archbuilder
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2009
- Messages
- 5,697
Re: 16' Nescher ski boat complete restore- SPLASHED!!
Today I set out to finish the swim platforms, didn't even get close! This morning I cut out all the gusset pieces and finished my jig to weld them up. At lunch I ran around and picked up some hardware and more stainless welding wire. I did quite a bit of practicing with the stainless this morning.....I got a lot better, but I'm still not totally satisfied with my welds. Oh well its always a learning curve. After getting the jig built and the gussets cut out I was ready to weld away. I figured it might be best to polish everything, then touch up the welds later given the geometry....good thing I did. I sanded one piece with a DA, 40, 80, 120, then went to wet/dry 220, 400, 600, 1000, 1500 and buffed...this is what I ended up with.
I was not happy with the pitting at all, which was part of the finish from the mill. I sanded the hell out of it again, but the results weren't much better. I finally called it a night with the idea of getting up tomorrow and buying some more industrial strength polishing equipment....then I called my freind Don. He was out but one of his friends was at his shop working on a project. Don's shop is a normal really, really, really nice dream home wood / welding / machine shop on industrial steroids! He has a drill press that weighs 20 tons..... I won't even go into all the other goodies he has! Any how his freind said that Don has buffer that should make quick work of the pits. So I'm going to try to arange to stop by there tomorrow and buff out the parts before I weld them up.
I did get my passenger seat oh sh*t handle installed. I need to take it back off and 5200 the holes, but I will do that when I install the swim platform brackets.
I also drilled for the fuel gauge, naturally I didn't have all the hardware I need to install it...I'll try to pick that up tomorrow.
I did pick up some 5/16" couplings and fender washers. I'm going to weld the washer to the coupling, drill the glass blocks to accept the coupling / fender washers....then epoxy them in from the bottom side. I should be able to thread in all thread or bolts from the top. That solves a lot of clearance issues with the new gas tank.
I hope everyone had a great Sunday!
Today I set out to finish the swim platforms, didn't even get close! This morning I cut out all the gusset pieces and finished my jig to weld them up. At lunch I ran around and picked up some hardware and more stainless welding wire. I did quite a bit of practicing with the stainless this morning.....I got a lot better, but I'm still not totally satisfied with my welds. Oh well its always a learning curve. After getting the jig built and the gussets cut out I was ready to weld away. I figured it might be best to polish everything, then touch up the welds later given the geometry....good thing I did. I sanded one piece with a DA, 40, 80, 120, then went to wet/dry 220, 400, 600, 1000, 1500 and buffed...this is what I ended up with.
I was not happy with the pitting at all, which was part of the finish from the mill. I sanded the hell out of it again, but the results weren't much better. I finally called it a night with the idea of getting up tomorrow and buying some more industrial strength polishing equipment....then I called my freind Don. He was out but one of his friends was at his shop working on a project. Don's shop is a normal really, really, really nice dream home wood / welding / machine shop on industrial steroids! He has a drill press that weighs 20 tons..... I won't even go into all the other goodies he has! Any how his freind said that Don has buffer that should make quick work of the pits. So I'm going to try to arange to stop by there tomorrow and buff out the parts before I weld them up.
I did get my passenger seat oh sh*t handle installed. I need to take it back off and 5200 the holes, but I will do that when I install the swim platform brackets.
I also drilled for the fuel gauge, naturally I didn't have all the hardware I need to install it...I'll try to pick that up tomorrow.
I did pick up some 5/16" couplings and fender washers. I'm going to weld the washer to the coupling, drill the glass blocks to accept the coupling / fender washers....then epoxy them in from the bottom side. I should be able to thread in all thread or bolts from the top. That solves a lot of clearance issues with the new gas tank.
I hope everyone had a great Sunday!
