Flipping again

Happy New Year! The "Crane Maestro" Al Haines made a another trip up to flip the boat right side up.

Back to work

While the boat is still upside down, John was able to check the work he did while bending over to weld.  He was able to see and repair areas that are much more accessible. 

We took a day off to visit the beautiful cars at the REVS Institute of Automotive Research in Naples in September.  This is the collection started by Barron Collier and includes lots of innovative cars.  

This is how John "shoots" the waterline on the boat using a laser level on a tripod.  He marked the lines with pencil dots and then followed the dots with blue painters tape.After sandblasting with Black Beauty blasting media, the bottom is now primed and painted with Awlgrip.

How to split a twenty foot length of pipe.

This project is a real learning experience. Thanks to the experts at aluminumalloyboats.com  we learned about another use for Pam cooking spray.  It turns out that it is an excellent cutting fluid.  And you can often find a BOGO offers at your local grocery store.   We move this contraption outside since we need 20 feet on both sides of the blade.  John feeds it and someone else holds it straight and level after the cut.  The only problem is that with the smell, you crave French fries afterward.

The bow eye also has another use.  It is attached to the chain fall on the outside of the shop to lift the bow.  The bow area is much easier to weld and grind in this position. The grinding goes on and on.

What a grind!

All of the rough welds have been sanded off the bow.  The hull has been "roughed up " with a sanding pad.

Close up.

Trial fitting the bow eye.

Keel

With the boat flipped over, it was time to weld the half piece of round tubing.  This will protect the keel when we inevitably touch bottom.  (Although with the shallow draft design, chances are slim.)  Ratcheting straps came in handy to help bend the straight tube to the center curve.

Bending

Almost in place.

One of many interesting bugs that visit the shop.

Some people flip houses, we flip boats.

Saturday May 23rd was a big day.  The "crane maestro", Al Haines drove his big Terex crane up from Fort Myers. Al had a plan that worked like a charm.  With the help of friends and several onlookers, the boat was prepped, lifted and flipped in under two hours.

Click below to see photos showing the process:

 SLIDE SHOW #1  - 1st 15 photos

SLIDE SHOW #2 - 8 more photos 

BEFORE

AFTER

Fabricating hatches and messing with chemicals

There is a lot to show in this post-but first a photo of John goofing off.

Fabricating a hatch-

Port fuel tank hatch 

 

 We found a manufacturer of soundproofing coatings at the IBEX (International Boatbuilders Expo) and John coated one hatch to see how it flowed.  So far so good.

The five aft deck hatches are built and fit nicely. 

He needed a way to etch and clean the aluminum before painting.  John mixed up a concoction of phosphoric acid, glycol and Simple Green to test.  It works well except on the spots of sap from pine needles blowing onto the boat.