Second Vagabond rollover

[Steve_Borelli]

Dear guys,<BR><BR>finally my VG+ is back upside !!!<BR>A big moment, the boat looks really like a boat !<BR>This week-end I designed the new skirt and started to build it; it was not simple and I have to say that the original one was designed in a very smart way. As I said, given the fact I have the fin deep keel, I don´t need anymore a removable rudder and so I made the following modifications: <BR>- I kept the bottom of the hull without the "V" cut; just cutted the hole that will drive the rudder pole through the boat; this will give at my VG some more floatation and, at the same time will give more freedom to the rudder (+/- 90 degrees )<BR>- I traced a flat wide horizontal surface at 10cm. from the bottom to be used as platform. At the right I will mount a stair and at the left the brakets for the motor.<BR>- Then I redraw the slanting sides in order to give at the boat a much "spinning" shape. As soon as I will complete the tasks I will post photos. ( Here I attached a photo of the internal structure of the first flat surface: platform )<BR>I tried the shape on my model and it looks very pretty.<BR><BR>Some comments about this stage of building.<BR><BR>- I noticed that the joint between the bottom and the chine / side ( I made both out of 12mm panels ) were almost perfect, that´s because the thick wood bend in a good and fair way; the joint between side and top side were a bit unfair; I worked a lot with the putty to achieve a good fairness but it is very hard. As a result I have 2 or 3 point of the hull, specially were the joint is, that shows imperfections. I will work on the topside to correct them but I will go to live them if it is overkill ( guys it´s a hand made boat !!! )<BR><BR>- I drilled just two holes on the fin keel in order to drill others as soon as I will have a copy of the pre-drilled holes in the boat hull. In this stage I took a "copy" of the keel holes pattern from the top of the bottom and transferred them on the keel. In this way I´m sure the holes will be perfectly aligned. I have still to drill the holes on the keel.<BR><BR>- I worked a lot with a custom made sander machine and it worked great ( see attached photo ). I aggressively used putty and sand to make the surface as smooth as possible. It´s the first time I made this kind of work but I think it was a good way. Don´t think that the primer will cover imperfections more than .5mm<BR>When the surfaces were almost perfect I flowcoat for 2 times with epoxy and sprayed the primer. I use the spray tecniques for the first time: the first try was a nightmare but you soonest find a way to spray it smooth without trouble. I sprayed because I wanted to learn how to spray and because I though that for a large surfaces like this boat it payed. I think I was right. I sanded the primer with the 150 grit paper. I sprayed again the primer and then I sanded the primer with a 240 sand paper. The result was perfect. Smooth and straight surfaces.<BR><BR>- Then I just sprayed the paint. 3 hands, 2 times. The result is astonishing. Paint and primer were polihurethanic bicomponent. I sprayed them in the open fresh air with the 3M6000 face mask without any kind of smell or trouble. That mask is fantastic.<BR><BR>- As a last job I epoxy coated and painted the top.<BR><BR>Now I ( finally ) see the end...<BR><BR>Good work to all !!!<BR><BR>Bye.<BR>Steve