Commander #256 (Ceili)

[Chance]

Here is the two areas I have finally finished and will prime and paint later when other areas are ready as well.

[Lucky Dawg]

For those of you who would be willing to refer me, please provide the name of the chroming company, their phone number (address would be of help too) and perhaps a point of contact.

Hey Chance - no one bit at this yet - I used Dynamic Custom Chrome http://www.dynamiccustomchrome.com/index2.html in the Detroit area. Don't know that I would bend over backwards to refer to them. My little job was extremely low on their priority list and it took a good while to turn it around. If nothing else, you might use them for a cost comparison. I think Rico (http://pearsonariel.org/discussion/s...?t=1803&page=4 - see post 19) and C227 (http://pearsonariel.org/discussion/s...?t=1803&page=4 - see post 71) both had recent chrome work done and seemed happy with their purveyors.

[SkipperJer]

Shipping heavy metal stuff outside of your area could get costly. If you can find people into restoring old cars and motorcycles, they'll know. Welders would be another good source. They'll know the platers and their prices locally.

Environmental regulations have made plating a very difficult and expensive business to be in. Recent generation cars don't use as much chrome either. I've been told that there used to be many choices in Baltimore area and now its down to 1 or 2 in all of Maryland. I'll dig up an address for you but I'll bet you can find a resource in NC.

[Commander227]

Chance,
I was very happy with my plater. Easy to work with small hole in the wall shop. One of my inner port light frames did take a ride through his buffing machine however (thanks for the replacement!) I just picked up my Genoa tracks and cars from him today and they look great.

J & D Custom Plating
2124 Gilbert Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104
651-251-7400

A flat rate priority box from the US Postal service is a great way to ship heavy stuff.
Your fiberglass and core work look first rate! wanna move to the frozen tundra for a low paying job?
Mike
C227

[Chance]

Kyle, and Mike- Thank you for your platers information. It has always been my intent to spend my dollar with businesses that have proved to do good work and are familiar with the small guy. IMHO the best way to identify those folks are through referrals. Thanks again. (Mike, appreciate the comments on my work. The thought of working at a private marina is very appealing, however the words "frozen tundra" remind me of my four years with Operation Deepfreeze and my 24 months down in Antarctica at McMurdo Station. I'll have to think about it. Good Day!

Jerry- Thanks for your input, and I understand your points as well.

Okay, here's two more photos, one of the Port AFT mooring cleat on location and the second photo of it's corresponding backing plate that I glassed in.

[mbd]

A glassed in AND filleted FRP backing plate! Verry verrry nice...

[SkipperJer]

Chance,

The invitation to come up in October and sail the Good Old Boat Regatta with me is still open but you should be aware that I do not have backing plates that look like they were installed by a cosmetic surgeon. As a matter of fact, I have been known to sail pretty darn ugly at times. By your standards, it looks like I sail ugly all the time. Get ready to get ugly, Chance. Or bring your tools!

Looking forward to seeing you in October, Dr. Smith.

[Chance]

Jerry, your comments had me rolling with laughter, thanks for making my evening. If you saw my work area and associated mess, It could only be described as "ugly". I envy all those who have what I call "operational" Commanders and Ariels who can acutally go out an sail. Someday, I too, will have a boat I can sail, but for know I can only dream of that future date and continue to make progress, however slow it may be. And of course....accept any and all invitations to sail with others. I do and will be crewing for you in October, minus the tools. Seriously though, if something comes up and I can assist while I'm up there, I will not hesitate to offer up my humble and feable efforts.

Mike,
Your "Sea Glass" is truely very, very nice. You are so fortunate to have a great vessel out waiting for you on the mooring. Thanks for the feedback.

[ebb]

recore, filleted backing plates
AND ALL DONE UPSIDE DOWN!

[Chance]

Here is a shot earlier in the cabin recore, what a mess, too bad gravity wasn't in my favor, or at least it didn't keep it out of my face. I'm happy to now be working on recoring areas around the chain plates, and from experience, I'm doing it from the top. So much easier!

[SkipperJer]

Old time cabinet makers considered it bad luck to put away their tools and clean up before the piece they were working on was finished. A clean bench could indicate you weren't good enough to get any more work. I keep telling my wife the mess in the garage is the sign of a master craftsman. If I related her response to that our good moderator would probably take this post down.

[kendall]

That's what I've always said, never put away the tools till the work is done.
For some reason, if I put the tools away before a test run, it never fails, I need to dig them out again....

Ken

[Chance]

Hello All,
First photo is of my finally taking action on yet another area needing attention. It is such a joy to work upright now, and even though it is recoring, I have gained significant experience in working with the end grain balsa to re-core some areas. I also cored (my own modification of sort) my forward hatch and the sliding companion way hatch. Now I'll be able to stand on top of them without any flex. I'll post photos of them later.
The second photo is following cleaning out all the deteriorated end grain balsa, and top of the inner skin and my sealing the perimeter void and laying the first layer of 17 oz before I move onto the balsa.
Thankfully this is the extent of coring promblems for me on the starboard side, isolated to the amidship area. The port side is only half as much, but the work is still about the same. Of note: The decks on my commander are cored almost to the aft end of the cockpit coamings. At first I was surprised to learn this, but am thankful for two things, the core is in great condition and the deck is very stiff.
The third photo is a prelude to what I'm doing up on the foredeck. Here is part of my profiled anchor platform in 316 stainless. More to follow.

Take care.

[Commander 147]

First let me say from the previous pictures you posted you do top notch work. Recoring from the bottom and making it look as good as you did is impressive.

I am looking at some of the same recoring work on Destiny. I'm trying to learn by reading everything I can find and from what I have read so far many people clean the bottom skin, wet it out with unthickend epoxy and then lay down a layer of thickened epoxy to set the balsa core into. Then then after sanding the balsa smooth on top the balsa core is wet out with unthickened epoxy and sealed and then a coule of layers of 1708 biaxial mat is put down to recreate the top skin (if you are not reusing the old top skin). After which the fairing process begins.

Here is my question. You mentioned putting down a layer of biaxial prior to the balsa going in. Are you using thinner balsa than what was originally used? Unless I'm not understanding the process correctly I would think that would raise the core to much and make it hard to fair into the old deck. I'm trying to learn and your input would be helpful to me.

[Rico]

Chance - GREAT work!
I'd be happy to find my chrome plater's contact details if you are in a bind choosing a plater... Please let me know.
Keep in mind that he is located in Los Angeles.

We are so far away that I imagined that the high shipping costs would negate any price advantage in this case. Logistics might be an issue too... I would have been happy to walk the plater through the job for you if I was close by, but I've since moved away from LA...