Amas Off!

With the intense heat we've been having here in Central Texas, I've made very little progress on my boat of late, but I've at least made some. I've finally had a chance to remove the amas. Fortunately, the hinge bolts were simple to remove, but clearly the supports that I constructed were slightly too short, as the amas dropped a bit when the bolts were removed.



Once the amas were off, I noted a bit of paint peeling from the top of one of them. I gave it a tug to see how easily the paint would strip off. Much to my shock, I saw that fiberglass cloth was coming up with the paint.  The glass had delaminated from the underlying plywood, which of course means that I will have to re-glass the top.
A little help was necessary to move the amas. Hauling those things around is a two person job at minimum.  David and I barely managed on our own.
My Nugget naked (without amas).  Now I could get a clear look at the trailer.






I've been giving thought to ditching the centerboard (in order to clear up room in the cockpit) and replace it with a shoal keel fin. (The "Fulô" in Portugal has such an arrangement, and the owner reports that his Nugget handles just fine.) Unfortunately, this would involve substantial changes to the framework of the trailer, and the boat would have to ride higher on it.
I gave a shot at stripping the paint off of one of the amas with Interlux Interstrip, but it performed poorly in the heat.  The solvents evaporated to quickly to do any good. Clearly, I'm going to have to wait until cooler weather to do this.  I also have a few quarts of Soy-Gel on order to give a try. Supposedly, it is effective over a broader temperature range.