We were using AI in an R&D capacity where I worked right before I retired in June. It is a decent enough tool but not to be trusted completely. Myself, I prefer the interactions with mpallet? and others here who have seen trends and the evolution of materials through the years.
So my bubble buster ended up with hardened epoxy on it. Everything says that you cannot soften cured epoxy very easily. Well after an hour soaking in lacquer thinner, it does get soft. My BB is now just like new and just in time for rolling out deck work.
Installing the transom.
As I mentioned, When I originally reworked the transom, I had some thin air gaps between it and the outer skin of the hull. This time, I had multiple holes where I could use threaded rod and get much higher pressure between the new transom and the hull. Wooden shims were...
Time to LAMINATE!!!
Using the alignment holes. I inserted 1/2" rubber tubing as I did the lamination. I used epoxy and 1708 glass between the 2 panels.
It went very smoothly.
Once aligned, I used 1 5/8" drywall screws and started from the center and worked my way slowly to the edge. As I...
New transom time
Using 2 sheets of 3/4" Coosa 30.
Template made and marked. Ready to cut.
Checking fitment. As the original transom had been bedded with thickened epoxy and glass, it was not an exact fit so I had to adjust the bottom edge of the first piece. I left a very minimal amount of...
Transom Insanity!
Well, I had some air voids when I did the transom the last time and it came back to bite me as seen here. Lessons learned.
The typical, "Yeah, that's a wet transom." To quote Chong from Up in Smoke... "Hope you're not busy for about a month"
With the cap off, it was much...
Picture time. Been too busy to be posting.
Stratos made their boats with a 2 part construction method. The hull was built out with a rough deck. and the cap was a bathtub that was then dropped in and glued to the deck of the hull and secured at the mating edges.
When I did the initial rebuild, I...
My Stratos is a fairly deep vee center console and I realized that there would be flex once I pulled out the bulkheads. This kept it in place pretty simply.
When I ground down my Stratos to the hull, I originally used a heavy sandblasting hood. Most miserable day of my life.
I do automotive painting as a hobby so I already had one of these. When you grind, get something like this. Compressor air is not healthy too...
Can you get access behind it?
Do you have some resin on hand and glass?
I'd fabricate a backer plate and see if I could fish it in place behind the current fiberglass. Put a screw into the new glass backer to be able to pull it against the existing glass to test the fitment. If it fits well...
