: Shawn... I make a lot of ham radio antennas... I have no earthly idea why the
: elements of the antenna would have mounting blocks every 5 feet.... in the
: center of an element, yes, but along the length... wierd!

Sorry...the 'elements' I'm using are 4', 5', 6', and 7' long. It's the 5' ones I'm attacking right now. They had mounting blocks in their centers...presumably to attach to the mast...the other hole in the mounting block was about 1.25" ID.

: If there is a 3' chunk inside each 5'piece, it is there not just to hold a
: set screw but for additional strength. It is likely glued in position. If
: it does not move at all, it won't.

Oh, dangit!!

: You will remove the strength of the tube if you heat it much. Welding
: aluminum is really hard without turning the whole piece into a pool of
: metal... problem is the extreme conduction of heat away from the site you
: are trying to heat. Before you get the wood inside to burn, you will have
: the whole length of the tube at the melting point.

: Yep... same would be true of amonia which would soften the wood but make it
: swell.

: Other ideas mentioned: Drill bit... Unfortunately, the aluminum is softer
: than the wood. Drill bit will slip off the end of the wood and cut through
: the side of the tube.

: termites... cool idea. Or wood rot or toredo worms... Do you mind waiting 10
: years while they do their job? How about giving a mouse a really good
: reason to get to the other side? Nah! would eat through the pipe since it
: is softer.

: Put it up as an antenna.

Ha ha. Too many time-consuming, money-consuming, gear intensive hobbies as it is. Nice try! I'm busy enough visiting all you nice folks on this forum, the Techniques forum, the Greenland forum, playing with Wiki, and I just signed onto the Telemarktips forum.

I'm going to try heating it on the BBQ tonight. The BBQ is cast aluminum...thought being that it won't get hot enough to deform or melt the tubing. If it doesn't work, I'll probably ream out the dowel enough to get a ferrule inside.

: Buy new tubing.

I'm gonna use this stuff, or at least give it one more shot. I'll make all the critical end pieces out of hollow sections. If the boat works out well, I'll replace all the wood-cored intermediate sections with new tubing per your and Tom Yost's recommendations. (reason being I'd like to have the boat skinned by New Year's, and I don't have time to wait for tubing at the present time!!)

Thank you Rick!

Shawn