I turned 21 in 'Trivers doin' life without parole... So the welders full time job has kept him busy all week, so that left me plenty of time to catch up on 2-3000 little jobs that needed doing. Wednesday we got winded out. Ive never seen it blow steady all day like that. We were stuck on the ground with the condom, but Thursday things relaxed and we made the big lift. That son of a biscuit slipped into place except for the last two inches. Left it in place for the weldor to make a few judicious cuts to relieve it and re-weld it. Supposed to be 90 with a 75* dew point tomorrow. Heats on. Just wanna get this finished and move on! ws
Yeah Jerry... I could only give her the ol' 88s! I felt like a German Howitzer with wet powder LOL.... ws
We ended up having to make 2 vertical and one horizontal relief cuts and each one sprung open 1/4" ! Tomorrow, I think we need to make one more. That stuff went all over the place once it came off for final welding. I wish we couldve completed it in place but there was just too much to do and that generated sooo much heat it wouldve caused other problems. More tomorrow ! ws
Since everyone has been chomping at the bit LOL, this is where we stand... The weldor has been winded and raineded out so he stayed inside at Burger Yachts. Tomorrow, after work, he's gonna stop by for six quickie welds. Im gonna back the heat zone up with stainless shim stock to keep the underlaying paint and varnish from burning and contaminating the weld plus ad a filler strip where needed. A few strategic cuts and that animule sprang wide open. Thursday Im gonna get it on the ground and begin finishing it. 2 coats of primer with 2 coats of Interlux Perferctions rolled and tipped of course! Other than that still catching up on other odds and ends. Well odds anyways; theres never any ends! ws
0800 till 1800 hrs today and the welding is complete. Tomorrow its back on the ground for some grinding and fairing and paint. Yay! ws
I cant take all the credit Luke! The total weld time for Nick for the whole job was 22 hours. He got there at 1600 and left at 1800hrs. I had all the pieces off and backed them with sheet metal to prevent pulling up burned varnish and paint carbon residue into the weld. I went back several times last night for a fire watch. Tuned up really good last night and hit the ol' fart sack at 2200 and back up at 0300 today. At least that amount is working with my scale; I call it the "Intimidator". POS digital scale thats different every time. Usually theres an alarm that goes off on it that screams "GET OFF ME! YOURE BUSTING MY BACK"! Now it says welcome back LOL... Should be 2 days of fairing, one day of painting, and one more to install. Then we launch and finish up the detail stuff at the dock. Still trying to salvage some of this season. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT ever get old!! Theres no future in it. Felt pretty good last night having this part of the job finally accomplished. Lord just give me another week, Amen! ws
I find it amazing how a job can escalate into a major project. I now have about five hours into cutting/grinding an accessory steering column lock off of a column that I want to rebuild for the T. I didn't expect to have that much time into the whole job. The cutting and grinding still have a long way to go. I cannot damage the housing below the lock plate.
You nailed it to a "T" John... Im probably 200 hours into this one aspect of the boat work this year alone. The unit is now back on the ground and rough ground and ready for some fiberglass fairing; NO BONDO. That stuff has talc in it and will suck up moisture and swell. Then winter hits and it really engorges with the ice expansion thing. Right now its upside down so the bottom side of the whole thing will really get some long lasting attention. Washed it down and used a wire toothbrush with some muriatic. The dirt was just boiling outa the thing. Aluminum is soooo dirty. The bottom pic shows the SS backing strips to keep the varnish etc. from burning off and carbon contaminating the weld. Its always something... ws
I HATE working with aluminum. It is amazing, like you said, how dirty it is. Then it's oxidized 15 minutes after you just got done cleaning and wire brushing it. Rinse, repeat.
Our Drill Instructors at Parris Island used to love to pull this crap on us. They would come up to you and say, "Recruit, is your rifle clean?" We would say "Yes Sir!". Then they would take our rifle from us, pop off the handguards and run a Q-tip across the aluminum heat shields in the hand guards. The Q-tip would always have gray residue on it. They would say "NO, ITS NOT! KEEP CLEANING!". It was just a way of screwing with us...
The "Bondo Bandit" strikes again... I hafta agree that aluminum is incredibly dirty to work with and needs to be operating room clean for success. When I was fitting this stuff, I'd come home with black hands (!) and not looking like I won at the OTB LOL. All the fairing work was laid on immediately after a sanding and a quick solvent wipe on a rag. Tomorrow its gonna be a repeat for the primer; inside and out. The fairing job was 3 part; grinding disc to rough it in, another coat for a fairing job, and a 3rd for a final sand. You cant feel the joints at all. The filled holes will just get re-drilled and C'sunk tomorrow as well. Ive done a lotta fabbing on this boat and never had the trouble that this one caused. Still hafta blame it on the wind blowing the argon flame out. Live and learn eh? The little marina I am at has about 30 bus sized campers and fishing boats on trailers in and out all day. Its always a history story when they stop by and ask about the job. Its slowly coming to fruition. Did get the BAD LAD out to Culvers car show again last night. It was muskrat and googers night. Still peeled out and squealed 2nd for the guys on the main drag when leaving. Yahoo! ws
DATELINE Kumofsumyungboy N. Korea........ New age German master painter freed from forced labor camp. Film at 11:00... Finally finished cleaning and getting first coat of epoxy primer on the job. A reg'lar milestone, followed by some paint and then, well, rain. Big car show next weekend to boot! So a lot of guys are out fishing today. The biggest was a 36" coho! Everyone was laughing at the guy in the funny hat, and when they came in from getting burned on the lake, they all had to stop and ask "Where'd ya get it?..." ws
For once I decided to follow the paint instructions VERBATIM. Got back down to the yard at 0705, sanded the whole deal with 320 on the R/O electric 5" sander and gave it a bath. Went to Sunday breakfast with Deacon Jeff and got back for another wipe down and 20 mil coat of primer, to be sanded and painted tomorrow. While that was drying, got on the the last vestiges of unfinished wood on the sides, got them sanded, stained, and 2 coats of varnish to continue tomorrow as well. Glad I dont have a real job anymore LOL... Just getting ready to climb down and thought I had a Lucas sighting. Lucky I had the trusty Canon with me! Grant me just a few more days Oh Lord! ws
????? I'm having a hard enough time channeling myself LOL... The camper was actually pretty new made by "Retro" something or else. Just thought of you when I saw the red and white... ws
You'll probably see the old camper someday. I'd like to make a road trip out east in the next couple of years and meet all you fellas I've come to know on here.
Close Mike... Snow stops in August then its rain for a month, then its fall and gets frosty in about October
