Bonnetheads

Since I had a little down time I also took the liberty of going out fishing a couple days. Went with a buddy of mine, and we pounded the Bonnetheads in one of the creeks behind Wrightsville Beach. Found some stacked in a creek in the Masonboro area, and so we caught some small blue crabs and put them on #9 circle hooks. They couldn't resist those crabs, and it only took a couple minutes to get a bite. Caught on medium heavy inshore tackle, and 14 pound test line. We stopped just because we were tired of slinging them into the boat. Pretty fun time.

Center Console

Been kind of on hold, as I need Beau's help to spray the hull. In the interim I finished up the center console. This consisted of cutting a slick sheet (gel coat and fiberglass sheets) into the shape of each of the faces of the center console. Then I just basically epoxt the sheets to the substrate. Have to lay a board over it with some weight on top in order to get a fairly smooth surface. Sure saves on fairing time, but I was surprised at the amount of weight it adds. Center console is probably 30% heavier now that it has been slick sheeted.

Here's a little step by step on the console construction:

Built the plug out of wood

Then here it is after I foamed it, and pulled it off the plug.

This is what it looks like now after slick sheeting it all, and sanding all edges to round everything off.

I also faired out the substrate that goes on top of the poling platform. Used a fairing compound from US Composites, and was pretty pleased with the results. It smoothed itself out easily, and sanded nicely.