when i first proposed this project, my plan was that i would slice off the bow and mount the boat standing on a heavy steel base plate. but when i got the boat i knew it would be nearly impossible for me to destroy it just to make a sculpture for a few months on view. so i changed my plan. the way i have made the sculpture now, i will be able to remove all of the metal armatures including the steel rails i bolted through the hull and the partial floor so that an intact foundation will remain. it will be able to be completed as a Whitehall rowboat with only minor damage from the bolt holes.
all of the structural work i did on the boat will serve to make it ready to function normally on the water. reinforcing the floor timbers and fiberglassing the hull are examples of this.
if this continues as a sculpture then it is ready for that too!
