A bit better prepared for what was in store by this stage, having invested in one of those angular sanders with a saw attachment. Left an already slimming wallet £100 lighter by the time I'd added a few extra blades, but worth every penny! I can now cut the fibreglass away with a much greater degree of accuracy and vari-speed allows more control over how deep to cut. This was essential as I wasn't sure what was below or how far back the plywood had gone. I went for the cautious approach and then had to cut more away but preferable to removing too much!
As can be seen from the pictures, the power tools have enabled much cleaner and quicker progress. Most of the floor is now out, as is the centre section. On the whole, pleased with progress but have confirmed a few fears along the way - none of them much of a surprise, but a bizarre streak of optimism had remained alive - now quashed...
1) The stringers will need replacing - not really a surprise and I'd kind of made my mind up to replace them anyway.
Red line shows where the bulkhead was, the green indicates exposed end on stringer...
The wood seemed pretty solid but very wet.
2) The cuddy floor will have to follow in the tracks of the main cabin. This isn't because it was wet, quite the opposite, but because the rot was likely to have tracked through the divide. Unfortunately, although the floor doesn't run right through the foam 'sponge' does.
Best seen on Port side - where floor, whilst still rotten, wasn't nearly as decayed...
Red line to illustrate where floor ended.
The stringers here were wet at (1), but dry at (2) where I have removed panels of fibreglass.
3) The engine bay ends of the stringers had no fibreglass encapsulation whatsoever! I was astonished by this as it has allowed moisture in the (rotten) bulkhead to track back under the fibreglass. Just as bizzarly, there are small air pockets below the engine bay fibreglass where 'shelving' has been done - unsurprisingly this is rotten beneath the fibreglass. Difficult to explain this, photos illustrate better!
In summary, looking more and more like a bare hull rebuild! There will be some challanges in the next few months as the V8 is now certain to be coming out for floor/mounts and the transom is unlikely to have faired any better (more on that later)... Unfortunately, I in my wisdom (and to be fair limited space
) - have shoved her, stern first into a very restricted space.
Lifting that V8 up to a height of around 9' and then backwards and sideways on a diagonal of about 10-12' is going to require some engineering! I'm thinking hoist and some kind of track, but I'll need to construct that it as there's no way anything will fit in past the boat. Plan B would be to complete the cockpit and cuddy floors, lay down some extra ply layers on top temporarily, and then lift engine forward into the cockpit to facilitate work in the engine bay. Not keen on this as it would involve a join in the stringers at the bulkhead
Given the amount of saturated wood and foam removed so far, she will have had quite a crash diet prior to return to the water! Some of the foam filling also appeared a little sparse - Fletcher must have been on an economy drive the month this one was made...
Underside of battery bay floor...
...and finally, bulkhead 'fixing' for fuel valves... (yes that IS a hole)
Next on the list was cuddy floor and bulkhead and although the stringers run through the bulkhead, they were reduced in height to around 1" from the bulkhead aft and similarly, the timber used for the engine mounts and engine bay forming, extend just 1" forward of the bulkhead. Basically, it appears the bare timber framework was laid out and the tabbed in/glassed over as required (standard practice I believe?). The downside of this method was that once moisture had penetrated at any point, it tracked through and soaked all the timber throughout.
Trimming off the tabbing from the old floor - perhaps should have cut closer when I removed floor, but being a 'blind cut', decided on the cautious approach. So this was the clean up.
Cross section of bulkhead - the black area to the right being the engine bay and the left half the starboard floor stringers. The original was 9mm ply, but I intend to double this given that the bulkhead is only half-height (top half being formed by rear seat to facilitate engine access).
Having started to cut away the stringers from the aft end, it became apparent that although solid/wet higher up, the bases had largely rotted away.
Cutting down each side and then breaking away seemed the best means of removal - although solid, this wood was so wet that the vibration of the cutter caused liquefaction - with water oozing from the surface!
Method used was to cut through the base of the fibreglass (into the stringer)...
...then up the sides...
...and finally, decapitate from behind!
Once cut, a screwdriver prys up the fibreglass...
and pulls away from the stringer.
A bit of cleaning up, one side removed.
Both sides cut out enough for grinding back and glassing in new bulkhead. Note that the 1" protrusion of the engine bay carriers has also been removed at this stage. These will be replaced anyway and new ones glassed onto the bulkhead, but not through. Additional bracing at either end will compensate for any reduced latteral rigidity.
The problem with the cuddy is obvious in this next picture. Although the ply floor ended just past the threshold, the stringers continue forward - as does the buoyancy foam - complete with it's water...
Interior removed, cuddy floor looks solid and being fibreglass only (no plywood) you would think ok...
However, having decided to remove I thought I'd best keep the moldings for future reference/reuse!
Below the sculpted recess was wet - VERY WET!!!
...so much so that it was a suitable habitat for a stowaway worm!
However, the stowaway prize must go to these fellas who had obviously made home between the back of the dash and the cuddy bulkhead...
...continued...
keep the updates coming as you progress.
) and I'm confident that this is achievable. I expect mine will in many ways be more simple, but probably take longer as this guy seems to know his stuff! A friend sent me the link as a warning, but in actual fact I found it inspiring and now can't wait to get started! 
Cash-flow will be the limiting factor, but I'm in the process of a remortgage so I should be able to kick start the project with a couple of grand in a few weeks. In between the DIY on the house and work of course... 
(abandoned the latter in favour of screwdriver early on as not quite as sharp/destructive!)
