The gussets are a good idea but totally in the wrong spot, had they have been fitted where they offered additional support then maybe I'd have been inclined to have left them in place, all be it with a modification to reduce the weight

A point that's ~midway between the transom and the rear beam mount would have provided excellent support for both the hull side as well as supporting the rear deck specifically around the hatch hole....

As it is I'll fit 2 stringers as I've done in the past as I know this works and has a minimal weight effect in comparision to the ply plates, the biggest advantage with the plates is the hull side support that I don't get when using stringers....



Its the weight factor that kills these old girls and not a lack of strength, if anything the older boats are way over-built in many areas..... but at the time they were considered light as that's what they knew and had to play with.

The fact remains that a mozzie hull can only be pushed through the water at a given maximum speed, you simply cant make it go any faster than the shape and drag of the water will allow it to go, even if a hull was made of concrete and the hull was placed at the same water line as a carbon hull it would be as resistant in the water as the carbon hull.....



The heavier old girls have 2 distinct disadvantages .....

1/
They sit a tad lower in the water so they have more wetted surface area and hence more drag..... more drag means slower boat

2/
they don't accelerate as fast as a light-weight boat, it takes a lot more power to accelerate a heavier object, and seeing were limited to the "power supply" by a set sail size were sort of screwed against a light boat..... every tack may cost us say a boat length due simply to the slower acceleration, do a dozen odd tacks and your suddenly a dozen odd boat lengths behind



clean out every dribble and excess bit of resin.....
trim down oversized structure components.....
remove any over repaired patches and repair with lightweight product....
remove years of paint and debris build up...
only add weight if there is NO other option..
fit light-weight decks.

Twice Shy ended up 15kilos lighter than she was when I started, & all I did was to follow those simple guidelines, .... with what I've learnt so far I could maybe get another half a KG out of her with a bit of a fight.....

My ultimate challenge would be to get an old ply hull down to minimal weight, and personally I believe I could get very very close to it, the hard part is maintaining strength..... I can get the weight down but I'd be too scared to sail it in a breeze over 10knots.....
I'm still working on this idea and one day I hope to have a crack at it...... probably the reason I have a pair of old hulls sitting here