(De) Construction....

The cockpit coming out:

And the cockpit flipped over and getting prepped for fillets, tape and epoxy

all around:

Thanks to Matt Seely for swinging by to help w/ the lifting and spinning. The cockpit is stinkin' LIGHT! Just cumbersome.

Everything is sanded and the tape has all been cut. Wed eve will be another epoxy night.

cockpit glassed......and Perfect Game.......

The cockpit is glassed...top side. It came out beautifully. No runs, no drips, no errors.....(in honor of Dallas Bradon's perfect game for the A's today........) The area near the aft that has no epoxy is extra "run" of deck.....I haven't trimed to fit at the very back just yet. Going to use a flush cut router bit on that at the end.....figured it would be helpful to leave it on so I have something to grab as I lift the sole out to flip it.

Now to lift it out and glass all the bits on the bottom!

Cockpit radius done and glass prep.....

I have finished fairing (at least for now) the radius' (radii?) for the cockpit.

I have also cut the glass cloth for my first big glass job. *{[GULP]}* I have done a few big glass jobs like this, but never on my own......this is a BIG committment of material and time and....well....any skrew up is going to be COSTLY in both!!!

Wish me luck on two fronts: 1) That I don't create a massive WHOOPS and 2) I find time to do this on MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Have I mentioned that my wife is a SAINT?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! radius and foam dust......

So the planer made quick work of getting the radius' close:

And then my single most favorite tool in the shop, my PorterCable variable speed random orbital sander got them to within hand sand tolerance:

I need to tweak in some spots. I did lose a few pieces of foam where the edges get thin. I crawled into the belly of the beast again and added a few tabs behind those spots, including one that was far enough back I could only just barely reach it......and no way I could see what I was doing. Molly was kind enough to come out and eye ball it for me!

And she made some awesome enchiladas for dinner.

Note to self: wearing a dust mask after enchiladas is a bad idea unless you really enjoy enchilada burps.........

tabs from below....

Nothing exciting to see, but the tabs are all in place from underneath. The darker 2x4 is propped against the side of the garage and pushing the side panel in. The lighter one forward of that is holding the foam down. The 4x4 running fore/aft is also holding foam down..more red neck engineering!! I tabbed the starboard side last night, pulled those ties tonight and started playing with shaping the foam. Longboard is slower than I'ld like, belt sander isn't much faster. Then John P suggested the hand planer.....excellent idea and a great trade off for the 1 beer I fed him.

Tomorrow's picture will hopefully show a foammy snow storm and a nicely radiused cockpit!

Cockpit ready for tabs......

I remember this movie that I saw as a little kid.......this crazy guy would bury people alive in a coffin with one small light and a little bit of air. The scene would open with someone coming to in a really cramped space realizing slowly what was going on and beginning to freak out. Those images came rushing back as I crawled head first in to the aft part of the boat to place wire ties.....it is freakin snug in there!!!!

But, I was able to get the cockpit sides and sole in this weekend!

!

Hopefully I will be tabbing this week. Then the foam is shaped and the whole top glassed.

While I was at it, I started to clean up the interior a bit and also started the foot bensons. Well, then I had to put those into the cockpit w/ the travelor to see what it all will sort of look like:

8 hours in one shot is worth more than 3-4 evenning shifts of 2-3 hours.

I feels great to make a big chunk of progress!!

Cockpit supports

This is what I am going to have for supports under the cockpit sole. Less than some builds, more than others. With the bensons on it should be plenty stiff.