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...

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!!!

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:~)

Looks like a boat, but there's a lotta work left to do

Well, its looking pretty good, but there's still a lot to do.  I did some sanding on the exterior seams and flipped the frame to start on the inside. 

I installed the motor support T on the transom.  I used exterior grade wood back there (it's green) just because that's all I had "in stock".

It's good to be inside when it looks like this outside...

I've ordered the fiberglass fabric to sheath the outside of the hull and fiberglass tape to cover all the seams on the inside.  I still need to run to Lowe's home and marine supply to find something to use for the gunwales (top of the sides).  More to come, stay tuned.

It's MAN Fabric Okay?

There has been some confusion.  Since Lori posted the link to this blog on her Facebook account, some folks seem to think she's building a boat.  While she is more than capable, she prefers working with fabric and building custom quilts.  I don't work with fabric, cause it's not a manly pursuit.  We're building boats here!

Now that we've got that straight, let's get back to boat building.  Today, we're fiberglassing the seams.  We start by cutting our fabric.  Wait a minute.  That can't be right.  I mean, this is different.  We use a rotary cutter and a rotary mat and...  Wait, wait, sounds just like Lori's quilting project.  But, this is MAN fabric!  No flowers or paisley print, just good ole fashion fiberglass fabric.   It's manly, really.

   Okay, so yesterday, my arrow slinging, squirrel killing, doctor friend came over and we used an interesting technique to pull the side and bilge panels together to minimize the gaps.  We drilled holes in the upper and lower panels and pulled them together with copper wire.  We literally stripped the wire from household electrical wiring. 

From this point, I got underneath the boat and put resin and cotton flox into the seam.  This basically glued the seams together.  Then, I pulled the copper out and removed the tape.  Then,sanded the seams on the outside.  Next, I used the same resin and cotton flox mixture on the outside.  Then, I laid fiberglass fabric strips right into the flox mix.  I put another fabric called peel ply on top of the fiberglass. And yes, It's a MAN fabric too!  It helps smooth the seam and once everything is dry, you peel it right off and it looks much better.

I had to cut the ends of the bilge panels before laying the fiberglass on the transom.

Tomorrow, we flip the boat and start on the inside.  Looks like I started this "winter project" just in time.  Here's shot out the back door looking toward the shop.  A little chilly out there!

An insomniac's dream

Get it?  Insomniac...  Dream...  A play on words maybe.  Okay, it was lame.  Seriouly, last night, I woke up at 1:00 A.M. and couldn't go back to sleep.  What to do?  Work on the boat of course.  So, I went to the shop and put one layer of fiberglass on each side, bilge and bottom panel to make them stiffer at the splice. 

After catching a few winks, I went back out and started assembly.  Step one:  Tack the side panels to the transom.  It wasn't too bad.  In fact, it was so easy that I decided to do it again.  Okay, I put them on backwards the first time, but I was just practicing, wink.

Next I built little stands to hold each of the frame molds. 

Then, I lined up each frame between the side panels.

Then, I added the bottom panel.

Then I installed the stem.  You've heard the phrase, "From stem to stern."?  Well its the curved thing up front.

At this point I had to have back-up.  Lori, Maggie and Colton helped me lift the transom and side panels into position.

Next, the bilge panels...

Now, don't worry about those little holes down the entire length of the boat.  I'm going to have a nice coffee can to bail water with:~)  Ha!  Seriously, the panel didn't fit so hot the first time and I couldn't figure it out.  I had installed the second frame mold in the wrong location.  Once I swapped that around, everything fit a little better.  But, it still doesn't want to go right into place. 

At the end of the day I decided to just tack the bilge panels into place and leave them overnight.  My brother-in-law once told me that guitars don't know they are no longer trees until they've been playing music a while.  So, I'm hoping that sometime during the night this pile of wood will realize that it's going to be a boat! 

Ninja Squirrels

Fact:  I have ninja squirrels behind my shop.  No really!  I put a camera behind the shop and put a monitor inside.  So, I put corn out there and watch those little buggers launch themselves at one another.  They literally flip through the air as they attack their arch nemesis.  It's great comic relief while boat building.  If you look carefully you can see a squirrel on the screen.

So, now I know what you're thinking...  That looks like a housecat.  Yep.  It is!  She stayed there and ate corn for a solid 20 minutes.  Hunting ninja squirrels must not be her gig.

Where were we?  Oh yeah, boat building.  O.K., all of the dimensions for the project come from a single page in the book.  Seriously small print and I'm getting older, I can tell because my arms are getting shorter and there is never enough light.  But, I think I've got all of the pieces except the seats cut out. 

I finished cutting out the other bilge and side panels and glued the ah, ah, well the butt splices.  I put heavy stuff on top to hold pressure while the glue dried.  I also cut out the stem, but I didn't get a picture of it.   

Tomorrow I will be putting resin and a layer of fiberglass on the side and bottom panels.  Then, more waiting for stuff to dry.  By the way, you remember the "Shop Truth" from yesterday?  You know, the right tool is never the one that's plugged in?  Well, fixed it!  Oh yeah!  TTFN