Chopped the recess larger so the coaming would sit as low as possible, and so the sides of the recess would be horizontal and let the water flow overboard.

The rear bulkhead was glued in with cabosil, phenolic microballoons, and glass microballoons. A little (lot of) heat from the heat gun, and the epoxy softened enough to rap it out with my fist. I could have left it and coped it to fit the new recess, but I wish to reinstall it so the top is perfectly flush with the back of the coaming, and I want to slope it to maximize (future) day hatch volume and minimize cockpit volume and ease drainage when inverted.

Remember my custom carved redwood knee hooks? A memory. Ground away most of the glass holding them on, and a couple thwacks with a ball peen hammer, and they were off. Am I making anyone shudder? I did, but just a little bit. I didn't like that the grain didn't match on the left one where I added some hook depth in 2001.

Cut the cheek plates down 1 1/4", ground the old bits of knee hook and cheek plate off the bottom of the coaming and old recess, and a couple of dots of hot glue on the tops of the cheekplates, and a small stick at the peak of the foredeck held on with hot glue puts the coaming nicely in its new place.

Now onto stripping the recess. I did about a foot in 1.5 hours last night. It's a little slower than stripping a new recess where you can cut multiple bevel pieces on the table or bandsaw, and trim the bottoms all at once upon completion if you need to.. Each of these has to be custom fit, as they're fitting at both ends.

I'm sick! Sick I tell you! And I feel great!!

Shawn