Dalton's Hull Build

[Dalton]

This is so true. I've been bouncing ideas off Dalton and he's been a huge help on my build. I have to say, I have so much more respect for people that design and build hulls now. Dalton makes it look so effortless in this write up, but there is so much going on that isn't documented and that's where so much of the time is spent. Again, huge kudos to you. It looks awesome and I can't wait to take it for a spin one of these days.

I travel up to the Chicago area every 3-4 months. I will have take a few extra days and make the trip up to Waukesha next time.


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I appreciate the recognition. The quality of your hull build is a lot of what is inspiring me to start my next hull. You've been doing a lot of good work over there.

I have to give a shout out to @hydrostyler for being so helpful in giving pointers the last couple months and all his help with setting up the inserts and driveline alignment. None of it is pictured because I was too busy setting it up but going into that stage blind would have taken me a lot longer than it did with his help.

 

[Dalton]

For anyone interested in the infusion process I have pictures from my practice chinpad run before the hull.




Enkafusion is very unnecessary for an infusion of this size but I wanted to try it out so I had an idea of how it would perform in the hull infusion.




Here is a quick sponson mold I whipped up recently.



Frekote left a dull splotchy finish on my mold on some areas. Has anyone had this happen? The directions on the frekote say to gently buff it off but this was definitely not going to be gently buffed off.

 

[MADMAT]

Cool build!

 

[MADMAT]

@mthomps

Check out the -8 square pole!

 

[mthomps]

Wowwww, Dalton. I just read through your entire build and I am amazed. I cannot believe the pole you made. I have so much research to do now.

 

[Dalton]

mthomps, thanks there was a lot of time put into remaking that pesky curve in the pole. If you have questions about anything feel free to ask.

Flipped the ski on its side to seal up a leak around the driveshaft through-hull and figured it'd be a good time to get a picture of the ski from the bottom.

I still can't figure out where the red scuffs on the keel came from...

 

[tokarzl]

@Dalton first apply the sealer then the Frekote. I like to apply it with two towels, one that is applying the frekote and one clean and dry one following it about 6-8 inches apart. I usually work left to right then down the mold its hard to gauge what you have already covered. Looks to me like your finish is from using too much frekote, a little goes a long way. Also remember if your making many parts from a mold frekote is good for multiple pulls so you do not need to re seal everytime. Depending on the size and complex shape of the mold you can do 1 treatment of sealer then 3-4 treatments of frekote get two pulls on the mold clean the mold with a soapy warm water if you need to wet sand and buff do that after you have removed the ramaining frekote from the surface.
On another note, I think the "hue" or finish inperfections from the picture could be from the mold surface. its hard to tell from a picture but it seems as if the surface has "inconsistancies" in it that would be caused from a mold surface not from a semi perm and sealer..... is the mold wet sanded and buffed?

 

[Dalton]

Yes you are correct there are some inconsistencies in the mold surface. The mold surface is wet sanded and buffed but not quite perfect. If you look at the first picture of the sponson mold you can see a lot of the flange around the spiral tubing is really dull looking. It was mirror quality before the frekote aside from imperfections that I didn't care about since its just the flange.

Your write up on the frekote application is very helpful. I'll certainly try out that method on my hood mold.

Have you tried the aerosol frekote? I was given a free sample of it from my supplier and I'm not sure if that could be part of why it came out so splotchy. On the can it says it may leave a dull surface and may require buffing but I couldn't buff it off easily at all. I'm thinking you are onto something in saying that I'm using too much. It's not as controlled of an application with the aerosol I feel.

 

[So Low Roller]

this is pretty cool man

 

[tokarzl]

Have you tried the aerosol frekote? I was given a free sample of it from my supplier and I'm not sure if that could be part of why it came out so splotchy. On the can it says it may leave a dull surface and may require buffing but I couldn't buff it off easily at all. I'm thinking you are onto something in saying that I'm using too much. It's not as controlled of an application with the aerosol I feel.

I have not used the can for the fact that any semi perm out of a can seems to good to be true... the aerosol can sprays fairly inconsitantly with a rag and the liquid version of frekote i feel it has better consistancy. if your mold is not wet sanded and buffed to a mirror finish the frekote seems to find the inperfections making it "dull" looking. it should give you a good shine dull i think is most likely from your spray can I would throw that in the trash and get the liquid version

 

[Dalton]

I think I'll do just that. I was almost out of the aerosol anyway. After making 100% sure my hood mold is perfect I'll give the liquid stuff a shot.

Thanks @So Low Roller Finished hood should be posted up here in a couple days and I finally got around to making a bracket to mount my chinpad.

Now that my hood is taking shape this handlepole has to go. The curved section sticks out past the hood leaving a gap under the arch when the pole is all the way down. I'm on the fence over trying to make an aluminum one or a new composite pole.

Edit:

Finally got the chinpad mounted after it has been sitting around for 3 or so months! I made the chinpad way before even the hull molds were made haha. There's something about the handlepole that looks really sleek on this hull without a hood in my eyes. I can't find anyway to make it look good with a hood on though so it's gotta go...

 

[Dalton]

The expanding foam in my hood cured up to the point where I could start digging into it. It's still gooey inside but that shouldn't get in my way for what I'm doing. Top is half bondo'd up which I'll get pictures of once it's finalized.

For now here's a hood profile shot with the 650 out for the last time.

Time to add some horsepower and put an end to these.

 

[Nate_D]

I think a straight, square edged pole would look awesome on it. Easy to plug and mold too

Maybe a triangular pole to follow the nose shape

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[Dalton]

Do you mean square or hard lined? I'm trying to imagine how a long rectangle would look as a handlepole.

 

[Nate_D]

I'm thinking more of a prism like shape.


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[Nate_D]

Then again, the rrp style poles look really good on any hull where the pole sits above the body lines.


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[Dalton]

I've seen pictures of one of my chinpads on an aluminum dual tube pole and it looked good. Maybe a composite pole with a base with cues from an rrp pole then narrowing a bit would be cool.

 

[Dalton]

What was the name of that one kid's standup from france or something? Didn't it have a prism type shape handlepole?

It almost didn't look like it would fit but the engine has at least a half inch clearance on the pipe side.

The next top deck will definitely have a wider and longer engine bay opening. Everything is pretty cramped around the engine and I don't see why the dash couldn't be moved back a few inches. That's all hard stuff to plan for when you just have a 6m6 650 but I have no excuse now.

What's everybody using to seal up the fiberglass in their engine bay? I'm not concerned about water absorption on this ski since I probably won't use it past this summer but I'd like to seal up my next hull.

 

[air blair]

Nice job man!!!! Hope to see you at waverave. We can talk infusion stuff. Lol

 

[Dalton]

Hahaha sounds like a plan!

760 fired up for the first time tonight and it sounds mean! It took awhile to get all the water lines for the type 4 and the ewci wires run in a tidy way that also allowed easy adjustment and tuning but it'll be worth it for the tuning game that is sure to follow.