Drove back over the next day, strapped it to the trailer, and brought it back to Petaluma, with the thought of giving it a quick spin in our local river. Everything was going to plan until taking it off the trailer we clumsily let it rest/drop on the center wheel of the trailer which emitted a rather loud cracking noise. At this point, we still thought 'no big deal' until we popped it on the water at the dock, then in came the steady trickle. So, even we, thought better of taking it out and decided to load it back on the trailer and do the bottom job. Sadly, and rather predictably, we managed to make the situation worse as the boat was now heavier, having water in it, and opened up the crack big time. Mark removed the cracked wood to see the extent of the damage (the good news being that the wood itself was in fairly good shape) Oh, well, so another chapter begins. Disaster!

Here's a few pictures before disaster struck.