Pic 27:    The hole for the foremast. A hole that big calls for extreme caution - a (full size) electric drill has an awful lot of energy and is asking for trouble near planking. I chanced it and got away with it - that time. The risk of damage is reduced a little if you put sellotape over the site first.

You can see that small pieces of the mahogany wales have been removed to ensure that the metal gun port castings fit neatly against the hull. Where the hull is particularly convex or concave, some of the lighter wood will need to be removed too.