Zodiac Hurricane 440 - Page 4

codprawn · 23 March 2007, 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogan

Thanks for all the info! We'll have the boat flipped and the crack ground out on sat. I'll post some more pics then

That must hurt - having your crack ground out!!!

pathalla · 23 March 2007, 01:49

Good luck with your repairs gentlemen, the eyes of Ribnet are upon you, do Chicago proud!

OceanEco · 23 March 2007, 03:08

It's a good idea to finish with at least 2 layers of CSM if you finish with woven roving you will get print thru(you will see the texture of the woven roving thru the painted finish= print thru).

seeing as its on the bottom of the hull it wont really matter too much unless you are really concerned with getting a really good finish. thought i would mention it anyways. have fun grinding

OceanEco · 23 March 2007, 03:11

The windy city is one of my favourite in the states. good people,good food and great music

Rogan · 25 March 2007, 15:10

We got the boat flipped and started cutting and sanding. To our dismay the crack is bigger than we thought. Most of the layers of glass and fiber have separated and thus we kept sanding out further. The crack goes right to the last layer.

dctucker · 25 March 2007, 20:25

No sweat! It's scary going at your baby with a grinder, but it's for her own good!

That's not a big deal at all... Just follow the previous directions on building up new layers of glass. It's not a big enough hole that you need to bother with trying to back it before you lay up the new glass. It's also not a big enough area that the structural integrity of the hull is in any question if you do a less than perfect repair, as long as it keeps the water out, which it will, don't worry! Just be sure to feather the area back far enough on the large one with the hole, and clean thoroughly with acetone or such before doing the layup.

I'd use a lot of chopped strand mat between starting & finishing with layers of woven cloth. Get the glass layers close to the level of the finished surface, let it cure, then sand lightly or scuff with Scotchbrite (using epoxy, right?), clean again and fair with Microlite or whatever. Sand the filler smooth before painting. 4-5 layers of glass will likely be enough for the strength you need, more if necessary to build up the bulk to the level of the original surface.

Looking good so far, keep us posted!

BBirnie · 26 March 2007, 00:09

Well I completed prepping the crack and the rest of the hull today. I am itchy and orange, very very labor intensive, good thing it was sunny and 75 degrees

Thanks for the response dtucker. I plan to do the layup as you have described this next week. I will use west systems epoxy resin with layered mat and cloth then I am going to fair the majority of the hull and then lots and lots more sanding. We will post pics

pathalla · 26 March 2007, 01:53

Its a good idea when you are grinding to wear a dust mask guys, keeps it out of your breathing passages... just a thought.. Make sure you make that repair "Rogan Aerial Proof" if that's humanly possible, it may not be. Hey just so us spectators know who runs the boat harder? I've got to think it is Rogan but maybe it was Birnie in a lot of those pics. Clarification please?
By the way I have a demented habit of nicknaming people, you may have noticed the "Wild Thing" moniker I have attached on occsasion to Rogan? Well think Dr. Seuss... The two wildest characters he had was... Thing one and Thing two! They would arrive unannouced, tear everything up while they were there, then left it good as new when they left, kind of what you guys do on Lake Michigan. Hope you guys are not offended, it kind of fits I think...

BBirnie · 26 March 2007, 14:00

Hey Pathalla, most of the pics you have seen were taken by Rogan so the guy who was driving was me

We love being able to head out of the harbor when all the other boats are being forced in by rough conditions. So yes I am trying to make this repair as strong as absolutely possible. "Rogan and Bryan Aerial proof"

Thanks for the concern over using dust masks, I had one on the entire day yesterday and judging by the amount of orange crud on it Im glad I did. I am also big on eye protection, a few months ago I did a quick repair to my cars intake and managed to shoot a tiny piece of metal into my eye. Learned my lesson the hard way.

Nicknames are fine, Rogan and I have more than a few. We are often referred to as the "Crazy Birnie Brothers".

dctucker · 26 March 2007, 14:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBirnie

Well I completed prepping the crack and the rest of the hull today. I am itchy and orange, very very labor intensive, good thing it was sunny and 75 degrees

Thanks for the response dtucker. I plan to do the layup as you have described this next week. I will use west systems epoxy resin with layered mat and cloth then I am going to fair the majority of the hull and then lots and lots more sanding. We will post pics

If I were you, I wouldn't kill myself to make the bottom perfectly fair. Cosmetically nice would be good enough for me -fill & sand most gouges and scratches. It could just be me, usually doing this sort of work on racing sailboats, where it MUST be perfectly fair and wetsanded to 1600 grit. Ugh. I have a particular perspective...

With 50 horse pushing you around, you don't need to be so fussy. You won't notice a couple of tenths of a knot of speed from a perfect fairing job. It's not like it's a visible area either, like the topsides of a hard boat or sailboat where you want to to finicky for appearance sake. The bottom's either under water, or one needs to crawl under the trailer to appreciate the amount of work that you've put in!

jyasaki · 26 March 2007, 17:51

Glad you had that last picture; I originally thought you guys were working in a tanning booth, judging by the lighting color.

jky

pathalla · 27 March 2007, 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBirnie

Hey Pathalla, most of the pics you have seen were taken by Rogan so the guy who was driving was me

We love being able to head out of the harbor when all the other boats are being forced in by rough conditions. So yes I am trying to make this repair as strong as absolutely possible. "Rogan and Bryan Aerial proof"

Thanks for the concern over using dust masks, I had one on the entire day yesterday and judging by the amount of orange crud on it Im glad I did. I am also big on eye protection, a few months ago I did a quick repair to my cars intake and managed to shoot a tiny piece of metal into my eye. Learned my lesson the hard way.

Nicknames are fine, Rogan and I have more than a few. We are often referred to as the "Crazy Birnie Brothers".

Well then maybe you are "Wild thing 1" and Rogan is "Wild thing 2".

BBirnie · 27 March 2007, 14:52

Well, I did the lay-up of fiberglass mat and cloth yesterday. It worked out to be about 5 layers of cloth and mat. I ended up cutting up some large zip lock bags and tracing the repair layers on them and then used them as templates to cut the mat and cloth. It seemed to work out pretty well. Once it was built up to the level of the gel coat I mixed up fairing compound and leveled it off. I had to work pretty quick to be sure the epoxy resin didn't set too much while working it. All in all I am pretty satisfied with the repair. All that’s left is to fair the hull a little more and then its time for paint.

Rogan will post some pics when he gets a chance

BBirnie · 30 March 2007, 14:13

Repair of crack in hull.

dctucker · 31 March 2007, 04:20

Looks pretty good. Smooth out the rest and paint!

pathalla · 11 April 2007, 23:45

Hey, no posts on your progress recently, I here you guys are dealing with some snow today, that slowing you down?

Rogan · 12 April 2007, 00:35

Yeah, weather has been hovering around freezing for over a week. Lots a snow today. We've been holding off until it gets better. Pretty frustrating

BBirnie · 13 April 2007, 13:34

Since the weather has been bad here in Chicago I have begun some work on the console, seat, A-frame, stereo........... I have had our old cracked seat recovered in hypalon and am adding a mini amplifier for a satellite radio. We are also adding a floodlight to the A-frame. I was contemplating painting the a-frame black but have decided against it. The console is looking like Swiss cheese so I have begun filling and fairing it. The hull of the boat has been faired and I barrier coated the whole thing. Looks like this weather is finally going to break this weekend can't wait to get to painting and then get out on the water.

Limey Linda · 13 April 2007, 20:30

Hi
I am looking at buying a Hurricane 540. What is your opinion on overall quality of Z. Hurrican boats. Thank you.

Stoo · 14 April 2007, 03:46

Linda, I have had a 590 for almost 10 years and 440 prototype before that. Both were bombproof. The 590 is a heavy boat for it's size, with a very deep hull. It's fast, but goes through anything. We get a lot of short, steep seas here and I wouldn't trade my boat for anything... Well, except maybe a 640 or 733!

I'm not too familiar with the 540, but I recall that it is a fairly basic boat. I don't think it has inboard fuel tank etc., and is a somewhat lighter boat.

Assuming the hull is a similar shape as mine, I suspect you'll be very happy!