Sean, you are a glutton for punishment... tom On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 2:24 PM, Sean Mulligan <nebwest2@aol.com> wrote:

#44 is making progress in her recovery to a seaworthy vessel. Big progress this week. I had taken her over to Bob at Montgomery Boats. Initially we were going to repair the existing keel. Well, it was in such bad shape...out came the sawzall and off it came. Yes you understand correctly...the entire keel was cut off. A brand new keel and centerboard trunk were laid up and bonded to the hull. 100% lead ballast installed, old style windows replaces with a newer look....and new hatch boards created. I brought her home the other day and am thrilled with the results. There are some pictures on the Monty forum of Trailersailor.com Had I tried to repair this myself, it would just not have been doable. Once we opened up the keel and removed the damn steel ballast....it turned out the centerboard trunk was broken badly..and the fiberglass itself was so brittle you could just break it with your fingers. The two choices were to completely replace everything...or trash the boat. Fortunately, the mold was right there to pop a new keel out of.....and Bob and the guys used the old cast iron centerboard to pull a mold off of for a new centerboard trunk that will allow me to retain the old style centerboard rather than have to switch to the new style, which was my preference. This repair was WAY above my pay grade!!! So glad it's done. Lots more to do...but she is on the move.

Sean