Well, it’s time to start putting holes in the boat. Now this is a subject any boatbuilder approaches with at least some degree of respect, if not downright fear and trepidation. After all, you’re doing all this work to create something that floats, right? But boats have to have holes in them to function. You have to get water to the engine somehow. The propeller shaft has to get from the engine inside the boat to the propeller outside the boat. You have to vent the fuel tank. You have to have a way to pump bilge water out. The list goes on.
In this case, we need to mount the strut, which supports the propeller shaft, onto the keel. We’ll then use the strut as a guide to bore a bigger hole–the one for the propeller shaft. To make sure we get this right, a lot of attention gets paid to lining things up. I install a new cutlass bearing in the strut and pass the old shaft through it.
Then line this up with the center-line on the keel, and with the center-line string suspended over the boat. Clamp it in place, and drill.