Ongoing Progress

For Giggles & My Amusement, hopefully yours to. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I needed a little break from all the fiberglass work. Plus I'm waiting for UPS to deliver more supplies.

 

Jane, see your contribution? And for you SIRA folks - a vintage SIRA logo. The competition decal will have to be modified when I permanently lay it down, it should read 1 mile competition record, not 1 1/4 record. The 1 1/4 would be even more MPH as would the 1 2/3 record. We have been over all of them, but only set the one.

 

You can also see the bolts that hold the cowling to the deck. The T-nuts were epoxied in yesterday. I will lay one more layer of epoxy with gap filler to secure them, plus there will be a layer of fiberglass will be over them when the deck is fiber-glassed. When I got into the cockpit today, the cowling actually felt very secure and MUCH more solid then it did 28 yrs ago. A great improvement.

 

The Rose is a memorial to my Mom, it also was on the original hydro and our other hydroplane "My Rose".

 

I won't drill the holes for the windshield but you get the idea - there you go Shirley and Dave, the Lexan you picked up for us.

Yesterday I epoxied the stainless steel T-nuts into the rear cowling. Today I fit the rear cowling to the T-nuts with stainless allen head studs and grade 8 lock nuts. I recessed the T-nuts into the deck so that the cowlings hopefully fit flush.

 

Since it worked as I hoped it would, I recessed the front cowling T-nuts and epoxied them in. Tomorrow I will check that fit. I'm hoping this idea works as good as I think it will. The allen head studs can be tightened easily if necessary.  I have some white molding that goes around the outside edge to add a cushion and make it look spiffy.

 

I continued to work on the front and center cowling pieces. The front one is done as far as I'm concerned (the painter may have other thoughts) and tomorrow I will bondo the new center section pieces, sand and prime.

 

She is starting to look like the original hydro and also look like a race boat again..... YIPPEE!!!!!!!

Scott, here is our new dash board. I wanted to fit the cover with to the gauges I will take it back apart and then coat it with a clear finish. The Okoume dash over lay should look nice. I will cut the holes into the piece that was fiberglassed to the cowling, then we will screw this piece with the gauges to it, allowing quick (well semi quick) removal of it.

 

Now for those of you who are wondering why the 120 MPH is at the top. Well when your cruising down the race course you don't have time to focus on the #'s, so as long as you know 120 is at the top, all you have to do is glance at the needle (that is if you really want to know). The oil pressure gauge is the most important gauge - right in the center, tachometer is next most important and then water temperature is something you might glance at if you suspect a temperature problem.

 

The master switch has a quick flip cover, you can just slam the red cover down and it shuts off electricity. When you flip up the master switch the red light will shine. Now what is cool, the fuel pump switch and strobe light switch glow red when off and turn green when you flip them on.

 

The oil, tach and water gauges have a button that allows you to change the color of the display if you want to have a visual color difference.

Hope you don't mind, but I thought I would show you some pictures of the cowlings from when we picked them up in April 2007. And as of yesterday, two of the three pieces have had the cracks repaired, additional fiberglass inserted in areas where glass was cut out from the original cowlings. You may or maybe not be able to see all the cracks in the BLUE pieces and you may or maybe not be able to see the additional glass that I inserted. The added piece to the front cowling is the light blue section. Then it was sanded, filled and primed. The front cowling is now back to it's original configuration.

 

The front cowling has had a wood piece added to the rear of it for additional strength and to try and keep engine things inside the engine compartment and a new wood dashboard. It is two pieces of 1/2" plywood glued together and then fiber-glassed onto the cowling. I have also made a 6mm piece of Okoume Mahogany that will have the gauges attached to it, then that piece will be screwed to the dash plywood. That way if for some reason I need to work on the gauges, I can just remove that piece with the gauges attached. The last thing to be installed on the front cowling (besides the lettering, which is downstairs waiting) is the windshield. I have it cut but can't install it until all the other steps are completed.

 

Just a little more smoothing of the cowling and they will be ready to go out to be painted - where - I don't have a clue, yet.

As I mentioned to a few chosen individuals - I took the N-22 to the Pateros race. Here is the proof. Jim Barstow (after a couple of beers anyway) talked me into putting our N-22 model onto the water. The water was so nice, who could resist.

 

Well it did float. The engine coupler slipped and wouldn't engage the prop shaft. Lucky for me, it never left the dock.... we didn't even have a chase boat or rescue personnel near by.

 

But, it does prove that the N-22 hit the water in 2008... LOL well at least the model...

Over the labor day holiday there was no rest for the wicked.. the wicked would be me....

 

Most of the NEW fiberglass inlays are done (replacing all the fiberglass cut out by the previous owners), only the exhaust area of the engine cowling still needs to be filled back in. The drivers compartment now has the original dash area filled back in, a NEW dashboard has been glassed into place (I have cut out a nice piece of Okoume Mahogany wood cut out to make the dash look finished and nice, but that won't be installed until a little later - after I get all the steering post and gauge holes cut out. The dash will be almost 3/4" thick, so that should hold the steering wheel in place. That first corner is going to quite the test.... I wasn't happy with the scroll cut I made in the dash for the legs, So I shaped a little more arch into it. It just seemed to close to the leg when I was attempting to push the gas pedal (Scooter, you will have to give your final approval). It now appears to be enough to compensate for all the bouncing we do inside the cockpit. One thing you don't want is to have your legs trapped if you get thrown out of the boat.

 

A wall behind the seat was built on the back side of the cockpit wall - hopefully to add strength and keep things inside the engine compartment and out of the drivers compartment. It also helps align the two cowling seams.

 

Today the fiberglass mat was laid out to make sure I had enough. That task is bubbling up to the top quickly. Once I epoxy the stainless steel T-nuts into the deck, the fiber-glassing of the deck can be started. The T-nuts will have stainless steel bolts in them that attach the cowlings to the deck with stainless steel lock nuts. Kind of important, unless you like to drink LOTS of water.

 

The very rear piece of cowling is pretty much ready for painting, the other two piece still have to be sanded, bondo fill added to seal the seams and make them look finished - then they will be primed - set a side and the deck fiber-glassed.

 

You know what that means - PAINT is next....