Bottom GLASSED!

I glassed the entire bottom in one go today with the help of Gordon.....THANKS BUD....could not have done it w/out the help.

Because I came up short on material, I went by TAP plastics and found their 8 oz cloth was only 50" wide...not enough. But they did have 38" wide cloth. So I ended up doing a 60" piece down the center and a 38" skirt on either side. I lose an overlap on the center seam, but gain an overlap on either chine....I'll take it.

It looks like it came out well. Next will be a flow-coat of slightly thinkened epoxy (so I can SAND MORE) and primer and paint.

I did take last weekend off to camp at Infineon and watch 43 cars go stupid-crazy fast w/ Mickey.

Also, Happy Birthday brother Sam!!

Fair Chair OR Those Viagra people have something there!

So with the mask on and the radio going, I have hours to come up with stupid blog posts.....here's a good one, a picture of all the different chairs I use to get to just the right height to fair. (YES, I am bored out of my mind with this fairing crap!)

I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. As usual, my fairing was sort of stuck in fiddle -fu__ mode. Thanks to Chad, I upsized my fairing board (longer and stiffer IS better!!), went to 50 grit instead of dinking around w/ 80, and am plopping on just a tad more fairing compound w/ each round. I am making quicker progress and can see where the hull will come out pretty nice. My fear was that I would really weigh the hull down with too much bog, but now that I am sanding so much more off at each pass, I see where this is going to be much better.

I would still be at it if I hadn't run out of fairing compound. 2 or 3 more nights and I am in business!!

Ferenity Prayer......

(Fairing for an eternity with serenity)

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the spots I cannot FAIR,

The courage to FAIR the spots that I can FAIR,

and the wisdom to know the difference!!!!!


Water is 800 times more dense than air.....so I fair, and I fair, and I fair.......

Epoxy-Palooza.....

Brandt from Oregon and Chad from L.A. converged here today primarily to deliver their C-Tech rigs. It was very nice to meet Brandt and see Chad again. For all those thinking of building, you couldn't get in with a finer group of sailor/builders!!

The C-Tech rigs are a work of art. If form follows function.....then these masts have function dialed! Boys and their toys:

That's Chad on the left and Brandt on the right. (Not sure how Brandt expected to get the mast on that little tryke and get it all back to Oregn....)

I was feeling burnt on fairing and ready to glass, but a voice in the back of my head was saying, "not yet young man...." As I said last night, I knew Chad would set me straight. Sure enough, he felt at least one more round would be good for the boat. So we spent an hour or two mixing fairing compound and hitting all the low spots again.

He also said (in front of my wife no less) that I needed a longer stiffer sanding board. Molly couldn't help herself, "Isn't that what ALL men want?" So here is my new, improved 1/2" x 36" torture board:

I think the clearance sail closet door handles are a FINE touch cosmetically and should provide a great grip...form follows function.....C-Tech has nothin on me!

I also put together the sugar scoop/swim platform to appease the PHRF folks tonight. It seemeed prudent to do this BEFORE I glassed the hull as it required a few more screw holes in the bottom of the hull. I think this is going to be a real nice addition and not a gangly mess...fingers crossed!

Tomorrow I sand the bog from today (Chad hinted that he laid it on extra heavy just to slow me down!! THANKS BUD!!) and if I get a hand or two maybe even glass the bottom.

Inadequacies.....

It's all coming together nicely...BUT.....

I can't get a decent photo of where I think I may need to fair more and what is right, but here are some shots of the spots I did fair:

The photos do not tell the story. I think I need to fair more, but fortunately I have Chad and Brandt showing up tomorrow from North and South to exchange a C-Tech rig, and I will see if they think I am woefully under faired, or if it is time to lay glass and be done with it.

Also, I found that I am as short of cloth as I was of epoxy. Would be nice if the "Glass and Resin" kit was adequate. I don't think this is my over use of product as much as the

fact that there just isn't enough product in the kit to complete the boat.



That is just a product of being an "early-adopter" and not a huge deal. I am off to TAP Plastics tomorrow AM to get more matt before my fellow i-Crate builders arrive.

I also had a long conversation with Jerome of the Open 5.70 today (www.opensailing usa.com) about PHRF and sportboats in general. You gotta like a guy who is so into the sportboat class, and not just his own design, that he is willing to help advocate for a rating for us. This guy is one classy dude!!
He does think I may be a bit "over-canvassed", and I have to agree that on the SF Bay this boat, with the sail plan I have in mind, may be more than a handful. But I want to be class legal when other i550's show up, so going to a heavier bulb is a BIG diversion.

I think I need to sleep on all this. BIG day tomorrow!!

Long Board Blues

SOMEONE has written this song somewhere sometime......I love getting a piece of wood JUST RIGHT, but long board fairing is miserable work. It doesn't help that it was 90 degrees in Sacramento today. I am turning all the lights off and shining a light along the hull to see where I need to bog and sand next. And there is always SOME spot that needs more work.



My good friend Don came by tonight to help.



I love this picture. I was fully gloved, and spreading the gooey love, took one glove off to run inside and grab the camera to have Don's gal Erica take a picture of us both working. I came out, handed Erica the camera and jumped back up on the boat. This is picture was taken the moment that I realized I had just grabbed the sticky end of a spreader that Don just handed me..without a glove on.......AND dipped my shirt into epoxy at the same time....I love boat building!!!

Now back to more long boarding.

15 seconds of fame......

I am TOTALLY STOKED to have made the front page of Sailing Anarchy:

Now, back to sanding......

FLIPPED!

Here we go:

1) My camera crew, Mickey and JP (enjoying the spoils of their labor)

2) The only chaos/drama...Cody the wonder dog
3) Proud owner (needs to shave).......

4) boat sees light of day

5) PULL!!!!

6) On the grass

7) Could be in Hawaii!

8) The scene

9) The set up

10) READY>>>>

11) DONE!

12) Just clears....

THEN we ate, drank a beer, and put the camera crew to bed a little later than usual.

Thanks to my crew...it took all of four guys to do it. Wouldn't have wanted to do this w/ three, and really ddn't need any more.

NOW to get REALLY dusty!