Initial Situation

I started this repair based on the least significant of symptoms. RUNE has a bronze liner inside its wooden centerboard trunk, and there was a small leak between the liner and the trunk which wouldn't stop. In 1995, I looked at the liner with a video borescope and injected pine tar into the space around it, but the leak persisted.
I ignored it for ten years, but in the spring of 2006, I was vacuuming the bilges, and the upper nut and the top inch of one of the keel bolts broke off in my hand.
The significance of this corrosion cannot be overstated. There are only 11 3/4-inch bolts to carry the three-ton ballast keel, and one had just disintegrated. I checked the others; they did not fail with the 300 foot-pounds (approximately) I could apply. I had a local boatwright install a specially constructed lag bolt through the plank keel into the ballast, as a temporary measure, but I knew that a careful inspection would be needed when the season was over.
To remove the centerboard trunk liner, the ballast keel and a false keel below the plank keel must be removed. The job clearly required a major refit.
I contacted several boatyards with expertise in wooden boat construction, and finally selected Taylor and Snediker Woodworking in Pawcatuck, CT to serve as the lead contractor. They have been maintaining this and several other boats of similar design, and, because I live close to their shop, I would be able to review their progress easily.