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A big day

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:28 pm
by Sir Adam
Some of you will understand this directly.

Other's will understand this indirectly.

I'm hoping at some point all of you will, one way or another...

Today I'm building my first boat, solo....at my own "shop" (aka the great outdoors).

In the past Pete Hornbeck has been VERY generous with time and shop space, and I've done every step solo (even building solo, but not with a gelcoat).

This time is different. From fixing the mold (some issues while in off-site storage), to rewaxing, to preparing everything...it's all me. With a few folks (Sara and her father) around randomly when I need an extra set of hands. But they know nothing of the process.

As I type the gelcoat is all down, and within the next hour the layup proper will begin. That part I'm comfortable with, for the most part.

From the popping out of the mold to the finished product I'm used to doing it solo...no one I know LIKES doing seams, after all:)

I'm not sure if this second Mentor (should it survive the build) will be done in time for Palmerfest, but it is my intention to have it at the Cquirt fest. It will be a slightly larger cut (but not by much!).

I hope everyone is out on the water today...that's where I'd like to be right now:)

Of course, I'll be paddling 3 of the weekends in May (Derby, Palmerfest, and the Armada), so I can't complain TOO much:)

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:57 pm
by Mike W.
That's awesome man! 8) Yesterday I popped the mold off of an old seat :-? That was a scary process. Now, hopefully I can make my own seat :) After just pulling a mold I have even more respect for anyone who has built a plug, mold & boat. I can't even begin to comprehend how much work & attention to detail go into that whole process.

Yes, I was on the water today. Ran the Roanoke in the Acrobat. The water has dropped a couple thousand cfs, but I was still able to find a spot to go chest deep :D

Think deep thoughts, my freind, deep thoughts :wink:

adam

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:01 pm
by jim gross
i too have spent many a paddling weekend building. i useually took a 3 day weekend to pull a boat with very little and short sleep breaks. cummon dude . it'll make a man out of ya. JIM

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:33 pm
by PAC
"Nice" on taking the next step! But sorry to hear the wife will not let you lay up or seam in the kitchen any more! LOL

Should make you oh so much more interested in PS Composites and how they pull it off. Are you doing in metal flake work? Of course you will provide photos. :-)

Make sure you let Pete know how much the rest of us appreciate his help on getting your designs on the river.

Keep that C alive! :wink:

Images:)

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:35 pm
by Sir Adam
The deck doesn't sparkle inside (it's deep purple magenta ("Garnet") with a black center flake), but you can see how shiny it all is. Popped out no problem at all. Tonight I'll be trimming it down and cutting out the cockpit. My hope is to make this one slightly higher volume for bigger folks. We'll see how it all goes with the jigsaw, and then fitting the halves....

Image
Image

The fellow standing with me was my helper...who happens to be my father in law (Sara took the picture, of course).

I'll be curious to see how the deck looks in the bright sun...if it's anything like the first boat, it'll sparkle rather nicely:)

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:21 pm
by kaz
Looks good Adam. Want to take over my business?
JKaz

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:56 pm
by Sir Adam
HA!

I have to work to support my paddling habit...I'd hate to have to paddle to support my work habit!

Pete Hornbeck has already warned me of the slippery slope (building boats when I could have been paddling...).

It is undoubtably a lot of work to build a boat...and 50x that to design one from scratch. But it's worth it, in my humble opinion. If nothing else it helps me appreciate the hard work of many other folks who are far more skilled than I.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:30 pm
by Mike W.
Pretty work!

adam

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:39 pm
by jim gross
is that a baby pink hull i spy??shiney n s-it

Re: Images:)

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:48 am
by KNeal
Sir Adam wrote:My hope is to make this one slightly higher volume for bigger folks.
I went to the dr. for my bronchitis today and after getting weighed, Adam, I gotta say that the higher volume WILL be useful for me. :o

:wink: :D

KNeal

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:58 pm
by John Coraor
Adam:

The hull & deck look great; should be a slick combination.

I'm just curious about the extra fabric showing after you've popped the halves out of the mold. John Sweet always taught me to trim the halves in the mold while the layup was "green" in order to save the pain of having to sabre saw them when fully cured. Of course, that was with polyester or vinylester; Does epoxy work differently?

John

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:55 pm
by Sir Adam
You are VERY right John...it is MUCH easier to trim the halves when it is still green (this is Vinylester, but epoxy is the same...except it takes longer until it's green).

The issue here is that I mixed up several batches (3, to be exact) of resin while I was working...and the first half kicked off while I was working on the second half...by the time I checked it, it was past time to trim....and the last batch was still too tacky to trim when the underside (end of batch 1) had kicked off on the second half.

Which is why folks who know more of what they are doing know 1) how long it will take to lay up the boat and 2) how much resin it will take. The best bet is to mix one batch of resin per half...that way it kicks off all at the same time.

I was also battling warming temps...instead of highs in the mid 60's, it ended up 75...thankfully I was in the shade.

On the plus side there is usually trimming to do with a sabre saw anyway, and the "new" blades for fiberglass and kevlar cut really well...as long as the fabric was well saturated.

Last night I trimmed the halves, tonight I cut out the cockpit area and set the form up for glassing.

trimming

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 2:30 am
by jim gross
much easier to trim when you dont have a glass/kevlar mix. i used to battle this as they had different timeing for trimmin. the last three boats i did i just let the stuff cure and then turned the cut off wheel on the angle grinder on it.it works on motor cycle frames too. heheheheh JIM

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 2:20 pm
by RodeoClown
I agree with Jim- trimming Kevlar is just a PITA- I do it like Jim says. Also, since it's a squirtboat, you've got some grinding/trimming to do anyway to get the chop right anyway.