Hi!

I picked up an old Mosquito some months back - I'd wanted one for something like 20 years, so it was very cool. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The boat, however, is in a poor state, and I am looking forward to restoring her. I've some experience with boat building, as I've been building a wooden boat (lapstrake ply using the West system), but it would be foolish of me to claim any real level of expertise.

Anyway, the fiberglass hulls have been sanded down prior to purchase, and the person who did so removed most of the gelcoat, revealing the glass underneath. Where it hasn't been sanded back there is some pitting. The deck is made of ply, and this has also been sanded back - unfortunately a bit too much, so they have removed the top layer of ply in places. (Not a big deal, but I was hoping for a bright finish on the deck). The transom is also made of ply - again with some uneven sanding.

Having been reading this forum on-and-off for a while, I saw someone mention that the hulls should ideally weigh 22kg each (I think that was prior to painting, but I can't recall the post), in order to be sure that the finished product would be sitting just above minimum weight (55kg, if I recall correctly). So I weighed the hull, and it came out to about 24kg. This is without hatches, any rigging attachments, rudders, gelcoat or varnish. This seems a tad heavy. I'm figuring a final weight of about 28kg per hull, but that's just an uneducated guess.

So, I'm hoping for some advice. As near as I can figure it, I should ideally shave up to 4kgs off the hull. I don't know what the ply is, but I'm guessing that changing the deck to gaboon ply would help, as would replacing the internal "bulkheads?" with a lighter wood. Is this worth doing?

(As an aside, I would like to take the deck off anyway, as there is a smallish hole which would be better repaired from inside, but it isn't necessary to do so if I can live with a poorer finish.)

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I should mention that I really love the Mosquitos, in spite of having no experience with them at all (never even crewed on one), so I wanted to make a really good job of the restoration so that I could be proud of her. And I am aware that I could probably scrap her, but I have a fondness for rescuing old boats - and I found that building and working on them is as much fun as the sailing. Plus it is always a fine excuse for buying new power tools.

Thanks heaps!