Monday, December 14, 2009

Dis & Dat

With snow predicted in the near future we spent the day outside stripping all of the fittings off of the salvaged sailboat out back. We managed to get em all before the snow flew. The stanchions are much more modern and are in better shape than the Albergs so we will use them instead of the originals. The pulpit was placed on deck and looks like it will fit well also with a little alteration.

We did a little more work with the longboard, and did some DA sanding on the Hull, little by little, bit by bit, the sanding gets done.

I was thinking about a dodger and put out a request for some pictures and measurements. A big thanks to John Irving for the pics and measurements of his boat, and to mom and dad for taking a bunch of pictures of the dodger on my bro's boat and sending them so quickly.
I always liked the way the front of that dodger is a hard dodger and the back is canvas that could be folded forward. I laid the pictures on the cabin top and hot glued together a very crude stick frame with a cardboard front panel. I find it really helps me develop reference points if I have a crude mock-up of what I'm trying to visualize. I temporarily put the companionway steps in place and climbed in and out of the cabin adjusting the stick frame as required for easy access and proper clearances. Then I sat back and stared at the pictures and the mock-up for a good half hour, visualizing what to create. I wanted curves and not hard angles on the front........the top should have the same camber as the cabin top. We'll start there! A Half inch foam sheet was laid atop the cabin and two layers of biaxial cloth was applied to the top.
The following day it was cured so we trimmed its width, made a couple temporary brackets for it, and put it in place above the hatch. It looks pretty good sitting there, we will work on it over time to break up the monotony off sanding the hull.

2 comments:

chai guy said...

Sounds awesome, would love to see some photos (even of the mock-up) when ever you get a chance. Keep up the great work!

Don said...

Thanks :-)

I'll post some pictures as it gets a little further along so they show the progression.

Cheers, Don