JET BOAT!! Something different, cheap and fun.

Pfft, yeah I know. I keep thinking, clean two, combine two.

http://houston.craigslist.org/boa/4674919188.html

I'm digging this build.

I was being lazy today and as usual it's raining, so not much got done. Mostly staring at it, figuring what goes where.

First up was the fuel tank.

Being cheap, I'm using the jet ski tank. It's almost 6 gallons and already plumbed for the engine.

It's going here:

I kept the front of the jet ski hull with the tank mounts,

So I did this:

A little more grinding and I will epoxy it in the bottom of the hull to hold the tank. Much easier than building mounts.

As luck would have it, using the factory jet ski fuel fill and hose the cap lands level with the top of the seat which is where the rear deck will be.

The only other thing I did tonight is glass in the muffler mount and cut some drain holes in it so water wouldn't get trapped under the muffler.

More to come.

The damn rain is really starting to get on my nerves. I'm kind of at a stand still until I can get some more grinding and sanding done, and I'm not doing that inside my shop. Fiberglass dust and machine tools don't mix.

Today, I made a trip to Lowes for some lumber and I cut out a couple of pieces to tie the bottom of the hull back into the seats. I forgot how much fun it is to cut a piece of wood to conform to the bottom of a hull. It's time consuming to say the least. I can't glass them in until I get the paint removed and that won't happen until the rain quits. The weather man says that won't happen until Saturday.

They will be getting a couple of layers of 24 oz cloth for strength. Tying them into the seats should spread some of the loads back to the sides of the hull and they keep the bottom of the hull from flexing at the joints. The engine cover will slide over the top of these as well.

More to come.

Time for a new weatherman!

Excellent, just excellent.

Will the exhaust still exit below the water line? Critical for stealth mode. I'm glad trim has been mentioned, it was my first concern. Get it running and on the water and then fine tune it. Everything is minor after that. You're putting in a new drain plug right?

ClemSparks wrote: Time for a new weatherman!

I don't know about that, it's raining this morning, so he right so far.

An old car buddy of mine just moved to Charleston from Charlotte. He was just posting on Facebook about how much rain you lowcountry folk get.

Toyman01 wrote:

ClemSparks wrote: Time for a new weatherman!

I don't know about that, it's raining this morning, so he right so far.

Exactly. Time for one that'll give you good project-workin' weather.

I panicked for a sec thinking that winter and ice would close-in before this was ready for a test run, then saw it was being built in SC where water stays liquid year round.

Unlike a car where we pretty much know at a basic level how the thing will perform when done, this one leaves a bit of suspense in that it might not work as anticipated, or it might work better.

After Tuna's truck this is my most favorite build thread. And I have to say that cause he sent me leaf-spring swag!

Hallelujah ! No rain!!

Grinding done, now we can make some progress.

Petrolburner, the exhaust will be under the water at idle. I used the factory through hull in the drive tunnel. I also ended up adding two drain plugs, one on either side of the drive tunnel.

ScreaminE, it's not abnormal for us to get a afternoon shower a couple of times a week, but I bet we have had close to 5 inches in the last two weeks.

NOHOME, no ice and not a lot of winter so it will be hitting the water ASAP. I'm figuring on a test run within a month. I'm kind of curious how it will preform myself. I've done weirder things had had them work, so we'll see.

More to come, but not today.

Back to raining again, but I still managed to get something done.

One side glassed in and done.

Tomorrow is helping Dad sand and paint a porch day, so it will be Sunday before anything else happens.

Today and tomorrow both look full of progress

Yesterday was spent sanding and painting 140' of porch railing and weeding a flowerbed as big as my yard. My parents house is going to be on the local historical tour and we are trying to get it ready for the crowds.

This morning I felt like someone beat me with a 2X6. Today I didn't get much done. I glued in the fuel tank mount and read a book.

The tank mount is part of the jet ski hull. I cut it out and epoxied it in the hull of the new boat. Cheap and easy, just the way I like it.

More to come.

Holy crap, this is good.

I give this project 2 thumbs up. Wish I had more thumbs so I could give more approval.....

What book did you read?

In reply to singleslammer:

50 Shades of Epoxy

CGLockRacer wrote: In reply to singleslammer: 50 Shades of Epoxy

Google is you friend. The rest of it I'm making up as I go along.

There has to be a way for this to run the challenge right?

Only if it rains.

If this last weekend was any indicator, it will rain enough to get it done. I'm still drying out from the scenario paintball event we had this last weekend.

In reply to singleslammer:

David Eddings, The Malloreon, Volume 1.

More happenings on the boat project this afternoon.

Glassed in the other engine rail.

They are done.

Next up is the front of the rear seat. It will go from one side of the boat to the other and tie into the back of the engine rails. It will also stop the sides from flexing. It's got to be strong enough to support my fat butt so it is made out of 1/2" plywood.

The problem is cutting it out to follow the contours of the bottom of the boat and the slope of the sides.

I didn't have any large sheets of cardboard, so I plotted the bottom of the boat with a plumb bob and a couple of rulers.

Like so.

That gave me this. The closer you plot your points, the better fit your first cut will be.

Look, a bunch of dots on a piece of plywood.

Some lines.

Chop, chop.

So close. From there you just need to carve it down until it fits.

I do that by marking where it's hitting. The distance from the side of a fat pencil to the point is about 3/16", so 3/16" at a time it gets closer and closer to fitting.

Close enough.

One more cut and done.

I did make an error on the left side. I'll have to fix it before I epoxy it in.