Sandinsanity & Acetone

So that whole going to work thing kinda got in the way of my boat building project. I apologize for that. Anywho, the project I was working on at CCG is set back so it doesn't like I'll have to go back into work for awhile (if ever). I'm not heartbroken over that. The extra money would have been nice but I can get along without it.

So today I hit the sander hard to clean up the very very sloppy job I did last week on the keel. I can't believe the drips & runs I left. What a mess. The sander made pretty short work of it though. Once that was cleaned up around the bow I wiped the sides down with acetone. Yes I wore a respirator and had all the fans going. I've have to protect the few remaining functional brain cells I have left ya know. :-)  I've kinda been dreading doing the 10 oz fiberglass, based on my experience on the transom, but I gotta get it done while the weather is cooperating if I'm going to have any chance of flipping this whale over in the spring.

Didn't take any pictures today so here's a random one from the photo album.

I don't know if I posted this one before. Never mind the 'what's this?'. I know what it is now! That's the 'fugly' Yanmar stock engine control panel. I've got it stripped down and am going to make my own control panel this winter. I bought a complete set of 'Faria Chesapeake' guages.

Been looking at other TW28 control panels and there's a few I like and might follow the same path.

This is almost without a doubt the finest I've seen on a TW28. It was done by a gentleman in Belgium. There's a few design changes I'll make. I intend to incorporate a 12" Chartplotter in the dash panel and move all the switches to an overhead console. My engine controller will be tucked up farther forward because we're adding sliding doors to the sides of the main cabin. I think my wheel is a bit bigger than this one so that's an issue I'll have to deal with. Probably a good idea to build a mock-up this winter to see how it'll all come together.

Tomorrow's task to hang the glass on the sides and get ready for some more epoxy work. Weather is looking pretty good to get it done this week. Standby...