First, I removed all the old carpet that covers the hull. It had a lot of mildew and was dicusting. Then I cut out two inch wide strips out of a 1 thick insulation board. I glued the strips to the hull using an insulation gap filler-minimum expansion (it is nice because it dries fast). The mext step is not illustrated, but is the most demanding: you must grind the hull with a wirebrush (mounted on a drill bit) to remove most of the glue that was used to glue the old carpet in place, and to provide a better gluing surface (Use long sleeves and a good quality breathing mask). Use Goof off chemical to help remove any residue. You are now ready to reattach the bulkheads...

Glue foam ribs to hull

I then drilled several 3inch long slots approx. 2-3 inches from the edges of the bulkheads. I inserted two overlapping layers of fiberglass tape throught the slots and bonded them on both sides of each bulkheads.
Note: for major bulkheads, it is better to tapper the bulkhead/hull corners with the fiberglass tape.
I then applied another layer of tape on both side to cover the slots and to overlap the first two layers.

Note: I used a pre-manufactured six inch wide tape that I bought from Tap Plastic. It consists of two layers of rowing (at a different angle from each others) and one layer of mat. This tape makes for a strong repair and cuts down the effort...

I then used the same tape and put two layers on each rib...

Bulkhead and ribs - fiberglassing

I then cut some shapes in an insulation sheet to match the space between the ribs and bulkheads and attached them to the hull using the same gap filler. I also reinforced sharp corners (see left side of photo at the transom/hull intersection)...

Install insulation

The hull will look like that everywhere (soon)!
At this stage, all the hard work is done. All is left is to cover it all up with wood planks, or veneer... I used the ribs to drive in the screws.

The hull is now very stiff, and well insulated

This is a shot of the front room.
Note the wood beam made out of Iroco (African teak)in front of the chain locker. The beam is fiberglassed at each end to the hull. The chainplate will be used for an inner stay.

Getting there was cheap -may be $300 to renovate each room. The appearance makes a great difference when you live aboard, and so does the insulation. Having a center cockpit boat with two separate cabins makes it possible to do all this work while living aboard with a family of three beacause you can conviniently shift your mess from one room to another, and live in the non-messy area - sort of!...

Final result