Converting a Race Boat into a pleasure Boat

[Ratickle]

Dang Rick, good thing you don't have to drive the boat soon.....

[2TR]

Easy weekend..

I finished pulling all the lines from the back to the dash, than refitted the Aluminum I-Beam bracket.
This I-beam was in the boat before when it was the F16 canopy so why not reuse it, right?... lol





This will also work as a step while climbing in and out of the boat. I noticed that I'll need to fab a
step/arm rest because getting in and out with out one is a Bi**tch




Canopy lifted and set on.. It's a awkward shape but it cant be that heavy. I did lift it up myself
and I'm no hulk hogan.

[2TR]

Step 3287.. lol

This week I attached the canopy to the deck. I used a little bondo to set the top down onto.
I went with bondo over gunk for a few reasons.. the main one it's easier to sand the radius.






I used a 1" pc. of pvc and some elbow grease..



The front (under the skim coat of bondo) is attached with Gunk. If the boat ever is stuffed
this will take the brunt of the impact and gunk does offer a greater strength over bondo.

[2TR]

At the last second I decided to move the canopy a few inch forward. This was done to allow better acess into the front drivers area and to take a little more weight off the
stern as the boat always rode as$ end heavy. The negative is the rear seat room has a little less head room and I'm stuck with some extra body work from the previous F16
canopy.

[2TR]

The boat was de-rigged and prepped for inside fiberglass work.

The rear of the canopy was glassed down to the deck on the back part. Once this was finished I cut
a piece to cover that area and body worked it in, simple.. but time consuming

[Bobcat]

Some amazing work.

[Ratickle]

How much weight do you think you cut out, if any???

[2TR]

How much weight do you think you cut out, if any???

Not really sure, most likely will be around the same but wont know till I'm finished.

[endeavor1]

impressive to say the least

[Ratickle]

Can't wait to see it. The last pic I have of it you were slightly out of control in Harrison.......

[2TR]

After the outside was body worked in and rolled I started on the inside. I used gunk to pull the radius
and in the front nose area I used gunk and than a piece of foam board. Once the board was gunked into place I used
a ball grinder to give it a nice rolled edge to lay the glass on.

[2TR]

This part was a bitch to glass.. I cut small pieces of
1708 to fit in each corner as well as around the center post.


I than cut a 2ft piece for the center with a 5" over lap
on the 3 previous small pieces.


Than the rest of the inside pieces were cut to attach the
canopy to the deck on the inside.


Turned out better than the picture.. lol

[2TR]

The outside will be a standard 6" 1708 piece with a 12" piece of 1708 over it.











I may have to wait a week to finish this as we started working on the new race boat this week.

[Bobcat]

Looking good, starting to come together.

[Ratickle]

Yes it is. We need to see this on the water.....

[2TR]

Well it was all wet out... The 6" 1708 (tape) cloth was applied to the canopy/deck
area than a 12" piece of 1708 (tape) was applied over that.

[2TR]

Next step was grinding.. and lots of grinding. If your doing a small piece in a well ventilated area you may be able
to get away with no suit, but when your grinding in a building with little ventilation you should have a
GOOD respirator, goggles and body suit.. and I did.

I bunt down all the sharp edges inside and out and prepped the part for finish body work. I did have a
couple air void that developed during the drying period that were easily ground out and fixed at this stage.

[Offshore Ginger]

Not to be rude but just two layers of fabric where's the beef ?

[Offshore Ginger]

In post #251 you mentioned gunk why not a mixture of Cabsoil and resin making a fillet or cove shaped radius using a hobby stick so your fabric has something to roll into and could you please explain Gunk that Sparky suggested and is it made by DBF ?

[2TR]

Not to be rude but just two layers of fabric where's the beef ?

Ok im on my phone so lets see how this goes..

The first layer was 6" 1708 cloth also called tape (not sure why) ... I wet it out than while it was still hot i covered it with 12" 1708 tape.

Its hard to see but its under there.