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Everything posted by PAR
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We all seem to awaken to the reality of genetics and assorted aliments, after we darn near bite the big one. Women seem much less prone to this social trait, but once you get into your mid 40's, take stock. The statistics just get worse, year after year. For example at your age, you odds of surviving a major cardiac event are about 50%. Once over 60 the odds drop to 30%, yeah, 2 out of 3, given no previous history. Once in the mid 60's the first sign you're about to die from a stroke is when you fall over, from a stroke and the odds aren't good. I'm fortunate I had my heart attack fairly early, pushing hard to finish up a restoration for a major show. I knew I was pushing it hard, but it wasn't anything I hadn't done previously. I'm just glad I recognized the symptoms soon enough and literally had the attack in the car on the way to the emergency room. Take care of your butts guys, the odds are not good. When you see grey in your hair, you've waited to long. I've lost way too many, way too young and most could have been easily nursed through with regular checkups and age related testing. Glad both of you got lucky, but this isn't a retirement plan when 2 out of 3 will just grab their chest and fall over, as their first sign of trouble.
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Yeah, I'm up, can't sleep, so I'll get an early start on my traditional Christmas day sail. I cheated and sailed today, knowing it was going to be cooler tomorrow. Lovely day, mid 70's, 8 knots and I owned the lake, with everyone heading over to grandma's house. This is the usual case on Christmas day too, not a sole out, so I can sail naked if I wanted. Have a happy holiday folks . . .
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I typically use the sheer clamp (what I think you're calling the inner sheer) to hold the replacement ribs as inserted. I do often loosen up the sheer clamp fasteners to provide some gap, so I'm not fighting with them and enough space to over bend them slightly, to counteract spring back. It's not necessary and I know several that remove it and just clamp the ribs in place instead. In the end, I think you'll have to decide how much shape are you going to lose by its removal.
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The SOS feature is reserved for nights when you're horny . . .
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Aluminum, just like everything else needs to have some "tooth", cut into it for a good coating bond. This means sanding or a chemical etch. As soon as the sand paper moves from the area you just sanded, the aluminum starts to oxidize (literally within seconds), so you have to work fast, if mechanically keying (sanding) the surface. If you're going to epoxy coat the surface, West System recommends you employ wet/dry paper or a scouring pad, in the wet goo, as you apply the epoxy, creating a scratch under the epoxy as you applying it. This protects the aluminum from oxidation, as it's under the wet goo during the process. I've done this and it's a messy way to go, but the results can be really good. For most backyard builders a chemical etch is an easy method, either with a etch primer or a two step system. I use to do it this way, but now having a real spray booth, I do it differently, literally sanding and squirting primer at the same time. This is at best a two person job, with one wet sanding the aluminum, but without water (I use a alcohol, thinner mixture, based on the paint I'll spray). As the sanding is being done, any mess is caught and sucked out of the booth with a special made 20" ducted fan. The aluminum is dried, sometimes forced (heat gun on low) and the paint is sprayed directly onto the surface, a few feet from where the last rub down occurred. I find this faster and less messy, but this technique is reserved for things I know need to be very well bonded, like LPU paint jobs. For the home builder, the more common paint brands have good etch primers and this is my recommendation. Sand as necessary, if only to remove the most recent oxidation, then get it clean and dry, so you can apply the paint, as soon as practical. This is the ticket for aluminum painting, the amount of time it remains uncoated after a fresh sanding. If you can get paint on the part within a few minutes, your bond will be excellent, unless you're painting in the rain or a high humidity day, at which point you should have known better, as painting in the rain makes for a bad hair day, at the very least.
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Eventually you'll end up with every length from 8' to 80', if you get enough commissions or just love to do spec work. I have a similar "hole" in my portfolio, though from 12' - 14'. I think this is partly because an 11' boat is just a solo sailor at best and two kids at most., while a 15' boat is a 2 man boat with some guests if desired or a handful of kids. Designing a 1.5 person boat, doesn't have a lot of logic behind it, unless you have a special needs commission, like a big guy wanting a small boat, so you jack the volume to compensate.
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I use a belt sander on these issues. In practiced hands, this makes quick work of a reshaping. Be careful, as it'll remove a lot more stock than you want very quickly, so kiss it and check, repeatedly. If still too fat visually, round over the edges with a generous radius,so it rolls into the eventual half oval footprint area. This treatment will add a nice shadow line along the half oval, making you look like a pro. The key is to get is straight, so the half oval doesn't have to wander around finding the center on the stem. A trick I use is a length of tape, eyeballed down the centerline and working to this on the shaping and corner radius efforts.
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Most of those solar walkway lights will not project a light the required distance (2 miles) to qualify for an anchor light.
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Post a shot of the end grain . . .
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At night if the mast is rotated, more than would look normal, I'd bet the harbor patrol would drive up and ask about it, if someone was in a bad mood. If they do stop, you know they'll find something to give you a ticket for . . .
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What kind of grain; flat sawn, quarter, vertical?
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When bending stock, it's all about stock selection. Avoiding grain run out, defects, using a sheet metal backer as you bend, and green stock helps tremendously. When bending questionable stock (dry, grain run out, etc.) expect 50% breakage in the worst of the aft bilge turn pieces. Even if you use perfect stock, you're going to experence breakage, so have a 10 - 15% over supply of stock (best case). On ribs of those dimensions, you'll get some "bust out" on the outside of the bend (unless quite rift sawn), so back it up with a steel or aluminum strap as it's bent (assuming in place on the boat), to help prevent this occurrence to challenge your inventive cursing techniques. Moisture content is important and soaking helps, but it's the heat that gets the job done, so have a heat gun (a good one) ready, to convince the last bit to go in. Lastly, consider over bending about 10% of the radius in the tighter areas. You'll have some spring back once it's released and relaxes a bit. Placing a 1x2 or 2x4 (or wedges/shims) under the rib as it's bent in, can get this accomplished and use the eyeball method, for the amount of additional bend you might need. On repairs and restorations like this, I usually make adjustable bending jigs, so I can bend them on a bench, rather than fight with them in the boat. This insures I get accurate bends, including spring back and of course makes laminating much easier. Lastly, these puppies are notorious for "tension cracks" in the aft sections of the bilge turn. I almost always laminate these, to avoid them in the future. Contrary to popular opinion, all the oaks epoxy well, once you remove the tannins with a chemical scrub, just prior to applying goo.
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I too use production rolls, rather than buy a pack of 5 hook and loop disks at the big box store. These are available in several places online, but most importantly of all are quality and the type of cutting agent used in the paper/disk. I switched to cubic Zirconium particulate papers (several years back) and have saved a bunch in the number of belts, pads and sheets I might need, per job. These Zirconium papers cut 5 times as long as aluminum oxide and other particulates. Additionally, spend the money for a quality paper. You can buy dozens of sheets of 80 grit at Harbor Freight for a few bucks, and wear through them in no time. A quality paper will have a backing that can take some heat and abuse and they're less venerable to moisture, because of the backing and adhesives used in manufacturing. Lowe's sells a seemingly costly product called "Shop Smith", in the standard belt and disk sizes. They cost twice as much as the cheap "Gator" products of the same size and grit, but the Zirconium Shop Smith products last 5 times as long, so it's actually a savings in the end. The same applies to wet papers. Buy a good paper, it lasts longer, cuts more uniformly and holds up better. Okay, my rant for the day is over . . .
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I'm glad you noticed this. If I was doing that rebuild I'd have removed the garboard, likely skipped a plank and removed the next, helping retain as much shape as practical. Additionally, when there as bad as I think you have, I'll rip 1/4" (on that size boat) into 8" - 12" wide strips and use these diagonally over the existing planking, again to help hold the boat's shape and stabilize it. I'd also likely build interior frames to push up or pull down on certain areas that seem obviously out of whack. All of this done, before the ribs get removed and replaced. These would be done every other or every third one at a time, also to preserve the shape. The aft most ribs will be the toughest to bend, as that bilge turn on those old sea skiff hulls is tight. The last 1/4 of the hull don't be surprised to break 50% of them if you're not laminating. I've done a number of that style of hull and I usually do laminate, at least the last 1/4, where the turn is tight. Maybe every other one, to save some effort and goo. At midship it gets a lot easier to bend them in as solid stock.
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I'm not much on long tails, considering them little more than a contrivance, that some have found a nitch market to utilize. I have some sources for small HP FNR transmissions, though they aren't cheap, unless you use the "go cart" crowd stuff. The "Comet" is a common one that can take up to about 25 HP, which satisfies most small engine needs. Under 3 tons usually need 5 - 10 HP to displacement speed and these have worked.
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I've hand made a few over the years, it's not hard, though debugging takes a while. I think Glen-L sells a set of plans for a small FNR setup too. Most of the small, home made units I've seen just can't handle much power or RPM.
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I'm not sure who CLP is, but their site hasn't any images of FNR transmissions, no videos, nor any customer reviews, which make one question the company, let alone any product. Can you provide a link to the page?
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"Fuzzy Butt" . . .
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"Little Bit", maybe "Kitty Litter" or "Kitten".
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Anytime the word epoxy can be used in a product name, you'll sell more. Most of the "epoxy" single parts use elements of the bisphenol A molecule in the formulation, so they can say "epoxy" on the label. The term enamel shouldn't be used with epoxy, as their chemistries aren't compatible, but (again) it's a sales technique. The two part enamels are likely epoxies, but using the enamel product description to improve sales. The "White Knight" stuff looks to be a rebadged, PPG product. I've I were painting an aluminum mast, I'd use a good epoxy (2 part) primer, then over coat with a LPU (first choice) or a hard single part acrylic urethane (second choice) or polyurethane (single part, third choice).
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That's the same as me Chick, just to many repairs over the years. The bottom and sides of these foam "blocks" get channels carved into them, once the plastic sheeting is peeled off. Centerline channels, also athwartship ones to let moisture drain down the flanks into the centerline channel, etc. are what I focus on, then seal it up with epoxy. Cutting glued together blocks work will too, though a lot more fitting and shaving compaired to a form fitting pour in process, probably just as effective I'd imagine. In these enclosed spaces, condensation will form, it's unavoidable, so the moisture has to go somewhere. My method just provides a path to the pump(s), while sealing up the foam.
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What I like to do is lightly spray the foamed areas with spray adhesive. Not much, just a dusting so the next part will stick, which is lining the area with "visqueen" (plastic sheeting). I use spacers in the waterways and limbers and drape the plastic into the stickum, pulling out wrinkles as I go. With the area "buttered up" with plastic sheeting, I pour the foam and let it cure. Then I use a squirt bottle of lacquer thinner and release the plastic sheeting, with it's oozed out foam blob, from the spaces. The spray adhesive comes off easily and the plastic protected foam just lifts out as a block. Peel off the sheeting and you have a form fit foam block, that can be shaped with more water ways or simply dropped or glued back in position. Often I don't glue the blocks back in, simply hiding them under the sole (dry) once it's bonded down. I do this to limit the amount of foam in intimate contact with the wood and provided channels for moisture to fall down to the lowest portions of the bilge to be drained and pumped out. Additionally, if the foam is to remain enclosed or entombed forever, I like it to be sealed (neat epoxy) then glued or placed in it's hole/compartment. I've dug out way too much soaked foam over the years to think it's not going to absorb much and the intimate contact thing has me dreaming about future rot issues.
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That stuff is a single part polyurethane and not as durable as the 2 parts versions, though better than most single part paints.
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The raw 6061 alloy will oxidize pretty quickly and develop the gray coating we're all accustomed to seeing. This sloughs off easily making everything it touches black. If you want clear, I'd go with an LPU or even an automotive acrylic urethane. If paint, the same options apply for best durability, though you may want to consider having them powder coated (clear or color). I don't have an oven long enough for the spar pieces, but I'll be you find find a shop with this ability, even if it's just UV heaters. I'd try fence and railing manufactures for this. Other paints are options, though not nearly as durable.
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As I watched my other half perform prostrate surgery, on an obese bird, with stale bread crumbs, I realized how thankful I truly was. It wasn't me cooking; have a good holiday folks . . .