Here’s what my “thunderboat” looks like now

[Julio Almazan]

Hi, Jeffrey Hammond:
Beautiful job. I follow it very carefully... some doubts...
1 - Where do you get these pieces of metal, so practical and useful?

2 - Don't you think your assistant urgently needs a vacation?... I fear for his health...

 

[Craig Hollingshead]

I am not sure about other folks who have built this boat, but...I found it pretty much impossible to get the motor in and out once all of the deck sheeting was in place. I ended up creating two hatches on either side of the motor. Impossible to undo the header bolts otherwise.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Julio, the metal blocks you're referring(and pointed) to are called a 1-2-3 block. They are used, primarily anyway, in sheet metal, machining and assembly work. You can read more about and order some(if desired) from Micro Mark. Here's a link to them:
https://www.micromark.com/1-2-3-Blocks

 

[Jeffrey Hammond]

Hi, Jeffrey Hammond:
Beautiful job. I follow it very carefully... some doubts...
1 - Where do you get these pieces of metal, so practical and useful?
View attachment 325991
2 - Don't you think your assistant urgently needs a vacation?... I fear for his health...
View attachment 325992

Hi, Jeffrey Hammond:
Beautiful job. I follow it very carefully... some doubts...
1 - Where do you get these pieces of metal, so practical and useful?
View attachment 325991
2 - Don't you think your assistant urgently needs a vacation?... I fear for his health...
View attachment 325992

1). That’s Sully, my assistant…….or more correctly, my former assistant. On my last project, he made a mistake and I had to reduce his rations to beans and rum. Took a toll on him….tried to revive him with a rubber chicken and some incantations, but it hasn’t worked so far…..
2). Those metal blocks are called 1-2-3 blocks. They are used by machinists all the time. 1”x2”x3”…..pretty heavy steel. Very handy for all kinds of things, from weights, to spacers, to magnet holders, etc….I use them all over the place. Only have 10, wish I had 10 more!

 

[Jeffrey Hammond]

I am not sure about other folks who have built this boat, but...I found it pretty much impossible to get the motor in and out once all of the deck sheeting was in place. I ended up creating two hatches on either side of the motor. Impossible to undo the header bolts otherwise.

Very good point Craig! And yet, I have seen a bunch of these finished boats without the hatches, so how are they getting the header bolts loosened? Hopefully someone will chime in and tell us how they got around this issue!

 

[Jeffrey Hammond]

Last night, I dry fit the cowling on the new deck supports. I am supposed to sand this cowling so that it fits on half of the deck supports. It won’t take much sanding to get that far! It’s close already. I need to get the cowling to fit just right before I start working on the top decks. And I got another pic of my former first mate Skully who is currently looking into the back yard….for prowlers…..with lasers…….

 

[Jeffrey Hammond]

Today the goal was to get the cowling mounted. I spent most of the time trying to figure out a good way to make some kind of a jig to use to help sand the cowling. I finally decided to clamp a quarter inch piece of basswood on top of the 1/2 inch deck/cowling support, exposing half of the deck support. I used the basswood as a sanding guide for the cowl.

 

[Jeffrey Hammond]

A lot of sanding, then fitting, then more sanding, more test fitting, then more fitting, then more sanding, rinse and repeat. I finally got it just right, then I put the cowl block on the front and rear of the cowling and set them up with GFlex epoxy with colloidal silica. Time to leave it alone overnight to dry.