My First StarCraft; 1975 18' SuperSport

[classiccat]

Once the strip is screwed in place from 1 side, I was able to start going to town with the dead-blow, starting at edge where it's screwed-in...getting the aluminum strip to conform to the keel. As I was doing this, I had to keep tightening down the 8/32's since the gap between the alum patch & keel would close-up.

Once I got it to the other side, drill/tap/screw more 8/32's in place.


This is the time to get all of the finish-pounding in because you can always tighten the screws back-up if they're made loose. You're s.o.l. if a blind-rivet loosens-up.

Like flattening the ends down with the riveting hammer:


The final stretch is putting-in the closed-end blind rivets (All aluminum).




^^^ the results exceeded my expectations by a mile!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :yo:

 

[dozerII]

Really nice job CC, that looks like a ton of work

 

[Watermann]

Super job annealing that AL and working it into place! Should be some good armor plate for future beaching and such. :thumb:

 

[oldhaven]

Under the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands......

 

[classiccat]

Really nice job CC, that looks like a ton of work

Thanks Glen!

It was pretty tedius...significantly more work than swapping-out those keel rollers before they gave-up their ghosts. :facepalm:

I thought it would be one of those things that would be too-ugly to even share pictures...I guess I was aiming for function-over-form.

Super job annealing that AL and working it into place! Should be some good armor plate for future beaching and such. :thumb:

Thanks Agua! It's pretty amazing how our beloved material does what we ask it to!

Rigid-to-Limp-to-Bomb-proof once you work-harden it. You have to be somewhat surgical with your strikes. If you start smacking a part of the work-piece prematurely, it will stiffen-up on ya. (starting to sound like a Penthouse letters up in here :lol: ).

Under the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands......

Cool comment oldhaven! :thumb:

Although a deadblow is a far cry from a "heavy sledge", I do feel as though I've "earned a night's repose."

 

[jbcurt00]

Excellent work CC.

 

[Candutch]

Great work CC, glad to see you back at it. Nice new hangar you have there as well.

 

[classiccat]

Excellent work CC.

Thanks jb!

Great work CC, glad to see you back at it. Nice new hangar you have there as well.

Thanks Candutch! It's great to be back in the saddle again!

Definitely a little more elbow room in the new hanger... In fact, I couldn't even fit my boat into the old hanger when it was turtled.

 

[GA_Boater]

I was going to ask how you re-hardened the annealed tin. Didn't have to ask,

Nice fix, CC.

 

[classiccat]

I was going to ask how you re-hardened the annealed tin. Didn't have to ask,

Nice fix, CC.

Yep...we learned that trick together ...right here in this thread. :thumb:

...and In keeping with tradition (sort of), I'd like to thank all of you for stickin' with me for 3 whole years!

Yep...today, Good Friday, marks the 3rd anniversary of my rebuild thread! arty:

(and I think we're in 3rd place - behind the C/L-ebay thread & dozer's SS201 - for total reply count :facepalm: :lol:)

Progress ground to a complete halt after year#1 due to a career "adjustment" & relocation. If you're following along, we've recently "turtled" the hull again to tie-up some loose ends. Once I find someone willing and able for rivet duty (i.e. the Admiral...cough, cough, egghhm), we're going into overdrive. :madgrin:

:yo:

 

[jbcurt00]

Welcome to 3rd year tin boat building: the advanced course :becky:

I think Jas still has ya all well beat w his now long dormant topless Islander topic.

 

[classiccat]

Welcome to 3rd year tin boat building: the advanced course :becky:

I think Jas still has ya all well beat w his now long dormant topless Islander topic.

...and IIRC, he hasn't splashed either :lol:

unless he launched in his in-ground / above-ground pool...that would be "Bomber"!

 

[classiccat]

Howdy tin-heads :yo:

Despite dealing with deep wire-wheel gouges from the P.O. and extensive pitting, I?m taking a crack at polishing the bow-plate & sides.

bow plate wire-wheel gouges before/after a little hand-sanding; 3m paper and a small chunk of foam board for a sanding block:



micro-pits in the bow plate before/after:




The bow plate is almost ready to start stepping up the grit sizes however the sides have a TON of work needed to address the micro-pitting.


It?s actually worse at the top...fortunately 2/3 of that area will be painted:


So far I?ve hit it with nyalox (orange then blue), Fine gator disk and 320grit sandpaper (manually).

I think I?m going to have to bite the bullet and get a decent orbital sander & step-down to 220 to get these puppies out.

Have any of you hull-polishers (Glen, Jim, Decker, etc.) encountered any pitting like this?

 

[laurentide]

Looks great from VT (the bow skin, at least). How are your forearms feeling? I didn't polish my hull, but bare metal is awesome for a utilitarian fishing boat.

 

[GA_Boater]

Looks great from VT! How are your forearms feeling?

Like Popeye's? LOL

 

[classiccat]

Looks great from VT (the bow skin, at least). How are your forearms feeling? I didn't polish my hull, but bare metal is awesome for a utilitarian fishing boat.

Like Popeye's! LOL

Not my forearms...my fingers!

probably how cats feel an hour after they're de-clawed :lol:

 

[GA_Boater]

Time to challenge you to a thumb wrestling match. Loser gets to polish some more. Winner gets to drink your beer and watch.

Are you going for a mirror finish or just bare tin, CC At this point it might be worth trying some jewelers rouge to see if it will take the discoloration off.

I've done a little on mine and the rouge took the dark spots off.

 

[budski]

Looking great, almost ready for paint.

 

[dozerII]

Hey CC none of the hulls I have done have had the surface pitting you have in the pics, my Holiday had something similar but nowhere near as bad. You have a ton of work ahead for sure.

 

[jasoutside]

You've done a lot of work there but man...

You have a ton of work ahead for sure.

Yup!