JAE gas rigger build

[f41stryker]

Just wanted to say your thread has been a big help. Quick question-on the aft boom tube, you just epoxy the three plywood pieces together correct? I put the two 1/4 together and the 1/8 nearest the front?

 

[SayMikey]

All 3 pieces go under the boom tube makes it 5/8 thick

 

[f41stryker]

Cool, thanks!

 

[hydro rob]

I used 2 of them, but turned them so when you drill your not drilling into the lamination of the pressed wood, your drilling through them instead. Then I used a 1/8 spacer wood to bring them centered under the tube. Does anyone notice that the forward bottom sheet is on a slight angle? Just wondering if anyone eles' is like that. surprisingly it took me alllll day to sheet both sponsons and sand them, a bit longer then I expected.

 

[f41stryker]

On the tub bottom, does the longer portion go towards the front or rear? The stuffing box hole is not centered vertically and I don't want it in backwards. Thanks.

 

[Joe Petro]

The long part goes forward.

It only goes in one way. Try it. You will see that the shaft slot ends up forward of the bulkhead if it's wrong.

Joe

 

[Glenn 787]

Have any of you guys finished your sponsons yet? The right front sponson pin on mine is not aligned right. Not sure what happened. I read the instructions again and it looks like everything should come out straight once the pins are pushed in and glued. The left sponson and tub came out great.

 

[hydro rob]

did your outer sheets slide when you were gluing them to the foam?

 

[Glenn 787]

Somehow it's bow'd front to back. No idea how this happened. The other is perfect. Emailed Zipp to try and buy the parts to build another one.

 

[SayMikey]

How did you hold it to dry? Clamp or weight? WE have found weight works the best,clamps seem to stress the foam

 

[Ron Olson]

I don't know how forgiving these sponsons are as my others have a teeny bit of warp in them. Clamps do seem to be the problem so I'm using old 12-volt gel-cells for weights.

 

[Glenn 787]

How did you hold it to dry? Clamp or weight? WE have found weight works the best,clamps seem to stress the foam

Weighted on my flat board. When I clamp things I get a piece of wood or angle iron to spread the contact area.

Those pins did present a little problem. Next time I'm either going to drill or countersink holes on the building board or use the pins to line everything up and then pull them.

Kinda bummed....thought I was just about ready to start setting up the hardware.

 

[hydro rob]

put your boom tubes in and slide the sponsons on and see how they measure out

 

[SayMikey]

Id run it just make sure the turn fin is straight. You can always build another complete set later if or when the need arises

 

[Glenn 787]

The pins don't align right. If I force it in it bends the booms.

 

[hydro rob]

take some pics if you can

 

[RickGlover]

You could heat the epoxy up and take the side off. Then take a belt sander belt and stretch it out with a block on the inside.Gently sand the side till you get the side faired in square. Use the same ply or buy another. Reglue the side make sure your hole is lined up or rebore with drill press.I use painters masking tape when glueing up sponsons. It peels right off the epoxy. When you fair it in go slowly and use a square.

 

[SayMikey]

Progress report motor installed,ski assembled and sanded to fit. Also drive line and strut installed, my son has started the Sponsons and has the sides glued. Pics tomorrow if I can get him to load some.....

 

[Jeff Schindler]

Alright here is some more progress!!!



Tacked the ski together using CA and kicker and the tub jig, then sealed it with west slow cure with fillets in the corners and sanded everything sharp and flush.



Then, mounted the strut in the center of the tub, touching the bottom of the ski. Our rear overhang has a bit of a burr from sanding and that is interfering with the strut in these pics. Its been removed and there is no positive angle in the strut now.



Finally, glued the stuffing box in using west slow cure with milled glass added for bite. We also added an extra support because our motors seem to vibrate ALOT!!!

 

[Jeff Schindler]

Now starting the best part, Sponsons!!!



First, I laminated the sponsons with slow cure West Systems, so I would have plenty of working time to get everything square. This is important to get the turn-fin, and running surfaces square to the tub, and one another. To do this I used weights on top with the insides of each sponson down on the flattest surface we have, which is a piece of glass. This makes the insides of the sponsons perfectly straight, which is where the turn-fin resides.



I get all four inserts square in the xy and yz planes before I walk away...



Glue is dry the next day and everything looks good. The inserts fit perfect in the booms and my work has been rewarded with nice square boom alignment. I will epoxy the aluminum inserts in after finishing the sponsons, so I don't have to sand around them, and can use the flat insides as a datum to square the sponson bottoms.

It even start to look like a rigger!





Looks like max front stance will be 29-3/8"