I had worried that the dagger would not come out of the case. For good reason it turned out. I had tried to remove the dagger when I had the case clamped around the packed out dagger and it was tight then and I didn’t heed the warning. I also made a rookie mistake on the packing. I ran it across the dagger so that when I tried pulling the dagger out of the case it pulled away from the dagger and jammed inside. I should have run it along the dagger that way it could not pull up from the dagger as the case slid along it. And to complicate matters and probably worse than the packing (although I did not know this until the dagger was removed) was that I had some glue squeeze through into the case and touch the dagger in effect gluing it into the case.

In the end the only way to get the dagger out of the case was to get help and Adam and James helped me lift and drop the dagger until the case shook itself loose. We had tried bashing the case with a mallet, bashing the dagger with a mallet, clamping blocks to the dagger and using a jack to try to move the case all to no avail, but a few drops while holding the case and the dagger slid free.

With the dagger out of the case I could see the glue on the trailing edge of the dagger and inside the case. I had to get that out. But how? I didn’t want to take the back off again although that would be the last resort. In the end I found a solution. One of the great skills I have gained from building the boat and no doubt will come in very handy when cruising if a repair is needed, is the ability to solve problems. Necessity the mother of invention. First I tried using my metal square to hit the glue dobs inside the case against the back edge. This broke a number of them free but some were still there. I then tried a chisel on a stick (which required me to grind the handle down to fit inside), this also removed some but was also left some that would not come off. Then finally the solution that worked to remove the last of the dags, sandpaper wrapped around a stick to sand down the last of the dags and dobs.

Once I had cleaned the glue from inside the case and the trailing edge (this sanded off in about 30 seconds) I was able to slide the dagger into and out of the case really easily and this horizontally with the full weight of the dagger and the friction that creates on the dagger side so it should be even easier with the dagger and case vertical. So all well that ended well.

I got the router out and rounded the edges of the ply end and sanded the joins smooth on both sides so that I can glass it tomorrow. As I said yesterday, that will involve at least 3 layers of uni at the bottom but a thought occurred to me that I will also need some uni to strengthen the front of the case at the top because it is unlikely that the dagger would push through the case in the upright position along the length of the case but rather pivot and push through the front of the case up high as it pushes through the case at the back down low. But at least at the front of the case is a bulkhead to give it further strength. One would think that with this level of paranoia that I would never let myself be in a position to run aground with the daggers down and that surely I would raise them when it starts to get shallower but it is not running aground I fear, it is hitting a submerged shipping container or a whale. I know that if I hit one, perhaps the dagger will be the least of my problems but I guess my mind is occupied with what ifs on the daggers as this is what I am working on now and next month when I am on something else that is what I will worry about with what ifs.