ketsair's build thread

[ketsair]

now onto the turf, the right tools for the job....mark did most all of the turf as i am a turf retard. i can't draw or cut a straight line to save my life, so what mark didn't do my lovely wife did....she's a real trooper,

 

[ketsair]

this is mark's post from the other build thread

Apply contact cement to the ski and the turf, two layers. When you think the turf and ski have dried go get a beer and wait some more. Apply turf to the ski after it has been heated with the heat gun. It helps if you have someone heating the turf as you lay it down. I use paper or other objects to keep the turf from sticking prematurely in places I am not currently ready to apply it too. I would recommend pop sickle sticks to keep the turf up.
Heat the turf as you press it down and take your time.

 

[ketsair]

mark44 again
After turf is on beat the heck out of it with a rubber mallet. Then beat some more. Trim the access off. I like to trim the edge of the bond line at a 45 deg. angle with a new razor knife.

 

[ketsair]

another piece of info from mark on turfing, might help some of the newcomers out

The glue will stick to the paper if too much pressure is applied, I would recommend using pop sickle sticks then you can just pull them out and let them hit the floor while you are working the turf. The heat helps the turf be more pliable and easier to apply it to the contours.

The same system applies to the bond rails, glue heat and apply. I always cut the edge that meets up with the side of the ski on a 45 deg also; this gives the edge a real clean and flush look the taper is away from the ski with the top diamond edge touching the ski and the bottom edge away from the ski. If that makes sense to you.

Now you cut off the access under the bond line with the 45 up so the water doesn't catch the edge. You can also super glue around the edge to really seal it that will be Jon's job not mine

Next we will turf the tray, remember HEAT and HAMMER. Oh yea, beer helps too.

Again, if you think it's dry leave and come back in a few.

Mark44

 

[ketsair]

Tray turf is getting installed. I started by sanding the entire tray with 80 then cleaning it real good with some adhesive remover. I then cut out a piece of turf for each side over size so I would have some access to trim off.

Mark44

 

[ketsair]

The foot hold holes are the last thing I do when I apply the side turf; I make a cut up the turf in the center of the hold then heat it up and press it into the hold up onto the top of the hold. After that all you have to do is cut a small triangular piece and fill in the rest on the inside of the hold, that is if you want to do the toe area I usually never do its not seen and serves no purpose.

Keep everything one piece, small little pieces do not last.

Mark44

 

[jetskiking]

I have found bourbon and coke is working much better for my build than beer.

 

[Mark44]

d

Yes Bourbon and coke also works well. Notice that heat gun in damn near every pic.

Mark44
The Almighty

 

[ketsair]

the ski at my house now...(actually it was in the livingroom in front of the TV for like a week, my wife is awesome!) the turf is all done. i'm working on finishing the hood now, i'll try to post some pics later. my wife even got to put some of her blood and sweat into my ski...good thing to because i can't cut a straight line to save my life, too bad she bleeds like a stuck pig, but she had fun doing it. we all had a pretty good time working over at mark"s and i'd like to thank especially mark for helping me out like he has, also for letting me crash at his crib, and the food, this guy can cook!!! also lou, john g., jeremy h., and greg for all the extra help and laughs. the hood project for today is to reinforce where we put the hand hold holes, and finish sanding the outside where we glassed over. should be ready for paint soon!!!
oh ya, the finished turf pics

we used a closed cell foam kitchen mat from walmart for the padding under the turf, was like $8

 

[ketsair]

now for the hood liner mod, i cut my liner out with a cutoff wheel, left the glued on part, i figured that it would help the strength a little bit

i accidently cut through the hood, so pay attention if you cut yours out, but as mark has taught me, "you can fix anything with some epoxy" words from the almighty:hail: :hail: :biggrin: for my new liner i went to homedepot and got a sheet of frp shower paneling. (got the idea from Idok) i was going to use a hood of a corvette that had been wrecked (a body shop here was going to "donate" it to my cause" ) but it was waaayy thick and heavy. also in the 2nd pic you can see where i used some of that panel to close off the upper vents, saved on epoxy, time, and it was easy. i also epoxied some of that panel to the inside of the front vents

 

[Mark44]

I would usually paint the ski before turf but Jon wouldn't let me because I was going to do a camo skull theme and that didn't work out to well with Jon’s youth group. But Jon has done an excellent job on the paint, I have seen a few pics just needs x-h20 decals now and I think we can handle that thanks to Northgraphics for the image.

Mark44
The Almighty

 

[ketsair]

on to the hand holds, after cutting the holes for the holds, i layed in cloth for reinforcement, i had some 24 oz cloth and 4 oz cloth, so i layed 3 layers of the 24 covered by 1 layer of 4 oz on top and bottom
next, since i have soo much extra frp left (it's a 4'x8' sheet) i used that to make my hand hold buckets too, i was actually just screwing around trying make a mold to lay glass with and this fit ferfectly, so i didn't feel like waiting for glass to dry and trim that to fit, so i just glued these in with the west systems and filler
then i trimmed them down to where the cap would meet the hood and capped them off with more frp

 

[ketsair]

next i drilled my air intake holes and the beveled the edges down with sandpaper then i layed my liner in to see where i wanted to drill my water drain holes, i made my cut kinda high because i was afraid of making the hood seal area weak, finally glue the liner down, i was going to glass the liner in, but the epoxy and filler seem good enough, if it ever pops out, i can always glass it later.

 

[ketsair]

i cut holes for my intake hoses, i got my hose from home depot, it's the spa hose, about 2" o.d. i put electrical tape about an inch from the end i put in the hood so i knew how deep the hose was, i wanted the intake hose to be hight in the liner so water would run around it instead of down the hose into the engine bay. i glued these in with epoxy and 403 filler...i ran out of 404 filler

 

[biscuit]

this next part is where i got really jealous

 

[ketsair]

now after it's been sitting for like a whole month without me doing anything to it, i finally started on the paint, i waited so long because i was waiting on a guy that wanted to paint it for me and we just never could get hooked up, when we finally did, he wanted $650 to do it....there aint no way that i'm putting $650 into this ski for paint when it's still got a 650 motor. so my rattle can project starts. i had no clue about anything to do with paint..price or how to, or what kinds of paint there are, i found out the hard way not to use laquer clear on enamel so the first attempt got stripped back down, and the #2 attempt is going well. the paint i used for the orange is duplicolor metal speckles burnt orange, it looks a lot like the new chevy avalanche in orange, and gloss black on the handpole

 

[ketsair]

the pics suck, but that's the best i could do on pics...sorry

 

[biscuit]

it's really shiny!!!

 

[ketsair]

i put a few coats of clear on it too

 

[ketsair]

oh ya, and my internal fuel filler, i layed some cloth on the inside after i roughed the surface up
pics are fuzzy because the camera was fogged up
i haven't cut my tank yet, but i did find a 2" rubber blockoff, clampon style for my spout on the tank, so, probably thurday i'll cut into that, we've got to help out at the food bank tonight and then we have to lead youthgroup tomorrow night,