Barrier Coat Finally

Started the barrier coat today. No more blue spots.

Just when I think all of the little holes are filled, I find more as the barrier coat goes on. Just 3 spots though. I'll putty them up just before the last coat.

I'm hoping no big wind comes along and blows the boat over as no pads are touching.

The barrier coat epoxy is covering more than I thought so I should be able to get over 6 coats on or about 22 mils. Hopefully I'll have bottom paint on by Wednesday then Lee can get back to work on the inside.

The Old Hobart

30 years ago, when I had my boat business, the guy that was welding up my trailers got tired of me stopping by with work, unannounced. He said I could save a lot of time and money, and headaches for him, if I bought my own welder. He said he would even give me some pointers on welding. His first pointer was a finger pointing in the direction of  TVI, our local vocational technical CC. Well several months later I finished the evening classes, with a couple of nice tool boxes that I welded up,  and fancied myself a welder.

This Hobart has seen a lot of projects from boat trailers, to furniture, to the body I had on my big truck (several different ones), to all the people I had dropping by. When Lee first met me she did not understand why I had a big "NO" painted on my workshop tent when I was in Quartzsite for the winters. It didn't take her long to figure it out. Well here it is the old Hobart on another "big iron" project.

Note the trailer frame is on it's side. I don't like to do vertical or overhead welding and if I can rotate the weld to horizontal I will. With the cunning use of straps, a come-along, and the post holding my awning up and post holding my solar screen I've rolled the frame over a couple of times. I do this solo because I know what can go wrong and don't want anyone to get hurt so don't feel bad I didn't ask for your help. Most of you have bad backs anyway.

Well back to work.

Pivoting Keel Rest

The keel rest and keel guide are nearing the paint stage. The forward bow stop section is missing and won't go on until the old trailer is cut apart. The side rails are bolted on, instead of welded, to facilitate bottom painting in the future or a different boat.😏

I did a test by clamping a section of steel forward of the pivot point of the same weight and length as the bow stop section and amazingly enough my previous calculations on paper were real close. I will need about 1 cubic foot of fiberglass encased foam mounted to this end (aft) to float the rear of the keel guide.

The spring hangers are tacked in place on adjustable plates .I've run calculations on where to place the axles but don't trust myself to weld the hangers on in a fixed position. With the 2" slipper springs the equalizer hanger was to wide to get a good weld straight to the frame so the 4" plates remedied this problem as well.

Lee continues to work on the interior between cooking for all of the guest we've had over the past couple of weeks.