Our quest for another boat had only to do with having something larger, more comfortable and more stable for my wife and I. You see, she spends all of her time in a wheelchair. I didn't so much seek out a Trojan as I looked for what I believed could be altered. I needed to get her in a salon, where she could be out of the hot, cold, rain or whatever. The list of necessities never ends when you live this way. We had to get from the dock, into the cockpit and into the salon without negotiating steps. The salon door had to be wide enough. It had to be safe – wheelchair tie downs and so on. Well the deal came about when an F32 came on the market - Rejoyce.
The agent for the seller is a friend of mine who knew what I was looking for. I had looked for a long time and he was practically screaming at me to come down and look at it. And low and behold, in the same marina ten slips down sat another Trojan with what appeared to me to be a factory provided hatch in what I considered to be a more critical position.
I made my mind up on the spot. The deal was done by the next day. Now, I'm a general contractor - not a marine engineer. The stuff I build isn’t supposed to move, sway and bounce. This was going be an entirely new experience - flex, stresses, stringer forces – oh boy I was immediatly worried that this was going to be way more than I bargained for. But I saw that the transom was two pieced and figured that if laminated, the two together would create a solid jamb and door, offsettng weakness created by the cut.
I also had to reposition the rail stancheons and then , cut & hinge the rail. I would do somethings differently the next time - I'd round the inside corners instead of squaring them. I'd reinforce the coping, use heavier hinges and stronger latch. In fact, I'll probably do these this spring. But to date I haven't had any sign of problems or stress cracking. The work is 18 months old. The hatch swings true - without dragging.
We set her back in the water, and Champagne Christened her as Molly Too (we still have the orginal Molly). We're in Hampton Roads, on the lower Chesapeake Bay at Fort Monroe and I'd be happy to show her to anyone interested. By the way, I don't think I've yet seen as much bang for the buck as a Trojan and otherwise couldn't be happier.
Thank you Molly Too for sharing. Your "go ahead" additude is inspiring, as are many home grown engineers on this site. ..Now, I wonder if a home grown boating engineer would make a good president. Which one of you wants the job? 
.. but that's another forum.
