Dalton's Hull Build

[hydrostyler]

Hey Dalton, I just stumbled across your build thread here. Thanks for the kind words. Half of the fun of building your own creations is sharing your tricks with others. The most impressive part of your build was the fact that you hadn't even started the top deck mold two weeks before the dells ride, yet still managed to show up with a complete ski. That is insane. When you and Blair start in on the infusion talk at the Rave, make sure I'm nearby.

 

[Dalton]

Hey Dalton, I just stumbled across your build thread here. Thanks for the kind words. Half of the fun of building your own creations is sharing your tricks with others. The most impressive part of your build was the fact that you hadn't even started the top deck mold two weeks before the dells ride, yet still managed to show up with a complete ski. That is insane. When you and Blair start in on the infusion talk at the Rave, make sure I'm nearby.

Haha all that joking we did during that time about losing sleep and working around the clock definitely wasn't far from the truth! I'd say I learned a new definition of hard work. I followed your advice regarding an aftermarket exhaust for the B2 engine and I'm sure I won't regret it.

I've been dying to check out your hammer hull and see some of that new work you've been doing. I'm sure there'll be a lot of composite talk going around between us and anyone else that wants to join the conversation.

 

[j0hnny]

ill be listening.... as of right now im only good for my metal working skills. i love composites but there are much better people (like jeff) to leave that stuff too awesome build man. any plans on selling them?

 

[Dalton]

ill be listening.... as of right now im only good for my metal working skills. i love composites but there are much better people (like jeff) to leave that stuff too awesome build man. any plans on selling them?

Not this hull. Besides a radically different nose the rest of the ski is a modified superjet basically. I have big plans for the next hull but that's a long ways off. One thing at a time.

 

[j0hnny]

i know how that goes. making my first pole right now and keep getting aske about other stuff but need to focus on one thing at a time

 

[Dalton]

Oh cool, aluminum pole I'm assuming? Whether it's aluminum or composite keep me posted I might be looking for a new one soon.

 

[j0hnny]

first few will be aluminum. the composite ones will nee a lot of testing by someone who is hard on skis *cough* @air blair *cough* lol. see if they can survive a good darting

 

[Dalton]

Yeah making a composite handlepole that's durable is a good challenge. Probably why we don't see more of them on the market. The big thing is designing them in a way that prohibits flex when the bars are twisted side to side. I'm sure I could hang my ski by the handlepole all day long but start throwing in some real good twisting motion and you'd start getting problems. It seems all I've been doing is backflops, sideflops, every kind of flop and the pole hasn't shown any visible signs of strain but that little bit of twist it has if you push one grip down and pull up on the other has me a little worried.

 

[j0hnny]

yeah thats y my first poe and my new pole bracket is so beefy lol. i already know this bob is in for hell

 

[Dalton]

It'd be interesting to devise a controlled strength test for the whole steering system pole, bracket, and bracket mounting area. Maybe hanging weights torquing the handlepole in every direction. It might not give great real world results but it would be a great way to test different configurations/products against one another. I'm sure my handlepole would break first with the mounting area on the top deck being nearly 3/4 inch of glass!

 

[j0hnny]

i would as well as i think some things are way over built and could save wieght. but materials testing isnt cheap

 

[air blair]

this is how i setup infusion. Right or wrong, this works for my setup

 

[Dalton]

Where are your inlets? Is that spiral tubing running along the entire keel? How'd that work for you?

Also that yellow tape is terrible. I tried it once and never again. You can hardly pull the bag off it without tearing the bag.

 

[air blair]

Spiral vac around perimeter, resin straight down the middle. Ol' yeller works. Bags were my enemy and are my enemy. All i can say is stay away from stretchlon

 

[Dalton]

Good to know on the stretchlon. I was thinking of getting some but I still have 20+yards of normal bag. The problem I had with the yellow was trying to pleat a jetski sized mold for the first time after having only pleated two tiny (by comparison) bags. It was a nightmare. I ended up buying a two pound block of "thumb gum" from a locate AC/Heating company that works wonderfully and is easy to reuse and tear off small pieces for pinhole leaks/sealing fittings.

What epoxy are you using? I'm in the market for a different epoxy after mediocre results with Resin Research.

 

[Dalton]

Gosh who knew we had all these hull builders lurking around the forums? lol

Numerous smaller pleats like you have there @smdubs is definitely the way to go versus a few large pleats. I learned that one the hard way.

Did you put glitter in your epoxy? Also how do you like the honeycomb carbon? That's more of a cosmetic weave right?

 

[Dalton]

Yea lots of pleats. If the bag stretches when vacuum is pulled, it will either unstretch and create a resin pocket, or it will pull the tape edges and create a leak.

This happened on my first chinpad infusion. The bag was pulled very tight over a section of spiral tube and eventually tore the bag after awhile and depressurized with a loud pop. After that I usually wrap my spiral tube in peel ply and spread pleats along the length of each side to allow adequate slack in the bag.

Is that a hull that you plugged and molded?

 

[j0hnny]

mmmmmmmmmmm honey comb carbon makes me tingle in funny places.

 

[j0hnny]

is he a gay vampire by chance? lol. looks sweet man i like visual carbon an generally anything unique. even if its not my flavor respect for doing something different

 

[Dalton]

That hull was a copy of a really bad copy done by a moron. I had to use the copy as a plug and make the molds. im working on a different plug now that im building. Its just for fun though.


Honeycomb was easy to work with but fragile like any other cosmetic weave. i used glittler in the second layer of imc to get the sparkle. Its for a unique buddy of mine who likes everything to sparkle like strippers.

It'd be fun to splash a hull just for poops and giggles if you already have one.