The knee is connected to the.... Backbone?!

Well sort of! We finally got the hull to a position I felt it was safe to lift it from the hog and keel. This was a very nervous moment ( ok, half a day!) and we don't have pictures of the process. We lifted her with two points fixed to the beams in the workshop, then supported her all round. This allowed us to remove the knee, hog and parts of the stem and sternpost for renewal.
The knee was in dreadful shape.....

 And literally fell apart in my hands!

 Even the bit that held together did not hold up for a more rigorous inspection...

But we already had a bit of grown oak for the job. Out with the chainsaw and time for some carving...
The first is it roughed to shape with the chainsaw...

 This is it sort of ready for final finishing...

 

Before I could proceed with it's shaping I needed to make the hog and the bit of the stern-post that needs replacing.

This is the old hog sat on the oak that will make the new.

And rough hewn to shape. All the final shaping will be done in situ, to fair it into the keel. the rabatt must be cut after the hog is correctly dimensioned.

You can see the new "backbone" of the boat now all ready to meet up with the rest of the boat hanging over it. This was a really scary process! Lots of running around, different sight-lines and measurements: jacking the keel here, sliding it there... Unti at last it slotted together!

Is it straight?