Putting holes in the boat way above the waterline doesn’t seem too crazy. The beam bolts need 1-1/16″ holes perfectly positioned in the beam recess area – these are big holes to drill, going slowly and using a lot of lube oil to keep the bit cool enough heading through the very thick aluminum plates inside the boat. Dug out the big drill for this job.

But slicing a couple of 19″ shark-gills down low is spooky!  By the time the beam brackets are bonded in here, and many layers of filling and fairing take place, these big holes in the boat will be long forgotten – but right now it looks awful to see the light coming through at the waterline.

forward of the two cuts that go down here

The bulkhead where these brackets attach was prepared tonight with more laminations for structural strength, and we’re ready for a Memorial Day install of the final beam brackets so we can get to trial fitting the beams perhaps next weekend. Getting excited to see how big it all looks mounted together. It’ll take a lot of pushing the hulls around, as the full beam of the boat is a few feet wider than the workshop. Darn.