Lady Bug | Page 3 | SouthernPaddler.com

Lady Bug

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
nw6064.jpg
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
Flipped the bug over and started working on the hatches,

cut out the spacers and the lips

nw6072.jpg


glued in the spacer ,you never have enough clamps

nw6073.jpg


sanded it flush with the inside of the opening

nw6074.jpg


then glued in the lip for the seal

nw6075.jpg


hatches just need a gasket and bunjis now

nw6076-1.jpg

Ron
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
Final coats of epoxy on decks and cockpit
nw6078.jpg


We will let her cure for a few days the a light sanding and the spar varnish will be applied
Ron
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
I figured she was cured enough and sparayed the first coat of spar varnish on today ,few more days and she will be ready to pick up.
Ron
 

beekeeper

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2009
1,917
59
tx river rat said:
Any volunteers to make the cuts in the decks

nw6062.jpg

Always a certain amount of pucker factor doing this.
Ron

How do you start the blade into the wood? Do you drill a hole for the blade to fit into?

beekeeper
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
Wrapping the Lady bug up .
Gasket applied on hatch openings.

nw6093.jpg


This Lady likes red so I made the soft pad eyes from red straps

nw6091.jpg


Mounted them and put on the bunji cords

nw6094.jpg


Mounted the seat . all I have left to do is clean her up now ,oh and red rope for the carry handles.
Ron
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
Horaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I am finished ,she is ready to pick up.
Now for a little story to go with the boat.
No one sees the bad things that happen to a boat during the build and dont normally even hear about them.
Well here is my horror story for this boat.
I had the boat tacked up and rough sanded and before I put a coat of epoxy filler on it I wet it down so I could get a good ideal for the colors of my fillets.

nw5014.jpg

She is looking pretty good and slick. After she dried I was going to move her inside my tunnel. Thats when the trouble started. I picked her up ,now I have a thumb that was blown off a few years ago ,they reattached it but my grip isnt as good in my left hand,Well gingerly I picked up the bug and as I started to go to the tunnel the dang wind jumped up high, took that hull right out of my hand, when it hit the ground it split every seam I had tacked , the only thing holding it together was the ends. It looked like a banana peel
That was a heart breaking sight, I just turned around and walked off. After a hour or so I went back and started looking at the wreck the next morning went back to work on her and here she is finished.
Not one piece of wood broke ,just the tacked seams.
Ron
 

Wannabe

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2007
2,645
2
on the bank of Trinity Bay
Hey Ron,
My Dad always said "ya just can't tell the luck of a lousy calf". What you had was a giagantic stroke of luck. What kind of feeling went through your gut when the wind took it from you?
Bob
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
This is a family forum so I cant type what I said, but there was some leaves on the trees scorched and had to put a couple grass fires out. My first reaction was to finish the job and put it in the fire pit . Then later I got to thinking about it, hell I put every strip together and built it I could put them back together again and then I went to work. It took 20 hours of work to get back to where I was when the wind caught it.
My trees has spread some more and what is under them is doing well , whats in the sun all day is burnt up.
Ron
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
Dahhhhhhhhh
That pic is back a couple months ,right before I crashed the boat,thats why the grass is green.

As always happens I learned a lot on this build ,by the time I am an old man maybe I will be a decent builder.
Thanks for the support and comment on this thread also.
Ron
 

catfish

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2007
996
3
jesup, ga.
hey ron like you said if you hadn,t said something we would have never knowed. :wink: :lol: i,m sure you aint the only one thats had a problem. :wink: it sure is a pretty boat . if they don,t want it you can send it my way for charity. :) :D :lol:
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
This is wrap up day . got the Lady bug out and wiped her of they are going to take her to her new home today
nw6107Small.jpg


New owner Stacie and Ricky

nw6112Small2.jpg


nw6111Small.jpg


They seemed tickled with the rig.

Ron