The big hunk of mass that was poured into the bottom of Painkiller's lower bilge has been removed. I'm not sure exactly what the intention was, other than possibly feeling there is more between you and the sea than a layer or two of fiberglass on the very bottom of the boat. First I drilled and screwed in an eye bolt so I could lift and break the seal with a come-along.
I then had to drill a series of holes across it's width in two places so I could break it into three manageable size pieces. At this point in the removal I was feeling very fortunate that it released from the inside of the hull, to chisel this mass out with a hammer drill while bent upside down in the bilge was having me a tad concerned. Drilling the holes and a beating with a small sledge hammer did the trick.
After dumping them over the side, here are the three pieces showing how large a mass of filler it was. You can see from the black sections that this mass was no longer really attached to the hull. Useless! Extra baggage and weight for nothing. We are so happy to have this removed from the boat. Now we will beef up the bottom with extra layers of fiberglass inside and out and have a nice deep, deep bilge to give plenty of warning if there is a major problem with water ingress.
A very ugly mass!
Interesting. I like reading of your work.
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