O34 The Olson 34 (Partial) "TAFG" revealed

After way over a decade it's time to sand and revarnish the T&H sole pieces. I removed them today and brought 'em home.
A few bronze screws did twist off, evidently being gripped really tight by the fibers in the FRP flanges. I will try to lube the new screws with something slick when reassembled. Drilling out and epoxying in the old holes will be... entertaining... I am sure. :(

Anyhow it might be interesting to see how the interior moldings come down along each side and the forward moldings and aft parts meet the hull. Note that all of the athwartship "hat sections" are glassed in separately, and extend underneath the sides of the settee moldings. The 'hat' flanges overlap and the keel bolts go thru two hat sections as well as the thicker part of the bottom layup.
The wood strips on top are glued down with poly mush and serve to anchor the center section screws of the sole pieces.

Nothing astounding to see, but sometimes new owners or prospective owners might be curious about the normally-hidden structure.

Aside: from helping friends with boat projects on a variety of other craft over the years, I can vouch for how our boat is very solidly finished out in all the places that you do not see. It's not like that on a lot of lower-end production boats. In the Olson, pretty much everything is tabbed-in everywhere, either roving or cloth.
All the those molded sections are heavily tabbed to the hull and bulkheads, on the inside of each settee, I should note.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was reasonably Clean under the sole pieces, too. Next will come some vigorous scrubbing down before the refreshed sole pieces go back into place for another decade. The white bilge areas were previously gel-coat surfaced, centers by EY, and the rest by me.

Sort of visible are pump pickups for the big manual pump and for two electric pumps, each of the electric's with a float switch. All had strum boxes, as built, and still do.
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  • Grid Pt side.JPG
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  • Fwd Grid area O-34.jpg
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