Thursday, January 27, 2011

El Diablo es rojo


That's right!  The Devil is red.  In this case, the design name of the boat is the "diablo", so I have no choice but to name it El Diablo Rojo (The Red Devil).  I have a confession...  I made a strategic error.  It's no secret that winter projects are a great idea, but a winter project involving fiberglass is ill advised.  Now, I have heat out in the shop, but when the temperature outside is in the 20s and I need the heat inside to be in the 75 to 80 degree range, the price of propane is getting to be prohibitive.  We're burning about $100 a week, ouch!!  So, I decided to quit trying to get the outside of the boat perfect.  Instead, I am now convinced that its good enough.

The fiberglass just would NOT cure enough to be able to sand it effectively.  When the sand paper would hit it, instead of turning to dust, it would just roll up. 


So, here was part of the solution.  Now kids, don't try this at home.  I have never, I mean rarely, uh only occasionally blown things up in the shop.  So, to get el diablo muy caliente (hotter) I decided to put the Coleman stove under the boat and fire it up.  It worked, but only partially.  The good news is that the resin vapor did not ignite thus blowing El Diablo to you know where:~)  

So, I decided to cut my losses and slapped on some paint.   My arrow slinging doctor friend says, "It's okay, you're not going to fly it."  But, he's never ridden in a boat with me while I was driving:~) 

I need to be done with this project by 1 March so we can be on the river for shad season.   There is a lot of work ahead.  Next step is to add another coat of paint on the outside, then flip it and get started on the inside.  I need to hurry with this project, I've got another airplane brewing in my head...

Saturday, January 8, 2011

More than one way to skin a cat... I mean uh, a boat!

So, my arrow slinging doctor friend came over to help with the boat.  His son, the stunt boat driver came with him to lend his recent experience.  They helped me lay the outer skin of fiberglass on the boat.  I couldn't have done it without them.  Thanks guys! Here's what we did...


First, we painted the side panels with fiberglass resin.
Next, we laid the fabric into the wet resin.  Then, we added addition resin slowly moving from the back of the boat to the front.  We let the excess fabric simply hang over the edge.  I'll worry about trimming it once its cured.
Once those guys left I looked at the progress we had made.  I was so impressed with the way the bow turned out (because the fabric overlapped there) that I decided to go ahead and finish the transom (back end).  So, its now officially a fiberglass boat! 
Join us next time when we'll have great fun sanding!!  Oh yeah!!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Question: Is it a wood boat or a fiberglass boat? Answer: Yes

Random thought:  Woodpecker lips are harder than Chinese arithmetic.  No, it has absolutely nothing to do with this post... 

Well, the wood working is just about done, but the fiberglassing is only just beginning.   Lori and I had to drive to Washington NC the other day to get more resin, hardener and filler.  This was almost $200!  What?  This stuff works great, but it's crazy expensive. 
So, I taped the seams on the inside.  Again, the green fabric is peel ply, so it comes off when everything dries.

Man fabric is rough on rotary cutter blades!


Now, I need to glass the entire outside of the project.  I had to flip it upside down again.
Next, I laid the fabric on the bottom panel to cut it to size.  I ended up cutting it down so that it had about 6 inches of overhang on all sides.
Then, I used a paint roller to spread epoxy resin to the bottom panel.

I laid the fabric right into the wet epoxy and then rolled on another coat on top.

Here's the result.

I was going to lay the side glass at the same time, but the bottom panel kept moving every time I touched it. So, I decided to let the bottom dry and then add the sides tomorrow.

Now, I know that Christmas is over, but if anyone is thinking of getting me a belated Christmas present, I have an idea!  Available at West Marine:~)