So, after I found the leak, we decided that, rather than patching the bad section, we would re-bottom her completely.
But, how to go about it? We only have a choice between going on the long trailer or on the rail-mounted dollies on the slipway, but then how would we do all those welds upside down?
Clive, the marina owner, came up with a solution :-
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| Thirteen sheets of steel, laid out on the trailer. |
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| The first two sheets champfered and clamped ready for welding, this means most of the welds will be done from above instead of from below. |
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| We also had to weld extensions onto the trailer to support the pen-ultimate sheet. |
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| When the weather turned we got around it by building a temporary tent over the next sheet of steel. |
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| One very large plate, almost ready to receive Freyja. |
The new baseplate is reversed down the slipway ready for us to float Freyja on top.
Perfectly placed first time.
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| After welding the base to the boat Bruce needed to cut the excess steel away. |
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| Using an oxy-propane cutter. |
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| Trimmed tidy! And we started to finger mould the welds with sealantto seal any pinholes (as we couldn't pressuretest the whole hull) |
