Blazer Lauterbach Build Thread

[Rich Jones]

Evercoat catalyzed metal glazing putty is superior to Bondo's version. I've had issues with non catalyzed putty blistering but I always use white epoxy primer.

I used to use the Evercoat product that was light blue and real creamy. It spread easily and was lightweight but I couldn’t seem to find it anywhere this go around. The thing I didn’t like about it was I wasted more than I could ever use because the hardener kicks it off in about 5 min. Maybe I never got the ratio right I don’t know. I was excited to try something that gave me time to work and I didn’t have to add catalyst. I have been filling pinholes with the 3M stuff and allowing it to dry overnight. Maybe getting it to fully gas off helps, I don’t know. It’s pretty smelly stuff. I know some guys use drywall filler. A guy in our club said not to use that because he had seen primer and paint come off with masking tape in the areas it was used. I guess we will find out on the 3M stuff as it is too late to go back now.

 

[Rich Jones]

Well after 2 1/2 years of this pandemic, my lady and I have finally been treated to the dreaded Covid-19. We attended a small wedding a week ago Friday, maybe 50 people. Within 24 hours of the reception 25 people were sick. We started on Ivermectin, HCQ, and Z-Pack on Monday. Overall not too bad but for two days my throat hurt so bad it was hard to eat, drink, sleep, cough, whatever. I took some steroids and that helped a lot. So 8-9 days and we seem to be through it. I still have a residual cough here and there. But I finally got the Silver sprayed on the cowls today! This is the first day my energy level has improved enough to set everything up outside.

 

[Roxyflash]

I feal your pain I was trying to paint my project and got sick also yesterday I was able to do some painting also.Yours is looking good!

 

[Rich Jones]

I feal your pain I was trying to paint my project and got sick also yesterday I was able to do some painting also.Yours is looking good!

Thanks Bruce! Hang in there and keep plugging away!

 

[Rich Jones]

Some burgundy on the cowls. Took me like 2 hours to unmask them. The tape just dried up and came off in tiny bits. Ugh! Anyway, the burgundy is sprayed on the hull too but I haven’t unmasked that yet.

 

[Roxyflash]

I always pull tape while it’s still drying pain in the *** but doesn’t pull paint from boat.I use stripping 1/4 inch tape kind you can bend then I use tape that has paper on it like 4 inch comes in rolls that way not fighting all the tape.

 

[Rich Jones]

Got some unmasking done on the hull last night. Still plenty to do with pinstriping and graphics, and of course clear. But the trim paint turned out pretty well!

 

[Rich Jones]

Things have been pretty eventful the last 10 days or so except for actual progress on the boat. Last Friday, the 1st, we went down to Madison for all 3 days of the regatta and the music festival. The testing, qualifying, and racing were amazing this year with the Pro Lites (5 liters), the GPA, and the Unlimiteds. We were right down in the VIP tent area where Corey Peabody blew over the U-9 in spectacular fashion, just after getting the white flag and trailing Shane by only a boat length. Anyway the river conditions were amazing all weekend. I’m not sure how Dave Villwock was able to find the lone piece of debris in the river on Friday that broke his prop which subsequently destroyed the bottom of the boat on Friday. After Madison, we met friends in Western Ky at Rough River Lake for a couple nights. I lost my footing on some rocks as we were trying to get a cooler on the pontoon boat and went down with all my weight on my left hand on to a jagged rock. The result was a deep laceration on the palm of my hand and either a bone bruise or a sprain which is making it hard to do much with that hand from a grip standpoint. I wasn’t able to get medical attention until the next day so the doctor wouldn’t put stitches in for fear of infection. So it has to heal the hard way but I’m on antibiotics and the cut is doing ok. If you look back through this thread, it has been a tough few months from a health standpoint.

So, I started trying to get a couple things done on the boat yesterday. I still had to unmask the bottom revealing then natural wood which will just get clear. The paint lines were all crisp with no bleeding. I got all the wet sanding done on the hull and cowls and I put the Rolls logo on the tail fin. At this point, I have some pinstriping, main hull graphics and a couple of things to do on the Cricut before the clear goes on. Slowly but surely getting to the end of this project.

 

[Roxyflash]

Had the open wound theory also about 8 years ago was scraping some transformers cutting then with a milwaukee porta band a bee went into my ear while I was cutting lost concentration and my finger went tru the porta band nasty cut on my finger deep blood everywhere but the bee was still buzzing inside my ear grabbed a rag wrapped the finger tight went inside to get a q. tip ended up killing it but packed it in deep.Went to doctor next day he looked at the finger said get the bone saw to nurse I said what he said he was kidding said been to long so dress it with bacatracetion change dressing twice a day took for ever to heal.The hull is looking great like the rolls decal can’t wait for the final paint to go on!

 

[Rich Jones]

Had the open wound theory also about 8 years ago was scraping some transformers cutting then with a milwaukee porta band a bee went into my ear while I was cutting lost concentration and my finger went tru the porta band nasty cut on my finger deep blood everywhere but the bee was still buzzing inside my ear grabbed a rag wrapped the finger tight went inside to get a q. tip ended up killing it but packed it in deep.Went to doctor next day he looked at the finger said get the bone saw to nurse I said what he said he was kidding said been to long so dress it with bacatracetion change dressing twice a day took for ever to heal.The hull is looking great like the rolls decal can’t wait for the final paint to go on!

Wow that is some story. Bee in the ear while saw slices hand. Yikes! I’m going to get as much done this coming week as my hand will allow. We will see. I should at least have all the graphics done by Monday or Tues.

 

[Rich Jones]

Worked on pinstriping and deck graphics today. I have a couple more cowl graphics I’m going to do on the Cricut and then the clear will go on. When that will happen depends on how the hand is doing. Hopefully within the next week or so.

 

[Rich Jones]

A couple of final touches to the cowls. The Big Jim is in memory of Jamie’s Dad, who was the man behind the Rolls and the celebrities who used it. He was kind of a Northern Ky. Local Celebrity himself back in the 70’s and 80’s. The Lauterbach logo came from a jpg image I found online. There were some smaller words in it that I was able to delete using the Cricut software. There was no way the machine would have cut that stuff out without mangling it. And finally, the Driver and Owner names. Richie Rich has long been a nickname of mine by some. The Boss wanted me to use that instead of just my name. I said…whatever…ok. Clear in the near future.

 

[Chuck Mason]

It looks outstanding RJ, It has been a pleasure seeing the whole process. It has made me pay close attention to the art of the build. Great Job. Cant wait to see it Clear shinny Glossed Coated

 

[Rich Jones]

It looks outstanding RJ, It has been a pleasure seeing the whole process. It has made me pay close attention to the art of the build. Great Job. Cant wait to see it Clear shinny Glossed Coated

Yeah me neither. Just got back into our house after the AC was out for 3 weeks. The new hvac system is in and running great. That coupled with the hand injury has slowed me down some. I have to push through this last step asap.

 

[Rich Jones]

This is how I’m going to go about clear coating the hull. The 1x2’s allow me to grab on and flip the hull without touching it. I’ll start by setting the hull right side up on some bench cookies I got from Rockler a while back. I’ll paint the top and sides and transom with 4-5 coats. Then once the last coat flashes, I’ll pick the hull up, get the cookies (risers) out of the way, and flip it over. The hull sits nicely on the 1x2’s upside down. I’ll then do 4-5 coats on the bottom. Then it will be allowed to cure in this position. Regarding the flat head machine screws in the transom, they are made to countersink which creates a little space between the flat portion of the screw and the hull. This should allow the clear to get mostly in around the holes for the strut brackets. Once the clear hardens in about a day, I’ll take a razor and carefully score around the screws and hopefully get them removed without incident. I’m not to worried about the area around the holes as they will be covered up by the strut bracket. I will be masking off the engine compartment with some paper cut to go around the 1x2’s. I didn’t really want clear in the there as it is sealed with epoxy anyway. I figured it would save a little on the amount of clear needed to do the hull.

 

[Wasted wages]

Hey Rich, 3 weeks on the hvac?
Must have been a major remodel huh ?
All new ducts etc?

I tell ya, some people only buy hvac systems on price alone, and that's bad. I do this stuff for a living and have seen my fair share of garbage installations.. slam it in and go...

Sounds like you went the proper route,,, as a quality installation and update of all the ductwork takes time... if you in fact did go this route, you will be rewarded with a good running system for years to come. Companies that do professional work are few and far between.

Boat looks great!! Make sure she's steady standing on the legs.. you've come too far to have a catastrophic event if it were to fall or get knocked over...
Good luck with the clear! Can't wait to see the final results!!

 

[Rich Jones]

Hey Rich, 3 weeks on the hvac?
Must have been a major remodel huh ?
All new ducts etc?

I tell ya, some people only buy hvac systems on price alone, and that's bad. I do this stuff for a living and have seen my fair share of garbage installations.. slam it in and go...

Sounds like you went the proper route,,, as a quality installation and update of all the ductwork takes time... if you in fact did go this route, you will be rewarded with a good running system for years to come. Companies that do professional work are few and far between.

Boat looks great!! Make sure she's steady standing on the legs.. you've come too far to have a catastrophic event if it were to fall or get knocked over...
Good luck with the clear! Can't wait to see the final results!!

So, on the HVAC, not a major remodel. The ductwork in the walls stayed put. It went out on on 6/29 and we left 7/1 to go down to Madison. We didn’t get back til 7-6. Our guy came to look everything over on 7/7. We deal with this guy exclusively because he is just like you mention. He is meticulous. So he quoted us at which point we approved and then he was about 10 days out so that put us into this past week. They took out the old and put in the new last Tuesday and Finished up Wednesday morning with the testing, etc… So part of it was us being gone for the better part of a week and the other part was his schedule. We stayed at her Moms over in Ky while this was going on. I’m sure we could have found someone to do it quicker but this is who we know and trust. The new system had all new copper run out to the heat pump etc…

 

[Wasted wages]

It's good to have people you trust..they may not always be the cheapest, but with hvac, you usually get what you pay for.
Running new copper is a good sign, shows that he either didn't trust the old ones or that they needed to be properly sized for the new unit. Glad to hear that your back in the comfort zone !

What brand equipment if you don't mind me asking...

 

[Rich Jones]

OK, well, change of plans. The weather is going to be pure garbage in Cincy until Saturday. Today we went up to our body guys and they are going to clear, buff and polish with a high quality clear coat. I dropped off the hull, cowls, slats the driver sits on, and dash. As much effort as I have put into this boat, I didn’t I didn’t really feel right about spray bombing it anyway, even though the spray max stuff is pretty good. So no massive tent to retrieve from storage to set up, no respirators, no bugs, no rain, etc… I’m pretty psyched. They say it will be done by the end of the week…

 

[Chuck Mason]

Very Kewl Rich, I knew it would be Art.
I am finally moving a bit better and cleaned up in the boat room as I wanted to but that's all the back gods would let me do... lol
Have a buddy who wants to shoot my next Build so I cant wait till I see how mine turns out.
Will be looking forward to seeing how yours looks for sure...
As always you are great motivation.
CM