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September 1st 2003

	After a couple of very frustrating days, we decided to stop playing around and get serious. Up until today, we had been removing or drilling out all of the bolts and screws holding the floor together. I thought that there must be a faster way of getting this floor out of the way, and taking the advise of my friend Alan, I purchased a circular saw. By setting the saw to the depth of the plywood and rubber mat, I made quick work of the sheeting and made it MUCH easier to get at both sides of the bolts holding the remaining strips of plywood around the edges.
	My second purchase of the day was a "Drill Doctor". I figured that I would be doing a lot more drilling on this project and at the rate I was burning through $12 drill bits, I needed another plan. The Drill Doctor cost me about $100.00. I learned how to use the tool after a couple of frustrating hours... It turns out that the cobalt drill bits I had been purchasing were not a standard shape, so the Drill Doctor tool sharpened them incorrectly and made them useless. I managed to figure this out after comparing some other drill bits that I had successfully sharpened. Eventually I made up my own "setting" on the Drill Doctor and can now sharpen the oddly shaped drill bits in a little under 30 seconds just like the standard ones. I've already sharpened 12 bits, so the tool has easily paid for itself in both time and initial cost.
	After drilling out all of the bolts on the isle side of the metal risers, I was able to pull the riser free and take a good look at how it was all attached. It was pretty clear to me after the piece was out that I didn't have to touch the isle side bolts at all. They only went through the isle platform and not into the sub floor, so I could cut right along the edge of the bolts and remove the metal riser and the remaining strip of isle plywood together along with the bolts.
	Once the "easy way" was discovered, we were able to clear out most of the center isle and metal riser for the left side. It was very encouraging to finally see the sub floor level... With renewed hope that we could get through with the floor in the next few days, we called it a day and spent the evening talking about the future floor plans for the bus.