Shop work

Good progress today. Been out the last couple days. Skied static peak on Friday, then went fishing on Saturday. Got into a nice fish right in the first bank run. Got her right out of the fast water chasing a streamer.

Today I went over and checked out the new Briggs dory that Jeremy Christensen built. Nice looking boat and great finish work. Chatted canyon with Dobb's who is taking the boat down next week. Got home, and got the vacuum pump working. Turns out I needed to adjust the vacuum controller. Got it holding 20 inches of mercury in the shop which is about the most I can pull at this elevation. Seems to work good. Still smells like propane and bleach when it evacuates but I guess that's how it's gonna be. I did some work around the shop to make my life easier. Built a shelf up on the high supports that were already there to get all the excess glass out of the way. I built a rack to hold rolls right below the work bench. The rolls hang between to support joints on a removable line. There are slots for 3 rolls, and maybe one more. This will make it much easier to pull long pieces of glass off the roll. I also found an old metal tabletop on the side of the garage. I rigged up a joist and a catch so that the table top rests on the support joist held in place. Found an old support in he wood shed about the right height to support the front. Held the two pieces together with a clamp. Instant table, and it breaks down to nothing in about 2 seconds. Should make life much better for the mix monkey.

Ready to start glassing, pump is working and tested. Have all the materials. Start soon!

Right back at it

Got home from the desert to 9" of snow up high. Cold morning too... saw some guys who looked like they had been fishing. boat was covered in inches thick road ice. skiing was awesome! Great north facing powder. Gonna go up high tommorrow and poke around.

Got the pump assembled since all the parts were here. Assembly was tedious but I think I got it done. Plugged it in and the pump kicked on then shut off. The shop smells like a mix of propane and bleach. hope this goes away. when the pump first kicked on it reeked.need to figure out whats up with it. i also realized there were no grounded outlets in the garage. may have to wire something more modern or use an adapter. outlets in the old shop are a mix.. mostly old and sketchy looking. About ready to start glassing stuff.

Moab

Amazing trip to the desert. Moab is my top offseason hangout spot for good reason. Weather was cold, windy, snowy, and wet but we caught some good windows as well. dirt was tacky and nice most places. TiLTED played at eddie mcstiffs as a duo, and we had some good times hanging out in town and eating at all the favorite spots. Great biking, camping, and desert exploring. Ill let the pictures speak for themselves.

Our itinerary
Day 1: Arches afternoon: park avenue, windows, double arch, delicate arch
Day 2: La Sal loop rd drive, slick rock practice loop with friends
Day 3: Moab brand trails with Michelle: Lazy, Ez, rusty spur, North 40, Bar M
Day 4: Arches: Fiery Furnace, Skyline arch
Day 5: Magnificent 7 with friends: Bull Run, Arths Corner, The Great Escape, Little Canyon to Gemini Bridges rd. Finish
Day 6: Negro Bill canyon hike to morning glory arch, Fins and Things radio tower loop (roller coaster)
Day 7: Porcupine Rim: Kokapelli access from sand flats, UPS, LPS, Porcupine Rim
Day 8: Klondike Bluffs with Michelle: Agate loop, Dino Flow out, Klondike Bluffs to slick rock playground out and back, Dino Flow back, Jasper west, Agate East. Afternoon ride of Dave's trail
Day 9: Amasa Back: Amasa Back, Captain Ahab

Side panels glued up

Got out to the shop this am, and mixed up some epoxy cabosil. I hit all the end grains of the foam again wi the thickened mixture, wiped the joints down with a paper towel, and then proceeded to packing tape the halves together. It actually worked very well for holding things in place and keeping the halves aligned and level. I then leveled the panels and aligned them on the 4x16 floor. I used an old world clamping technique to hold my board in place weighted over the joint. Ill unwrap my package in 48 hours. In the meantime I got my drill today so ill work on the Pump base some more, and try and get it wired up. I ordered a real vacuum filter today. I couldn't find one locally, and wasent able to get any help finding an alternative, so I had to order one from the veneer supplies site. I didn't have much luck getting any help rigging my Mac valve either, since I have no clue how these things work and neither did the guy who designed the vacuum press setup, I had to throw down on another valve so it will be a few days on that too. It's looking doubtful ill get anything glassed before I leave for Moab next sat, so ill try and tie up all the loose ends so I can glass as soon as I get back.

Vacuum pump city

Ups and FedEx both came today with packages. A bunch of fittings from veneersupply and a Thomas vacuum pump off eBay. I spend the majority of the day running around getting the last of the fittings, and getting plumbing. I got about $20 worth of PVC to make a big u shaped tube as a reservoir. Haven't connected it yet. I hemmed and hawed over the 5 gallon propane tank at the restore for $15. I thought it would make a good big reservoir for pulling the big panels, but I figured it would be a pain and expensive to remove all the propane, then I'd have to figure out some kind of fitting to get to the tank. There are a few so I still have time to change my mind. I think the smaller tank setup is probably gonna cycle alot on the big panels but that's 6 pieces. For the rest I think I may be ok with the PVC setup. I am scoping a piece of 4x8 melamine at the restore also to make into a large laminating table for glassing bulkheads and deck sections.

This afternoon I spend mulling around assembling fittings and pondering the mounting. I salvaged some old plywood for the base, took the router to it quick to make it look not completely thrown together. I assembled fittings and found the mounting I liked with the pump mounted on a block in the center with the u shaped tube on PVC around it below. Looks good and will hopefully be very functional too. I messed around getting mounting for all the stuff and figuring out what is left. I need the drill to come tomorrow so I can drill all the holes for wiring and zip ties, and tap the pc caps. I need some smaller PVC for the reserve reservoir, and a vacuum filter I forgot on my order. I've hunted around town for 2 days trying to find something to work, sofar all I got was a ford fuel filter, some huge diesel fuel filter, and a paint spray gun inline water trap filter. I may have to order the real thing on the Internet and wait another week for the part to get here. I'm almost ready to assemble and wire it up.

Yesterday evening michelle and i cut the last 1 ft sections of side panels. we masked all the edges of the corecell with 3m packing tape to keep epoxy from the joints from getting on the panel and to make a clean joint. Tonight I gave the end grain of the corecell a whack with some raw epoxy. Ill let it soak into that foam overnight, then tomorrow morning ill mix up some thicker epoxy with cabosil and fillers and hit the joints again, butt joint it and clamp the big center joints side by side with a piece of visqueen covered wood clamped to the underlying plywood to hold everything in place. The one foot tail section will get butt jointed and a visqueen covered stick will be weighted with bricks to hold it in place while the glue kicks.

I cleaned out the back of the wood shop where the wood shed is. It's kind of a disaster back there, but I moved enough wood around, swept and organized and was able to make a space on the floor to store the 2 4x8 panels for the floor and the 2 offcuts. This stuff was bulky and was clogging up space in the shop. I moved unnecessary stuff from the garage into the shop to make it less cluttered.

Gearing up

Been spending money like crazy lately. Almost out of the woods though. By the time I finish getting the materials here and paying Uncle Sam I'm gonna be broke. Good thing fishing season is right around the corner. Today I bought a new drill, something I've needed forever. Got fillers ordered and on the way.vacuum press stuff al shipped today and got tracking on them all. Plascore is still eluding me. Those guys sure make it difficult to buy things from them. Should be geared up by next week tho. And on to glassing. Ill glue up the side panels in the meanwhile when the fillers come. Then assemble the press, test it, and go time.