I finally got around to performing a chop job on my ten year old Squeedunk Cormorant, which was built as a hybrid in 2003. I was pretty anxious to see what was inside once the deck was cut free, as this boat has been around the block more than a few times since it was built.

I used fitted cedar blocks in the ends, in lieu of end pours, since cedar's a lot cheaper and lighter than epoxy. Well, I was rather surprised to find that the blocks had degenerated into mere vestiges of their former selves, and were easily shoveled out like so much dirt. I'm not sure why this is, as the cedar sheer clamps were in as-new condition, and everything had been well encapsulated in epoxy. Other than the two end blocks, which had been fashioned out of western red cedar 2x4's, I was very happy with how well everything else inside had fared in a decade of hard and very wet action.

So . . . looks like Uncle Nick is good as gold once again, hope I can be as smart as him when I grow up. He had stated that this possibility concerned him, and I thought he was nuts, lol. All I gotta say now is, we're pretty darn fortunate to have a guy like him leading the way for us if you ask me.

So . . . I naturally wonder what the latest thinking is on end pours these days, as far as keeping it light on the epoxy bill and weight goes? I'm thinking along the lines of grinding up some styrofoam and mixing it in the goop, and all sorts of crazy stuff like that.

Incidentally, this project is aimed at reducing the volume of the Cormorant; as a confirmed Outer Island fanatic and rolling freak, I have been finding the Cormy less and less tolerable to paddle, feels like sitting in a hole with the coaming up in my armpits. So I have reduced the side panels from 7" to 5", and am contemplating lowering them a bit more before I put 'er back together. I leave on a 2-week trip tomorrow, so will have plenty of time to think about these things.