Hey All,

I managed to brave the cold and get a little more work done on the rebuild. I stopped off at Boatcraft and picked up a piece of 4 mm Okhume wide enough for me to use as keel panels. I cut the first panel easily enough, it was straight forward. The second panel required several cuts to make a patch to fit the final hole in the hull. To make a panel fit closely, I cut the panel the correct length but left it wider than I needed. I added a couple of stiches to one end of the panel-to-be so that its straight edge followed the keel line. I then flipped the yak over and using hand pressure pressed the panel up against the hull. With a little manual dexterity I managed to grab my pencil from my built in holder (ear) and traced the outline of the opening onto the final panel. I removed the panel and cut it to spec using my good old manual mitre saw sans the box. The new piece fit almost snug, leaving slight gaps a little filler should cover up.
One unfortunate problem I noticed is that there is a slight depression in the hull where panel two is located, adjacent to the keel panel. I'm thinking I need to remove this panel so that the depression rises up to allow a normal hull profile then trace out a new panel to replace the old. I'll give this a try on Sunday. If I am wrong about this someone PLEASE let me know so I can do it right the second time. Of course, if I get it wrong again there is always the third time and if that fails then there is always time for a few Guiness. Maybe there is always time for a Guiness.
Pics of the latest panel additions are at the link below. Sage, a Sawzall works wonders for removing hull damage and opening walnuts. I'll lend you mine if you don't already have one.

Robert N Pruden