Al. Hydro 25Mar. report

[Winger Ed.]

Well, the bottom is finished.

We flipped it back upright a few weeks ago.

The cockpit sides are bolted to the inside edge of the hull frames & riveted in to a 3 x 3 x .080 angle stock strip running along the outboard inside edges of the cockpit. The flooring is done and foamed underneath. So far, it is incredibly rigid and won't flex at all fore & aft.

I found this laminate stuff to do the cockpit walls and the floor of the driver's station with. Its 1/4" thick, made of 2 layers of .025 Al. sheet held apart by a expanded Aluminum grating looking stuff in between. Real light, fairly stiff, and real strong when put in as a lateral stiffener. With about 85 1/4" Stainless bolts & locknuts attaching it to the frame members, its eliminated all the fore & aft flexing.

In the 2nd picture, you can see the transom brace.
It runs from the transom frame, diagonally across the cockpit walls, to the floor and is bolted to the frame itself where it crosses.

Next comes the foam, the decking, and the cowlings.

Its slow and tedious, theres' lots to be done that you can't really see the progress happening. To get the bottom done, the flooring, and the base of the cockpit walls, I've gone through a little over 5,000 rivets & 85-90 Stainless bolts, so far. I figure it'll take about 2,000 more rivets for the topside decking.

Thanks again for all the help, patience, and interest.

Ed.

[Winger Ed.]

Here's a side view.

The frameing is done. That's PPG's DP-90 black epoxy primer mopped onto the inside of the hull. It's their flagship primer for Aluminum. It tries to soak into the Aluminum, the foam soaks into it, and the combination sticks together like 'poop' on a baby blanket.

With all the foam in it, it should have about 3,000 pounds of bouyancy.

When its done, it may be about 150 pounds heavier than it could have been without it, but it should be one safe, tough boat.
Ed.

[mendo]

THanks for the updates!! I love to see different stuff.

Keep it up, I am thinking polished finish on top? It would look good!

[Michael Martin]

Thats so awesome! Its taken some time but it will be very well worth it.

Keep it up!!

Mike

[Winger Ed.]

Originally posted by mendo
I am thinking polished finish on top? It would look good!


Yeah,
It'd look like an old vintage fighter plane, but I can't do it.
(I just finished the frame up for the cowling tonite and it'll look like the front end of a jet fighter when the skin goes on)

I'm a auto refinish distributor to body shops.

Over the years, I've catered to all the antique car, street-rod guys, & folks doing custom car paint jobs. And, I'll do a custom finish or re-paint a car or boat about every year or so myself.... which gets critiqued very thoughly too.

It just wouldn't do if I didn't put some sort of custom paint job on it.

Plus, I'll twist the Tech-Rep's arm and get reimbursed for all the materials I use anyway. PPG sponsors the finish for various exotic, unique, and racing machines, I figure they can sponsor my projects too.

Thanks for the input, but it just can't be done that way, this time around.

Ed.

[mendo]

OK, how about leaving some polished areas, logos or patterns in the final paint? some spots or shapes that are shiny?

Shiny is good!!