Ongoing Progress

After working outside for 2 hours cleaning up the sanding from the other day, Kathy came out to show me a surprise she ordered for us. One test silkscreen TEAM shirt and a surprise silkscreen shirt. The surprise shirt was of me sitting in the boat the day it arrived HOME. That is a one time shirt. We most likely will be ordering more TEAM shirts when we get closer to actually getting on the water.

 

Excuse the wrinkles, Kathy wanted to iron them since they were fresh out of the box but I wanted to get some pictures right away.

Real progress today. Both rear non-trips have been sanded to bare wood. One third of the bottom is sanded down to bare wood and the bigger objective - the left (Port) sponson has FINALLY been sanded down to bare wood. The reason why this was such an accomplishment, when we picked up the boat most of the underside been painted black over the wonderful wood. The black paint has been removed, then under the black paint was a coating of fiberglass (Mike HANSON should be very happy to hear it has been removed, he was not happy when we did that way years ago. Mike, we are finally doing it right).

 

When I get the boat finished, I'm going to go get a weight scale to see what it weights. I'm betting we will be back to our original weight - COOOOOOL!!!! It weighted 1,100 with the motor in 1982. Any bets????

 

It was difficult to removed the fiberglass without also removing some of the very pretty wood. Mission accomplished. I accidentally did sand through in a couple of spots on the edge, but NOT within the main piece of wood. I'm sure everyone will point that out to me when they see the finished product, but that is the price you might pay when sanding wood - occasionally you accidentally sand through a layer of the plywood. That mistake isn't enough of a reason to remove that whole piece for a small boo boo.

 

Besides at 130 MPH you can't see it.... LOL

 

Also, if anyone knows of a excellent hydroplane trailer available, let me know. I'm on the hunt for one. It has to be a tilt trailer because the boat is over the legal limit for towing flat.

 

Today, I started sanding off the old clear finish from the bottom wood. The black paint has all been removed and the wood under the black paint looks very nice.

 

The Okoume wood has a slight pint shade to it when it doesn't have a varnish on it. When the clear varnish is coated back on, it turns slightly clear yellow in color. You can see how the un-sanded and sanded look in the pictures.

 

It looks so pretty and the grain is so nice, I just had to take a picture (who me a picture!!!!!!!!!!).

 

I will finish sanding this side of the belly pan soon, then the belly pan will get sanded and finish up with the other side of the belly pan.

 

Sanding, sanding and when I'm bored - SANDING...... LOL