Bulkhead-gate continues...

Having had another busy weekend with not too much time spent down at the boat I am slightly concerned about the bulkhead situation.

I’ve now cut away the majority of the rotten wood from the bulkhead but have a much clearer picture of the original construction which consists of a wooden stringer which sits on the floor. The floor of Lady of Lewis has various raised lies, I’m not really sure what they are called. They are I guess stringers of a sort. Anyway there is one along the floor which provides a raised area for a wooden string and then the bulkhead to sit on. I have 3 current problems;

The wooden stringer underneath the bulkhead is completely rotten away but is tabbed in place with fibreglass. I’m not sure whether I should dig out the rotten wood leaving the fibreglass as a mould almost, make a new wooden stringer which slots into place and then glass over the top of it all (I have seen this technique used on decks when the foam core is wet and needs replacing) Or do I just hack it all away down to the floor foundation and start a fresh.

This is linked to the second issue which is that while I have good access from the main cabin side as I’ve removed all the flooring the flooring in the heads is fixed down with a whole bunch of screws which are completely rusted and seized. I have tried to drill them out but each time I do the drill slips on the screw and ends up just drilling through the wood. The previous owner had also had this issue as there is a cut out piece where he has cut around one of the screws with a jigsaw. Without removing this flooring panel I cannot get clean access to the main bulkhead stringer and without completely destroying the wood I can’t work out how to remove it.

Finally the rotten bulkhead wood is extending further than I had thought along the bottom of the bulkhead and underneath the door hole. I am not sure how much bulkhead I can cut away before I need to start worrying about structural integrity, i.e. will the boat flex during the time in-between cutting the bulkhead out and replacing it as this will likely be over a few weeks.

I am thinking it is probably best to get a professional in to have a look and either advise or quote me on how much it will cost for them to finish the job. I am determined to do as much work myself as possible but I don’t want to mess around with structural safety.