Start to Finish: Building Our 50' Skater
05-14-2016, 01:33 PM
#681
Registered
The Name of the boat is..." Force of Nature " ...
We have built this boat to fight the forces of nature.
And the boat itself will be a force of nature.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]555546[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555547[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555548[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555549[/ATTACH]
Last edited by BigSilverCat; 05-14-2016 at 02:02 PM.
Charter Member
05-14-2016, 07:04 PM
#684
Registered
The Name of the boat is..." Force of Nature " ...
We have built this boat to fight the forces of nature.
And the boat itself will be a force of nature.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]555546[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555547[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555548[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555549[/ATTACH]
We have built this boat to fight the forces of nature.
And the boat itself will be a force of nature.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]555546[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555547[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555548[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555549[/ATTACH]
05-16-2016, 09:28 AM
#685
Registered
I have not been posting as many pics because before I literally had years of pics that I condensed into a few weeks of posting pics. Before I was able to post several pics in one post and give a start to finish of a project in one post, but now I have 50 things going but none of them complete. I will start posting pics of things in progress each night..
Here are the cockpit side panels, they start out with a mold that has a slight curve to match the windshield receiver, lay up a layer of glass then a honeycomb core then another layer of glass, put a rib on top to sit along the windshield receiver ( I cut that off to not have the material go over the top edge, personal preference), made a cardboard template of about the shape the panel needs to be, cut the panel and get it to fit, put a light behind the opening to get a rough idea where to cut pocket openings, pencil the line for the opening from the inside, take out and cut openings, made a little shelf that fiberglass to the inside of panel to bridge the gap to top of tank so stuff does not fall down, front and back walls to keep stuff in the pocket, figured out the spot I left for a brace on the panel would be a good place for a JL 7.7" mid Speaker so we had to fiberglass pieces back in to hold the speaker, Aluminum angle on the floor to bolt the bottom of panel back to, they will get removed and anodized black.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]555607[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555608[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555609[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555610[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555611[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555612[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555613[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555614[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555615[/ATTACH]
Here are the cockpit side panels, they start out with a mold that has a slight curve to match the windshield receiver, lay up a layer of glass then a honeycomb core then another layer of glass, put a rib on top to sit along the windshield receiver ( I cut that off to not have the material go over the top edge, personal preference), made a cardboard template of about the shape the panel needs to be, cut the panel and get it to fit, put a light behind the opening to get a rough idea where to cut pocket openings, pencil the line for the opening from the inside, take out and cut openings, made a little shelf that fiberglass to the inside of panel to bridge the gap to top of tank so stuff does not fall down, front and back walls to keep stuff in the pocket, figured out the spot I left for a brace on the panel would be a good place for a JL 7.7" mid Speaker so we had to fiberglass pieces back in to hold the speaker, Aluminum angle on the floor to bolt the bottom of panel back to, they will get removed and anodized black.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]555607[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555608[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555609[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555610[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555611[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555612[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555613[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555614[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]555615[/ATTACH]
05-16-2016, 10:50 PM
#686
Registered
Thanks to everyone for the support
The whole concept of what you are doing is beyond my comprehension. Trying to cover every possible scenario, that could go wrong out in the middle of the ocean is such an immense task in itself. Building a boat capable of the voyage and just getting yourselves physically and mentally prepared is a huge challenge.
This is awesome, I commend you and all those involved in your vision.
RR
This is awesome, I commend you and all those involved in your vision.
RR
Well said....the thought, engineering, and craftsmanship makes this revolutionary. It's not just another rich guy building a boat to go fast for 20 minutes, park it at the dock so people can tell him how cool it is.....but the damn thing can't make it from Miami to Key West without getting fuel or breaking down.....this beast is made to get it done to the max.!
The level of skill and planning for this build is mind boggling to me. I can't imagine the feeling of pride to put this all together. Each post seems to me like another victory in the battle to finish, I think we all here know how much of a fight our boats can give us at times. This by far has been the best project I've seen here on OSO. Thank you all for sharing!
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05-17-2016, 08:41 AM
#690
Registered
We were going to do the run but everyone we were going with had major things come up and I needed to work on my boat to try to make this military show in a few weeks so we cancelled, they are doing the run again in September so we go then.
