December 30, 2002
This week began the time consuming process of fitting the runners. Each piece (primary, secondary, and non-trip) for each sponson had to be individually fitted.
To do so, Mike roughly cut out each piece, clamped it to the boat to do some tracing and cutting to get a more exact shape. He then made careful observations and sanded/planned/cut as needed to improve the fit.
Ultimately he would screw the piece down to observe how it fit on the battens, and then introduce the next piece and work on its fit, and the junction between the two. This require taking the runners on and off numerous times.
For some of the fitting, the upper corners of the battens would be colored with big red Crayon. then the runner screwed into place, and the area over the batten swatted with a rubber mallet. This transferred the Crayon to the runner and allowed Mike to make more precise judgments and cuts.
Fitting was a very time consuming process, but as the pictures show, the results were well worth it.
Read MoreTo do so, Mike roughly cut out each piece, clamped it to the boat to do some tracing and cutting to get a more exact shape. He then made careful observations and sanded/planned/cut as needed to improve the fit.
Ultimately he would screw the piece down to observe how it fit on the battens, and then introduce the next piece and work on its fit, and the junction between the two. This require taking the runners on and off numerous times.
For some of the fitting, the upper corners of the battens would be colored with big red Crayon. then the runner screwed into place, and the area over the batten swatted with a rubber mallet. This transferred the Crayon to the runner and allowed Mike to make more precise judgments and cuts.
Fitting was a very time consuming process, but as the pictures show, the results were well worth it.
