This is what they are talking about when you are drawing a fair curve. I use spring clamps, quck clamps, and nails to get the points, and bend an aluminum 1/8" x 1" batten around them.
I felt good about that, so I took a picture. It was progress, so I needed proof.
I decided life is to be spent enjoying it, not quabbling over a mirror finish. To hell with fairing, lets prime!
I laid on System 3 high build primer ( WR-155 ), one coat one evening, then two coats a day later. This had two different reasons. First, thats all the time I had. Second (and this might have been more about justifying it, but it sure sounds good on paper), I think the bottom layer cured up a little, which makes it harder to sand through. Who the hell knows.
You can see the wavy lines, but I dont care:
Here is a considerably more finished looking transom, almost like its supposed to look:
I then proceeded to longboard this for about 8 hrs. It ended up with a bit of orange peel/knockdown drywall texture. Nice to fair into, but just more work, I think. Alright, Im sick of longboarding, so out came the ROS, vac attached, and 120 grit disks.
Did I mention I left the camera inside?
Everything ended up smooth, but still with some waves, no hard edges to the fills, but you can see some altitude changes. Ya know what? WHO CARES!! This isn't a $100,000 mahogany runabout. Life isn't about finishes and perfect mirrored surfaces. This is a boat, first and foremost, that will be used daily. I mean that. My neighbor put 208 hours on his boat in a year. We will rival that, as the fishing season is 9 months long, not to mention I have friends in various places on the lake which requires transportation.
I don't want to sweat a little nick or rub here and there. I want to be able to dock anywhere. I want to be able to put it on the beach. I want to be out in the salt sometimes. I dont want a boat that isn't USABLE.
Oh, and I forgot the camera for another phase.
Well here is where the camera comes back in, photos by SWMBO:
What happened? Its like a peacock! She has sprouted colors everywhere!
The bottom paint is West Marine BottomPro in red, laid on by myself (1st coat) and Jerry from down the lake (2nd coat). Massive mixing issue with the first pint. Get it mixed at the shop. If it has any solid masses in it, switch to another can, use the better paint, and have that shaken or replaced. It went horribly due to the solids coming out of solution. Jerry laid on the 2nd coat, but the 2nd can was fully suspended and required minimal mixing.
Topside paint is Kirby's Grey-green. I highly reccomend Kirby's for one particular reason; this stuff is literally fun to paint with. It lays out smoothly, it cleans up easily, it hides brush strokes well, and with a little penetrol, becomes very smooth. It is a semi-gloss to hide imperfections and the inevitable damage later. A little goes a Loooooong way with this paint. I used less than a pint for one full coat.
Two coats of bottom paint, one coat of topside. Due to this being the first of its kind built, I am not putting the waterline in place until its actually in the water, loaded. Thus the lines are a little here and there. but you get the general idea.
Once again I recruited the crew, Pete, Brady, Shayne, Ron, Sean, Tom, and myself (with a little assist at the end from Shayne's girlfriend Stephanie, the greatest cake-maker in the world). These people have been a tremendous help by coming over at short notice, giving of their Father's day to help me flip this thing. On with the show!
There is a ton of interior bracing built of 2x4 inside the boat to allow rolling it on the gunnels like this:
Add some 10' doug fir studs for handles:
To the trailer! Note Brady isn't pulling his weight, so Pete is stuck with a big load:
Stephanie helping out, and getting it up on the trailer:
All in all a fun event. Big thanks to Jerry, whom I had planned on purchasing the trailer from, but was unable to get bunks built. He saw the issue and built those monsters from supplies he had at his house midday sunday. Huge help, and I hope he doesn't mind that I just drove down and stole the trailer from him.
Thanks again to everyone that helped.
Oh, there is so much work to be done now.....
E
No comments:
Post a Comment