1972 SN Promo Project

Frankenotter wrote: 2. A pre-filter for the shop-vac would have been a good idea. I emptied my vac 3 times over the day and had to shake the filter out every 10min of use.

Hey Chris a number of years ago one of the guy's,vondy, was restringing his HM powered Mustang and used one of theseif you can fit it into the budget. I remember him saying it worked great

49.99 ar Menards or Ace

So Chris, I'm getting the impression you didn't enjoy the grinding? Hard to tell.

If you put a name on the boat, I'd take the line from your video:

QUESTIONABLE LIFE CHOICE

Thanks Gary. They sell them locally here. I might take a drive over to Menards and see what these all entail.

Just got back from a ski trip in Breckenridge and I got a call from my machine shop. They tested 2 shafts for runout (one for the promo and one for the 176). I guess I didn't trust the guy since he gave me several different stories over 3 phone calls, so I decided to set up my own test bench to check his findings.

Here's the 176 shaft on the bench.



Link to video

Did you tune the length or just order another stock length?

I'll say. I can't figure out if he has a workbench in his room or if he lives in the garage!

Did you order an ARE?

Is Randy a woman?

So it has been a while since I posted a video of the promo progress. The reason for this is because grinding fiberglass for days at a time makes for very boring video. so instead here are a few pics from the process.

This was the first side that I attempted. I really took my time here because I was nervous about grinding too deep.


Word of caution, as I rounded the corner I began grinding the sidewalls that were covered with broken old gelcoat. As TB points out, that stuff is really hard to recreate and I Probably shouldn't have taken it off. I guess my only option now is to try to find a gel shop that can recreate it. If anyone knows of a good gel place in the Milwaukee/Chicago area please let me know.


I know it was mentioned several times, but this pre-filter was worth every penny. This thing was $50 and filters the fiberglass into the bucket instead of into your shop vac. I was having to empty and shake my vac every 5 mins before installing this dream.


I'm trying to figure out if I need to grind this area since the stringer glass wont be bonding here. Should I just take a layer off to get the loose material off? I know that I need to grind the lifting ring bracket out.


While crawling on the floor for hours on end, I noticed that the pylon has a crack in the sidewall. My first preference dealing with this is to replace the entire thing. If anyone has a 72-73 pylon they want to sell for the cause please let me know. The next option is to get it to Morfoot's guy to have it welded (once I get it out of the boat).




Today I made it almost back to the transom. I forgot to take a picture but the material around the strut hardware and rudder port is very thick. It took a lot of grinding to make a dent back there.


I'm hoping to have the big grinding done in the next week or two. The weather is staring to warm up which actually makes this job even worse than it was before. I was overheating within minutes of donning my suit and respirator today. I'm really looking forward to the day I can wash this tub out and not be itchy for 3 days after working on it.

chris

Chris,
Try Al's pro fiberglass out of Whitewater. He did work for us, turned out great. Good guy.

Kurt

I think you're right Donald. As much as I hate the idea of crawling in there, I guess I'll just get it over with asap.

Thanks for the recommendation Kurt! Those guys sound legit and I'll give them a call at some point to see what they think. I have a ton of small spots on the hull that need touching up with gel as well.

Duane, I have some hardware that I was going ask you about. The rudder, strut, and one tracking gun are bent. If I sent them your way would you be able to get them aligned or should I just replace? The strut is off by .1" and the other two are bent 8-10 degrees. I can't post pics once I get back to my home pc.

Dillon at All Marine in Cary, Ill is very good with Gel and Matching colors.
Used Al.s in whitewater for a couple things also, he does very nice work.

Al got kicked out of Whitewater I think he's in Woodstock IL now.

Here we go boys. I finished the last bit of grinding this week. Good god that was terrible right to the end and I'm glad its done.





There are a few items that I would like to mention that were really helpful for the grind.

1. Get a diamond wheel for $40 instead of using a million flap disks

2. HW told me about these ZEC flexible sanding disks. I used the diamond wheel on the big stuff but these work amazingly well when precision is needed. ZEC Disk I went through hell to find them but NOW they offer them on ebay. I used the 36 grit (by recommendation) and it left a nice finish.

3. Get yourself a 3M Particulate Respirator and a few extra cartridges. This is some nasty stuff that will do serious harm if you breath it.

4. Set aside a specific set of clothes for the grind. I kept mine (including shoes) in a garbage bag and washed them by hand in a bucket with warm soapy water after each use. You don't want to crawl in a car or forget which clothes are imbedded with glass fiber.

5. My little Ridged shop-vack was a hero. I had this thing running every single second of this project. Sometimes the glass dust got so thick I thought it would choke the electric motor. Not the case. This thing was tough but ONLY when combined with the Dust Deputy. Without the pre-filter, the vac would clog every 5 minutes and need to be shaken furiously until it would suck again. JUST BUY ONE.

6. The MVP of the show was my little Makita Grinder. This thing wouldn't quit. I abused it in every capacity. I never put a filter on the outside, I never cleaned or dusted it, I left it out in the rain, and I worked so long that it started getting hot. I did every square inch of grinding with this little 4 1/2" monster. Last night I took it apart and treated it to a vacuum and oil bath. After shaking 1/16th of the boat out of the crevasses, she looks like a brand new tool.


Thanks everyone for the help and advice! I'm really looking forward to the CONSTRUCTION phase of the project!!!

Chris