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Inspired a by Paul Turner's ‘ask the audience’ question here about which of his boats to renovate first I thought I’d carry out a little survey of my own in relation to 3252 Silent Running. 

I’ve already decided no matter what I do during the restoration process SR, will end up with a fancy winged rudder (or at least an attempt at a winged rudder).

Other modification are a little less clear in my mind and this is where I need your help and your views. 

I have most/all of the materials to fit a foam double bottom â€" but should I bother? 

 

The pros

I wont sail about with 5 litres of water slopping around in the bottom

The boat will feel more modern

There will be less varnishing involved

No need for bags

It means I can beef up the transom and hide most of it.

 

The cons

It probably wont be that pretty

It will add time to the refurb

It might not be as comfy

It will certainly add weight (but probably not 5 litres worth)

Not original to the boat….

 

So what do you think?   It will be interesting to see if anyone votes

I have recently bought N1851 which is my fifth twelve but my first proper 'old' boat. Having spent a bit of time having a good look at her I have concluded that she definitely is in need of some TLC - but nothing too serious. I'd appreciate any advice from those with more experience than me. I've listed out my main worries (for now).
 
1. The centre board case has signs of enough rot near the floor to warrant replacing. From what I can see without removing the case the hog and keel look sound though.  
 
Does anyone have any tips for replacing? My initial thoughts are to carefully remove, clean up the hog and keep, use the old case as a template for the new one, and rebuild from there.
 
Anything else I need to think about?
 
2. Quite a few planks have been sealed with bathroom sealant - to my mind this seems a bit strange but I thought I'd check that this is not a ‘vintage’ trick.
 
3. On the whole she feels a bit fragile / flexible and I think this may be as the joints between the planks are flexing more than they should. I think this is due to the fact the planks are not securely glued but also : -  

It appears a front bulkhead has been removed at some point roughly where a buoyancy tank would be in a more modern (four plank) boat. 
 
The side seat (I don’t know what you call it) has been shortened at the thwart and I assume it originally extending further aft. There is evidence of another set of knees about 2 foot forward of the transom which I assume would have been where the seat would have terminated. Or may have been an aft tank?
 
To my mind these things will all have an impact on the overall stiffness of the hull but have probably been done to save a bit of weight.

I appreciate this is a bit vague but any advice welcomed…  Especially in the order I should attack these issues?

Cheers
 
Ben