Happy New Year everyone!
I have been back in the UK since the 28th and have been non stop in the shed & workshop. After discussing with Dad during December, it just wasn't looking likely he would have the time to repair the boat, and I managed to find a decent deal on some flights for only 140eur, normally at this time of year you're looking between 350-500 (and no that isn't an exageration) so I jumped at the opportunity and came over with the one goal of getting the boat repaired and sailable, anything else was a bonus...and boy have we achieved it!
So lets resume, for those joining now...after putting 80hours of labour in the boat, on its maiden voyage it hit the side of the lake at full speed
- some post crash investigation and it turned out I had made 2 small silly errors which led to this little mishap, but its the way the hobby goes. If you cannot handle this side of it...you shouldn't be involved. Its an expensive past time which isn't a "spend once then forget" type either.
When the boat hit the bank the fuel tanks became unstuck and shot forward with such force they split the front of the boat open at the join, this was the main bulk of the damage. Other damage involved one of the spontoons taking a lot of the force and bending/cracking, and then the bottom of the hull received a lot of hairline cracks and lumps taken out of the spontoon moulds. Here is what it looked like.
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First step was to get the hull back to 1 piece and not split like a banana at the front
- I mixed up a large batch of 60 minute epoxy glue and smothered the front end where it had come apart then clamp it shut while the glue set. We knew when clamping it together with our hands that the split was (for the most part) very clean.
Lots of epoxy and some peg clamps later...
(the masking tape is there to give the peg clamps something to grip onto)
I left this for a couple of hours to harden and set then removed the peg clamps and put a lot of wide masking tape on as tight as I could in their place to keep the pressure on. I wanted to leave this overnight but had more work to do and these pegs were prone to pinging off if disturbed.
The next step was to reinforce the inside on the join itself. I had bought some fibreglass cloth and special resin (supplied by hull manufacturer for repairs) - the plan was to cut a strip of cloth and to resin it to the inside join along the front where it split.
As you can imagine from the pics, getting to that inside join at the front is very very awkward, you can't reach there with your hands, especially the ends of the spontoons. So I made a tool...
Grabbed a 1m piece of dowel, masked an old paintbrush onto the end of it. From here I rested the boat on its nose and rear end against a stool to give me a decent angle.
It worked!
End result
I also took the remaining resin and poured it into the ends of the spontoons and middle point to give puddles of the stuff. With the idea that it would really solidfy the ends of the boat, which arguably need to be one of the strongest points.
Now left to dry
This stuff sets after about 40-60 minutes and we were approaching the end of the day (also I had been up since 3am for my flight so getting tired) - we applied putty to the damage on the body work on the underneath then brought the boat indoors to the warm to dry overnight.
The next day, removed masking tape annnd...
Et voila!
At this point we decided this is actually a good time to finish the bodywork and get it painted. So off to the workshop it is!
First steps was to get the filler/putty sanded down to a smooth finish. This took hours and I got absolutely covered in dust
After these were made smooth and the rest of the hull was flattened off that was enough for day.
The next day I got it in the paint booth and applied a couple of primer coats then guide coat.
(it is also worth noting that I am simultaneously working on/painting another boat, this is the one in the video posted previously)
So the paint booth is busy
Had to leave this for 24hrs before doing anything else.
The next day was flattening the guide coat & primer to remove any inperfections in the hull to get it as smooth as possible. The process is the same for both hulls from this point onwards so I'll share photos of both.
Later that day I primered and guide coated the top halfs of both (but oddly didn't take any photos! very strange for me)
This brings us to yesterday. Time to get some colour on
- Also I used line tape & newspaper to mask the lids to make it look like there is a cockpit - paint scheme for these boats is black underneath then Triumph Speed Triple Green on the top. Black first! I used newspaper and masking tape to create a skirt to stop overspray
Both lids were painted at the same time as the Orion (bigger boat)
Not bad considering where it was just under a week ago
(me = super proud here)
Sprint Cat was next...
And here they both are, drying.
And the last (for now) we removed the line tape and newspaper from the lids. Here is how they currently look.
At some point today or tomorrow I will reverse the tape and newspaper to cover the black parts so it can be sprayed green.
Thats it for now! I am back to work at the minute until Saturday, so thats when we will go over and get the green on the top of both of them, then lacquer and left for 2 weeks. I fly home on Sunday until the 23rd and we don't own a painting oven so the lacquer will need this long to go hard.
More to come on Saturday when the boats are green
Thanks for reading!
) so it cannot detach. Also, I already have electronic failsafes programmed into the servos, should it lose signal from the transmitter, which is to snap the carb closed to choke the engine and stop it. Also, the spring has since been removed. I had no idea it could be removed until after the crash and someone at the lake told me it could be done.
The sensor then needed to be fitted within 1-2mm infront of the magnet. I made a small mount for it out of ply, then secured it to the bottom of the boat infront of the flywheel & magnet. I don't have any photos of it but we did spin the engine over and got a reading to test it (its hella cool as well!)
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