How Do You Enlarge a Hole?

How to make a large hole larger?  Don't run for your rasp or round file.
How to make a large hole larger? Don’t run for your rasp or round file.

The engine compartment ventilation holes needed enlarging.  For whatever reason, they were seriously undersized according to the plans, and my calculations of what is necessary for that size space.

So, if you already have a hole in the boat, how do you make it bigger?  How do you get your hole saw, or your drill bit to center itself on the hole, when there’s nothing there for the pilot bit to bite into?

Cut a plug to fit in the hole.  You can add tape around the outside of the plug to make it just snug in the hole.
Cut a plug to fit in the hole. You can add tape around the outside of the plug to make it just snug in the hole.

The answer is to cut a plug that will fit snugly in the hole just long enough to get your hole saw started.  So much easier than breaking out the old wood rasp and grinding away–prettier too!

 

 

 

 

The plug should be just snug enough to get you started.
The plug should be just snug enough to get you started.

It’s easy when you know how!

3 Replies to “How Do You Enlarge a Hole?”

    1. Absolutely right. Sometimes you don’t find out it doesn’t want to change til it’s too late, and your drill has already skittered right across the deck.

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