A friend and I recently bought a 1967 Pearson Commander (hull #303) in need of a LOT of TLC – it’s been sitting in the boat yard for a little over 2 years without any attention.

For starters, we have to remove a rotting bulkhead (port side) due to heavily delaminated fiberglass along the hull due to an impact – the damage goes behind the bulkhead and just below the port berth. As the bulkhead is rotting anyway, it makes sense to just knock it all out at once.

Does anyone know what’s the best way to remove the bulkhead? Should we worry about the cradle supports warping the hull somehow without the bulkhead in place? Is there any chance that this could misshape the hull somehow while we're working on it?

Also - does anyone think we can we keep the mast up while doing this? If we leave the other stays in place, I think the mast will have enough support, even though we’re detaching the port chainplate.

BTW, thanks Commander Pete - your work has been pretty insiprational and very encouraging.