the whole boat with a skin. When I look at the potential damage that has been caused around the keel foot by water (and a lot of fresh water at that), the long term future of the boat is potentially threatened by epoxy. I would at least like to see this boat reach a 100. It's only another 27 years!

Tonight, I'm going to strip back some of the ribs in the interior of the boat to see what they look like.... Still avoiding removing the antifoul on my (port) side of the boat then!