Sanding, sanding and more sanding (starboard float)

Using the longboard is something special. You bond with your boat. It’s like… Zen and the art of sanding….

Ok.. Uhm… Yeah.. it’s not fun.. 🙂 It’s a lot of work, but the nice thing is when you step back after an hour or so and can REALLY see the difference.

I guess I’ll rewind a little bit.

Last week we did a little work, but between being a little tired from allergies lately, switching jobs and the motorcycle racing season starting, I’ve been rather busy. Didn’t take pictures, but basically it involved taking down some more hi-spots with the orbital on the starboard float and gluing and screwing the parts of the deck that didn’t go down all the way. Also ended up positioning the large hatch and cutting the float away from it. Needed better access to some flange portions near the center to ensure a good bond.

We made a longboard from some hardwood (this one is 3′, we have another straight piece that’s 5′)

Took some turns with the longboard doing a first pass on the deck – I’m taking a break any enjoying the fan and some water for this picture. 🙂

Then made a “special tool” (which, ironically I forgot to take a picture of!) for making the deck radius. Plans call for a 1 1/2 to 2″ radius, which seemed really excessive on paper. Purchased some cardboard tubing with an internal diameter of just over 3″, glued some 36 grit paper to the inside, and then dad came up with the idea to make a small handle for it. Did a first pass in the evening and bogged in some spots where either the planking came up too short to the deck or the deck was cut too small and needed some more area to sand. It’s hard to get a picture of the radius but here’s a shot in progress of the inside of the starboard float. You can see some area where it just started to cut a line on the deck and float side — these will easily come out with some sanding.

It’s looking SO nice right now, I just can’t get over it.

We’re both thinking it will make more sense, space-wise, to put the port float and deck up on the ceiling, that way we’ll have room to finish fairing the sides of the starboard float and then glass it. Once the starboard float is gone it can go to storage and finish the port float.

Things left to do on the starboard float are to sand down the sides, touch up the deck again, fill in the rest of the screw holes and gaps, then attach the bow cap and shape… then finally laminate. 🙂  We also decided today to hold off on attaching/shaping the bow cap until right before we’re ready to laminate.  Moving the hull in and out to work on and get better position on is one thing, but we’re both scared we’ll pick up the float by the nose by mistake and have a big mess to clean up.

Been feeling like this is taking too long and am getting slightly discouraged about the amount of time I’m able to spend on it right now. Things should start to click back into place soon and I’ll be able to spend some more time working on it.

On a side note, back in October dad ordered a scaffold from Northern Tools. Due to mix-ups, shipping issues, communication errors, and whatnot, it never arrived. Last week it finally showed up at the store. This should make working on the main hull much easier (adjustable height, wheels that lock and a 1000lbs capacity) – should be able to get on it and hang over the hull to place foam, fabric and laminate.

Stay tuned for more sanding and not very exciting pictures until this stage of sanding is finished.

Time spent: 6 hours