Hull

When I bought Valkyrie, the most important thing for me was that the hull was in good condition. If it wasn't, the project would be too big and expensive. I knew there was a damage by the aft deck, which happened due to poor mooring during a storm. I am in the process of adding steel fittings to the railing, to strengthen and avoid the same situation.

We were able to fix the damage, and the stem also had to be changed. The rest of the hull seemed to be in very good condition, so the only thing missing was to add some new layers of paint.
We checked the keel bolts just in case, since rotten wood by the keel is a common problem for wooden boats that have not been taken proper care of. 

I thought there wouldn't be any problem, but it turned out there was. The wood around the most forward keel bolts were completely rotten. Luckily, it was only the first few ones, and the rot had not spread to the wood around. The bolts were hidden under concrete ballast, which had to be removed and redone. We also added some steel fittings to the new bolts, to strengthen and prevent the same problem again.

It is almost unavoidable for wooden boats to not take in any water, but Valkyrie takes in WAY less water now than she used to. I consider it as good as it can get.