Dismantling the forms

Today I continued dismantling the forms. There were five left. One will stay as part of the rolling frame. It's a little eerie being under the boat with only two frames holding it up in the air. ;-)  No creaking or cracking or moaning or groaning. It appears to be fairly solid but I don't think I'll be crawling up on top of the boat ever again! :-)

Looking forward into the bow with just the two turning frames in pace.

And looking aft.

I used my latest acquisition, a Farm Jack (Tractor Jack) that I picked up yesterday at a TSC Store in Kemptville, ON. Nicest TSC I've ever been in. Keen young kids working hard and loving their job. Store was well organized, shelves stocked and clean! :-)  Anyhow the jack was on sale so it was worth the trip.

Knew I needed some lifting power. I could have maybe struggled along with my floor jack but it's only rated at about 1500 lbs or so. The tractor jack is something like 7000 lbs. Just a few pumps of the handle and the rolling frame was free of the strongback frame.

Used my axel stands and made a few wooden legs to hold the boat up by the rolling frame. It's nice and steady on the axel stands but I felt more comfortable with a few more legs under the frames (for now).

I'd bet I took about 6 lbs of screws (drywall) out of the forms & strongback! I'd usually load them in my pockets till I jabbled myself one too many times then would have to empty them on the work bench. *lol*  Anywho, here's what's left of the forms after I got done ripping them out.

Looking back almost exactly 3 years ago this is what the forms looked like when we first set them up!

All the structural lumber, 2X3's, 2X4's, 2X10's etc. from the forms and strongback will be re-purposed into a set of steps to get up and into the boat and a few other small projects. Two of the 2X10's, which are 16' long, will be used as a track for the rolling frames to slide in. It would probably be a nightmare trying to roll this thing over on a dirt floor.

So that's it till Monday. Tomorrow I'm helping the kid move all his stuff into a storage unit before he heads out west to seek his fortune.

What's next?

1. Remove forward portion of strongback frame
2. Construct tracks for rolling frames
3. Lower the frames onto the tracks
4. Roll this whale over!

Standby...