Carp Fishing

I took my dad along with me to go after carp on the fly rod. I thought it would be a good way to get him into fly fishing--to catch a few 5 lb fish on the fly rod. It wasn't easy though. In fact, it was quite challenging. We were sight casting to them in about 2 feet of water with little bead head nyphs and wooly boogers. You had to drop the fly right on the fish's head to trigger a strike. We went ona  lake near Gastonia with Capt. Paul Rose: http://www.carolinabonefishing.com/

Primer Coat

The hull has now been sprayed with Interlux Primer paint. It looks damn good, but needs a touch more fairing before the final coat can go on. Robert and I got it pretty fair over the past couple of weeks so that is really going to save on time and material as I move forward. Here she is:

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.

More Fairing

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend. Kendell and I opted to stay in town, so I was able to spend another couple days in the boat shop. I am fortunate to have the help of a guy who lives here in Wilmington to assist in fairing. His name is Robert, and the guy is both a really hard worker, and someone who picks things up quickly. He has been a really great help, and I got him to help me both days that I worked on the boat this weekend. Between the two of us we put in just shy of 20 hours of sanding in this weekend.
Here are a couple pictures of Robert and I in the boat shop:

Fairing

Since waterboarding is no longer an acceptable method of torture for the US to get detainees to talk, I would suggest that they consider boat fairing. They could simply line up a bunch of boats, hand the detainee a sanding block, and have them start fairing--with the understanding that they can stop at any time they decide to start sharing their secrets. Believe me, they will talk.

As I was fairing the boat this weekend I found myself thinking, "How could I describe this activity to someone who has never done it?" Here's what I came up with:

Imagine you are driving down a highway; let's say Interstate 40 in North Carolina. But you aren't on the part of 40 at the coast that goes over the Cape Fear River and cypress wetlands, nor are you driving through the stretch in the mountains that snakes up hill through hardwood forests. No, you are driving on that stretch of 40 just east of Smtihfield where there is nothing but flat, manure-covered fields with a few short pine trees scattered about. Regarding the scenery, think Kinston, NC.

Okay, so you start off driving along this highway at mile marker 214. You keep driving, and keep driving, and keep driving...for 6 straight hours. The scenery is still just about exactly the same, and a mile marker finally comes into view. Once you are able to focus on it you see that it reads, "Mile 216."

"What?!! How in the hell have I only traveled 2 miles?" It is at this moment that you realize that your entire body is completely covered in fiberglass.

That's what boat fairing is like.

Here's a picture of the boat after 16 hours of fairing.

  

Primer Coat #1

So the paint process has begun. Pretty excited by the fact that I can see light at the end of the tunnel, but I also realize that there is still a ton of finish work ahead.

Before the paint could actually be put down I had to put a little more glass down on a low spot at the edge of the tunnel. I also needed to reglass the strakes in order to reinforce them. Of course, after the epoxy cured I had to grind all the edges down in order to avoid more fairing later. Also, Beau recommended using epoxy paint as the primer without thinning it. The paint went on super thick, and filled in some of the low spots, which will save on fairing compound later.

Here's the boat after I prepped it to be painted.

And after primer coat.