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It's coming along great!

Before I had my lathe, I made a similar 'hat patch'. Your way would have been a lot easier.

 

New tools! It’s Christmas all over!
I have done the lathe cut patches, they work great, the Meteor will get a bunch of those.
Hand made Feather Crafts, no two identical and no inter changeable parts, from a different time but not that long ago.
It’s great that boat ended up in the hands of someone willing to put forth all the effort to save it, looking really good Terry!
 

My Ranger had a second drain too. I turned a piece of 1/8" on the lathe to fit.
 

.Fabricated the rest of the fill in plates.Varied the length of them to not stress the hull in one spot.The ends will be out of sight under the rear seat. The spacing of the stringers are all different, like they just eyeballed where they should go.
 

Rivet order is in. Countersink, micro-stop, angled set, deburring tool, another 50 clecos and rivets.
 

I did a similar repair on my Vagabond to close an additional drain hole. I used Loctite Marine sealant when I installed the inside plate. Here area a few photos.

Ray this is great tip!! Drilling tiny hole works well with glass/plexiglass/virtually anything to stop cracks spreading. I think high speed is better than slow with step bit or uni-bit also? I’ve found going slow if your holding drill tight when bit catches it rips! High speed with little pressure (even rocking drill) will give you clean finish. I’ve used these lots for cutting SS/alum/steel..
alum will plug it up clean groves after each hole.. don’t forget goggles and gloves the shavings get HOT
difnt watch video it may say all that?? lol

 

I’m always concerned about tearing a crack open too, I usually drill a small hole at each end of a crack before I drill into the center of the crack, and then drill with very light feed pressure until I get out to a smooth hole.

The reason I was going with the hole saw is the metal is ripped on all the holes. Looking at them, I thought they would continue tearing with a drill.
I'll go with a smaller one and finish with a step drill. I've got a set of them.
Thanks!

It's about time to get a rivet order in.

I found this Project Farm step drill shootout interesting:

I bought the Temo. 

I think that will work, step drills do great at producing a smooth round hole.
You can find them less expensive than these, but these do work great to give a very smooth and on size hole.

www.mcmaster.com/8841A25/

I've found three punctures in the hull, two port side and one starboard.
So before I screw something up, I thought I'd run this past the more experienced.
What my plan is, do small flush patches. I used a 1 3/8" hole saw to make some plugs. I'll use a 1 1/8" hole saw to cut the damage out. A little sanding on the plug and it should be a perfect fit. The back plate will fill the area between the stringers from the transom to under the seat. I think three countersunk rivets should do for the plug.
Since I have to do this on two sides, I will just fill the rest of the spaces between the stringers to make it aesthetically appealing.
 

 

For the hole saw to not walk on me I clamped a 2x4 to the bottom for the pilot bit.
 

What do you think? Am I off base?