Awesome work! Just a reminder that you can officially take my hood off of hold status, I'm ready to make it official any time!
Craig, I know you have much on your plate and are way backed up but is there a chance I can get a mold made of the hood on my Riv, correct the problem areas and have a 1 piece hood cast? Have been asked by several Riv owners where they could get a hood like mine so it may be another item to put into the inventory for your business.
Sad to say but I believe thats just the top ten there are more below it. I’ll get the whole list updated and repost it this weekend when I get back home. On the plus side it looks like with my new shop layout if I get out there and bust my ass I can make a hood in about a week so that should greatly improve production right after the first of the year. Next week I’m going to run into Atlanta and get some 4 x 8 sheets of flat cardboard and see if it’s reasonable to make a shipping box out of it with a wooden frame since I no longer have my source for pre-made boxes.(which I still put a 1x2 frame in for precaution!) Craig
Another plus with the new shop is I can put parts on a new table I made and roll it outside under the awning. Then when I’m doing the nasty work, trimming and grinding, I don’t make a complete mess with the dust in the shop!
Hey if you want to put yours right beside mine, I’ll just pick yours up with mine and drop off on my way through PA.
Shipping costs have never been cheap, it doesn’t seem to make much difference if the box is going 500 miles or 2000 of the probably 15 hoods I have shipped they’ve been in the $200-$250 range. I’ll finish this latest hood and see what shipping will be and give everyone a general idea. I go through Freight Quote and get 5 or 6 different companies providing a quote for each shipment.
Thanks man knock on wood, I’ve never had a hood arrive damaged! Box has been tore up but hood was okay
Georgia hood #1 just about complete. This will probably be the only pure white one I make! The white gelcoat is a bit more trouble to work with because there isn't as much contrast between the gelcoat and the white fiberglass. Makes it harder to see any air bubbles that you get when you first start laying up the glass. You have to ensure you roll out all the the big ones and 99% of the little ones. It's a lot easier to do with gray gelcoat. My supplier was out of gray, so I went with white on this one. I like the clean look, but it does take a little more time. Went to order some more resin and gelcoat this week and my supplier is closed until the 3rd. Okay, time for a little mold maintenance I guess!
That looks great though... Would someone be able to just bolt that on a white car and be all set??? I mean would they have to paint it or is it done enough to the point where it could be a finished hood... .
Brian is correct, while gelcoat in itself is a very durable coating, in this case it’s only meant to protect the fiberglass underneath and provide a good base to apply your finish coat. When these hoods come out of the mold they look perfect at a distance but if you look closely you can see where I sand down the mold parting lines along the sides and respray a little gelcoat over that. Some big companies just shop the part with the parting lines intact but I like to smooth them down just to give it a better appearance. There also may be a little sanding you need to do to get the hood to line up with your car as well, this is normal for most aftermarket fiberglass. Between the hood and shipping people are spending some decent cash on the hood so I try to make the product as nice looking as possible without adding too much time and cost!
Damn it’s 30 degrees outside right now I thought I moved to the south! I guess I’ll finally see what that big old propane heater hanging in the shop will do
