Strip Built NorthWind

[DarrellS]

Put the third coat on the interior early this morning. I am going to put the forms back in tonight and maybe lay a strip or two. No boat building tomorrow, Momma wants to hit the Brazos early and try her hand at a big GatorGar.

[bowgarguide]

You are moving now
Ron

[DarrellS]

Ron, We are gonna be at the River about six in the morning want to go? Be a good time to try the Northwind on the river.

[bowgarguide]

Thats to early ,would have to be up at 430 to be able to meet you in Waco at 6 .


Ron

[Texmullet]

Damn Ron,retirement that hard on ya?! Well Stacie does want that sweet ride of hers back!

I thought you took your Northwind out already.....did I miss the report?

Ricky

[DarrellS]

The third coat of epoxy set up well today in the heat. I reinstalled the forms in preperation for stripping the deck, which I will start tomorrow evening or Monday. Went to Lowes this evening and found some really nice Cedar that has a good color. I am running several different patterns through my head that I think will look nice on the deck. I just have to settle on one and get started.

Interior Finished:



Most of the forms reinstalled:

[bowgarguide]

This is a different North Wind Mullet.
Ron

[Texmullet]

Yeah I know Ron! I had missed your initial paddle report,but I found it...this is very nice Darrell!!

[DarrellS]

Got the rest of the forms set inplace and put blue tape on everything I don't stuck with glue.





Got the first six strips layed down. The first few are always the hardest, they have to be perfect because all the other are layed against them. They went down pretty easy, I had to make a couple of adjustments but nothing major.





With these down I should make a little progress tomorrow evening.

[DarrellS]

Where the hull transitions to the deck is a pretty tight radius. I tried several different ways to close the gap between the first and second deck strips without succes. I finally decided to run the first strip down the boat while keeping the gap even over the entire length of the boat. I then cut a wedge out of white pine and glued it in place. This is not a design flaw it is just the way Seawind was designed and Matt stayed to true to the orignal design.

Before sanding:



After sanding:



I started stripping the deck and forgot to take ppictures of progress, but I have three more panels so I will get some more pics.

[rodloos]

Looks like you are making good progress on it after having to put it aside for awhile. It's always nice to have some work to make money, it beats the alternative, but being able to take a break for family and fun is good too!

It's looking good!

[DarrellS]

I had time to make some progress this evening. I finished sanding the front deck and started laying out the strips for the rear deck.



While waiting on the glue to dry on the first set of strips on the rear deck I went ahead and put a pre-coat of epoxy on the front deck just to seal it from stains and such until I am ready to fiberglass the entire deck. It is amazing what a difference it makes went wet out with epoxy. You finally really get to see what it is going to look like.

From this:



To this:





In the previous update I mentioned having to make a wedge to close the gap on tyhe first and second deck strips. It worked better than I could have hoped.

From This:



To this:



More to come tommorrow.

[DarrellS]

I finished all of the strips tonight. Now on to sanding and fiberglass.





She's long.

[DarrellS]

Got a little more done to the NorthWind this evening. It sure was hard to come out of the A/C (after working in the heat all day) to work on the boat this evening. As always my helper was present although she is smarter than me.



I got busy and got the rest of the boat sanded. I sure am likeing the way this boat is turning out.



I took a deep breath to settle my nerves and took a jigsaw to the deck.



I order most of my deck hardware from Strapworks.com and it all came in today. Gonna go with red straps and bungees on this one.

[bowgarguide]

Man that looks awesome.
Ron

[DarrellS]

Couple of Verlen Kruger clips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhPRAJ0P ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kqdssgx ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would love to be able to take off and experience some of his adventures. I guess the first step is building the NorthWind.

[Hirsch]

Looking good Darrell.

[DarrellS]

Deck is all loosened up on the forms and I have saw horses are ready to set the hull on while I use the table to sand and fiberglass the underside of the deck. It is just too dang hot to work on it right now though. My pickup is sitting beside the shop and it is reading 106* so I think I might wait until the sun goes down to start working the deck.

[DarrellS]

After it cooled off some this evening I went out to the shop and set the boat on a set of saw horses and seperated the hull and the deck.



Got some of the underside of the deck sanded.



Did a little work to the hull also. I started installing the sheer strips, half of each side done.



A little detail of the sheer strip.

[DarrellS]

Got home today and a package was waiting on me. My bungee material finally arrived. The red is for this boat.



Put some temporary braces back in the boat. They tend to kinda roll up without any braces in them.



I finished sanding the deck last night and layed the fiberglass this morning before I went to work. I put the final two fill coats on the deck this evening.



And last but not least I stripped the two bulk heads. Tomorrow I will cut them out, sand and fiberglass them. I am shooting to join the hull and deck Weds. night.



I am ready for a break in the heat. It was 107* in my shop this afternoon and still 90* at 10:30.

[DarrellS]

Did'nt get much done today. Really all I accomplished is fiberglassing the bulkheads.



I layed the deck on the boat to get it out of the way for a while. It's not centered or anything but I sure do like the way it is going to look when finished.

[DarrellS]

We got off a little early today and decided it was time to install the deck permantely. I didn't take any pics last night, but I did tack the bulkheads in place.



Before my men left to go home I asked them to help help me get the Goopy (epoxy & wood flour) glue on the sheer strip. In this heat it does not take long for the epoxy to "go off" on you, so some help was nice. We got the goopy on and set the deck in place without any problems. There were a couple of places along the boat that did not want to cooperate but a tie-down strap fixed that. I love the look of this boat. It won't be long and it will be time to make her shinny.







Epoxy should set pretty quick today.

[bowgarguide]

Dang that is looking awesome , I cant wait till we can take these two boats for a stroll side bye side.
Ron

[DarrellS]

Got out to the shop this afternoon and gave the boat a light sanding and them wiped it down with acetone. It sure is ugly at this point.



I layed out a tape line on the hull so the seam will be nice and straight to make it easier to blend the layers together. I have about three inches of overlap on each side to strengthen the deck joint.



I rolled out the glass on the boat and wouldn't you know it was six feet too short. I did some trimming and have enough to finish the narrow sections of the deck. I'll have some seams to blend but it won't be too much trouble.







It looks pretty good with fiberglass on it. It is still early enough I may still get one more coat of epoxy on it later tonight.

[DarrellS]

Not much progress today. I ran out of glass and had to run to Ron's house to borrow some. I did feather all of the edges on the glass today and have the boat ready for the two pieces down the edge of the cockpit, so I will finish the fiberglass work in the morning.