May I be the first to welcome you to the world of:
FEAR OF DOCKING!
Seriously, all it takes is decent fenders to save the paint. But plain 'ol vinyl fenders will scratch. Get a set of three big ones and have a set of terry cloth covers made for them. They make quick cleats that let you just stick a pin in a socket and all three fenders can be in place in seconds. You'll be styling!!!
The blue looks great now. Wait until you see the water reflecting on it!
Thanks to all. This is getting more and more exciting rapidly. The worst thing is that it won't be finished for another month or so. Theres still plenty to do. The hull sides should be complete by the end of the week (booth stripe and clear coat). Then they have a few weeks of work to do on the bottom. After that its non-skid and odds & ends to finish up... touch-ups, buffing, polishing and etc.
I did indeed see the boat Friday. Its pretty. The color is very interesting. It changes very drastically depending on the light. It laid down very smooth, and even unpolished it has a hell of a shine. Once it is clear coated and the clear is polished its going to be even more amazing.
There is a small splotch of light blue on the white of the top cap... That is the color of the non-skid. I added some darker blue to the very light blue that I had bought to get it to something I liked better. I really like the contrast now. Won't be so tough on the eyes either.
Now, moving on to the livewell project. I water sanded the mold up to 800 grit and then waxed it 3 coats of Meguires release wax. Good enough. I mixed up some light blue gelcoat and coated the mold with about 20 mils. Then 2 layers of 1.5 oz mat and 2 layers of 1808. I popped it off a few minutes ago. Basically I just disassembled the mold from the inside. It was never intended to be anything but a one-off mold. Next weekend I have to start building this thing into the leaning post. Should be fun.
I created about 5 lbs of fiberglass dust today. I chopped the back seat and the ice box that didn't hold ice off of the back of the rocket launcher today. After fitting the livewell to place, I spent a few hours grinding back for new fiberglass to tie this thing back together inside and out.
I have a few odds and ends to take care of before I am ready to glass her back together. Mainly I have to make a lid that I'll fiberglass to the top of the livewell tank. That will allow for the water in the tank not to slosh out into the leaning post. It will also be a gap filler of sorts for the opening to get to the bait.
I am considering making a top section for it with a smaller opening. The one I cut off also is a little wide by about 1/4" due to the taper of the leaning post and moving it upwards about 7 inches, and the opening is huge. I can make a mold pretty quick out of MDF and make the lay-up pretty rapidly. That way I can close in the top of the livewell alot easier.
Fresh update... Just got home from visiting the boat. The hull sides are clear coated and looking good. These pics are after wet sanding and 1 round of buffing. They still have the final polish to do. The pictures don't really do it justice as there was still some haze from buffing as well as a high humidity which had a little sheen on the hull. Its pretty impressive.
You can see that the boat is off the trailer now. They are going to start grinding on the stress cracks on the bottom tomorrow morning. There are plenty of those to go around.[xx(]
Here's some stuff I have been working on yesterday and today. I started by waxing a piece of smooth masonite. I laid out 3 layers of 1808 and then set the whole thing on the livewell. This is a lid to keep water from sloshing out of the livewell. A hole will be cut in the top when the new top of the leaning post is ready to go to place.
Next I started on an MDF mold to make a new back seat of the leaning post. There is a recessed opening with a lip that will entend about 2.5" down to help keep the sloshing water in the well. Modeling clay was used for fillets and then a coat of Partall and a coat of PVA. I just cut the glass for the laminates and will do the layup tomorrow morning.
Ringleader, keep the updates coming!
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