: I don't think its a round hole we want at all. Where we drill, the two sides
: of the hull aren't parallel. The through-hole will enter and exit at an
: angle. The resulting holes will be ellipses. Not to worry . When we cut
: the "doughnut" at an angle flush to the hull, we arrive at the
: same ellipses. The best analogy is a stovepipe through a roof; a round
: pipe fits an oval (elliptical) hole.
: New standards for teaching high school math call for eliminating the study of
: subjects like conic sections. Future generations will wonder how we got
: those shapes to match perfectly.

I drilled the 1 1/4 holes to slide the donuts in yesterday. As carefull as I tried to be the holes still were not elliptical enough and I had to do some touch up sanding, but it all came out fine and I epoxed them in. My project for this morning is to turn the haul over on its bottom and make a stiff sawdust mixture using a 2 part polyurethane that I have setting around from another project, and to pack it into the bow and stern (not a pore)for reinforcement of these areas and the donuts. It probably isn't necessary but I will feel a little better about its strength but not the extra weight.

John