1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

[Watermann]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

The glass master!

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Today I got out there and poped the mold off. Then I clamped the other board on to get the 90 deg lip edge formed and built up.



Now I got both cutouts built to form...once it cures I just need to sand, fill, and fair it to look like it was never cut....hopefuly tomorrow i can thicken some resin and get it closer to done.

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

The glass master!

hehe watermann, hardly...but given the snowy weather outside again, i guess any glassinggetting done is good

 

[sphelps]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Looks like it,s gunna turn out to be a perfect gutter patch ! Nice job !
Finally read through the rest of your thread .. Will the new paint booth be big enough to paint the boat in ?

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Looks like it,s gunna turn out to be a perfect gutter patch ! Nice job !
Finally read through the rest of your thread .. Will the new paint booth be big enough to paint the boat in ?

Thanks man..it was surprisingly easy, just tedious...Nah, it wont fit in the booth, but even if it did, i dont have a trailer big enough to get it there...it will be painted in the bubble, but i will need the air/filtration from it, and the big compressor to blow all that paint..most everything else i do tho, should fit right in.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Halogens,

and this little unit from HF

and I think you could keep on glassin even with all that White stuff. As long as the substrate is @ 65? and kept there till the resin kicks and for an hour afterwards then you should be good to go. The resin won't know it's FAKE heat. It'll think it's Spring Time!!!! Use the heater ( it really works great for spot heating) to get the panel up to temp then use the Halogens to keep it there during cure.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

I think Wood is getting some sort of kick back from your electric company, lol! Nice job on the patch! That snow reminds me of Friday morning, it was 6, Saturday it was almost 70.....I liked the 70 better!

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Nice progress, zool. How is the repaired bubble holding up to the winter weather?

I wish I had something like that over my boat, The tarp that I have is OK, but there is no way to keep things warm.

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Halogens,

and this little unit from HF

and I think you could keep on glassin even with all that White stuff. As long as the substrate is @ 65? and kept there till the resin kicks and for an hour afterwards then you should be good to go. The resin won't know it's FAKE heat. It'll think it's Spring Time!!!! Use the heater ( it really works great for spot heating) to get the panel up to temp then use the Halogens to keep it there during cure.

Ive been using a small 3 speed electric droid, set on the counter facing with workpiece. What Ive been doing is I turn on the heater and set the resin bottles by it to warm it, i also mix the resin in front of the heat. I heat the workpiece with the heat gun to warm it, then set the 1st lam. I coat that with resin and hit it with the heat gun till it get real thin and hot, it actually flows around from the gun pressure and saturates the cloth. Then I just throw the other 2 lams in the hot mix, and they melt right in with little effort. I leave the heater on it for a while to help it set. I need a set of those halogens tho...they looks like it would work better than the heater.

As soon as this deep freeze passes, im gonna try this on the stringers...maybe the halogens under the boat facing up to the stringer area will heat the hull bottom...

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

I think Wood is getting some sort of kick back from your electric company, lol! Nice job on the patch! That snow reminds me of Friday morning, it was 6, Saturday it was almost 70.....I liked the 70 better!

70's , so thats where the temps went....stop being a bogart and pass some this way

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Nice progress, zool. How is the repaired bubble holding up to the winter weather?

I wish I had something like that over my boat, The tarp that I have is OK, but there is no way to keep things warm.

So far so good as far as the wind goes, the heavy snow does bow it down some without a ridge beam, we had a foot last week, then another 4 inches yesterday. When the snow melts off, it goes back to shape because i didnt set the side bracing yet. What I did was remove 2 of the loops over the rear bilge, to control where the dip ends up, and poked a weep hole in the pastic. Now it just pees into the bilge and out the rear drain hole. Theres plenty of headroom to work on it, its just too cold in there without any sun and these single digit days...

For next winter, i may add a run of threaded pipe with end flanges attached to the gable wood...to act as a ridge. So far its doing its job.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Another trick is to heat some water and pour it in a large pot and set the resin in the pot to warm it. If the resin and the substrate are @ temp for 2-3 hours with epoxy then you're good to go. Two 500 watt Halogens will put out a lot of heat if they're up close and personal to the surface. I'm just passing on what I learned from OOPS. He was a Canuk and he had all the tricks for working in the Cold!!!!

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

After reading though the thread and seeing the zool bubble my mind wanders to his inspiration...

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

After reading though the thread and seeing the zool bubble my mind wanders to his inspiration...

haha, I remember that movie, I must be getting old....if i have to choose tho, ill take these two knuckleheads over Travolta..

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Update:

So I went out there today, and the hatch was all cured solid. So I dug out a cutoff wheel and fired up the HF 21 gal compressor ive been using in here....it was cold and took a few tries to get it going...theyre good little units for $150 but not so much in the cold...I cut off the excess glass to match the existing edge.






Then i strightend it with the belt sander.

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

The I did a test fit with each engine hatch to make sure it was level and everything fit right.

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

The I mixed up some resin with 410 fairing blend.



Because i couldnt get the contour of the gutter with the spreader, it kinda would V out the channel, i mixed the 410 to a thin catsup consistancy and let it self level the channel....worked good, nice and smooth.



The i just painted some over the edges to build up over the grinding marks, and spread out the overage. Its curing now with the heater on it.

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Here you can see the continuity of the whole channel....





Once this cures, i can hand sand it straight, then skim coat the imperfections.

 

[zool]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

Also got most of the framing done in the booth area, and the adjacent paint room.



The lights are wired on 3 switches outside the booth, one for the sides, one for the top corners, and one for the ceiling..The only switch in the booth will be an explosion proof so i can turn off the fan before exiting, so as not to pull any debris in if its not nuetrualized.



Also got a recessed fire extinguisher cabinet, so its tucked neatly away.



also got the plenum rough framed, just waiting for the exhaust filters i ordered to come, so I can make some removable grids to hold them securely, then finish frame around them

 

[Trooper82]

Re: 1988 Imperial 280sf engine swap and restoration (pics)

The glass work turned out nice Zool!