Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

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ronb
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#61 Post by ronb » Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:15 pm

Just checking in.. have you outfitted it with any spare snowmobile tunnels and tracks yet?

FWIW, my next older brother (I have 3 brothers total) is up in your area. He just helped some guy named 'Johnny' move some stuff from Oregon up to International Falls by U-Haul.

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tuned
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#62 Post by tuned » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:45 am

ronb wrote:Just checking in.. have you outfitted it with any spare snowmobile tunnels and tracks yet?
:lol: Perhaps I'll use some old sliders as keel guards. The longest old track I have in shed is 136". Not sure they make 'em in 600" (if my math is correct). And what the hell would I do for cooling? Guess I could go old school with fan cooled, but I would sacrifice a lot of power. Of course it would be more forgiving on glare ice and gravel that way. Hmmm....dangit Ron ya got me thinking now...

OK updates. Finally got my PC running again. Did I mention that photo posting with a phone sux?
Here's some of the latest shots. Maybe someday I'll get a decent camera.

Rebuild of some VERY important weapons components
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Mount boards for various items
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I seem to have some wiring loose. This is only about half of it that I have to terminate at the forward end. I have cleaned up the stereo wiring and stripped the walls to prep for all new gear. Note the little blue light is lit on the power amps! :guitar
Image
ToddBob
'Al the Mirthmaker' (The Third)
Build-- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14007
Rainy Lake/Voyageurs National Park
International Falls, MN

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tuned
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#63 Post by tuned » Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:24 am

Ok so it's been a lllong ccccold winter. I think I saw a single drip of water fall from my roof the other day. About four feet of snow on the ground and about four feet of ice on the lake. Grrrrrr. I mean brrrrr. Lot of degree days.
And I'm running out of places to stack the damn snow.

Here's the newest. Time to modify my new rails. I cut in two doors the other day and proceeded to temporarily lose the shots of the jig I made, which worked surprisingly well on the big main cuts at least.
Tomorrow, I will give a full trial to MuggyWeld.com's Super Alloy 5 brazing rod. Rated at 30,000# tensile. Which is about half ish of steel but still very respectable. Flux and rod both get runny at about 600 degrees (aluminum melts at 1200plus), thus supposed to be very forgiving. Their advice was to let the flux determine everything. The claim was that they (or others) have done a LOT of railing jobs with great results. Thanks to Herb for turning me in this direction. Here's the link to a whole bunch of videos: http://www.muggyweld.com/videos/ Just look for Super Alloy 5 in the Aluminum section.
So I gots me some Mapp gas AND Oxygen which is supposedly easily enough heat for the job. About a hundred bucks worth.Image
Aaaaand about a hundred bucks worth of rod from the Muggy guys.
Here's the shot of initial cuts ready to go. A little Bernzomatic Map/Oxy with a nice small tip. Very hot, although not quite as Acetyline.
Image
Also in this shot, my 'poor-mans' ventilation system. I got a little more cutting and prep to do in the morning and then :scared
Of course I will practice at least once. :biggrin2 So here I go...wish me luck! :prayer
ToddBob
'Al the Mirthmaker' (The Third)
Build-- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14007
Rainy Lake/Voyageurs National Park
International Falls, MN

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cleatus
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#64 Post by cleatus » Tue Mar 19, 2013 4:27 am

Wow, did you fab that fence?
fantastic skillz you gots. :thumbsup
here, pull my finger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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HandymanHerb
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#65 Post by HandymanHerb » Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:48 am

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup
In Memory of John 6x6 Larsen

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tuned
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#66 Post by tuned » Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:27 am

cleatus wrote:Wow, did you fab that fence?
fantastic skillz you gots. :thumbsup
Sorry Cleatus, I wish. It's factory fence. New SouthBay blemish rails. Some nice young fellow who will go unmentioned but his initials are ToonGuy lives close to the factory and seems to have amazing scrounging skills (and insomnia :coffee ). I sat in his office at PontoonStuff for a moment and he had the weirdest office furniture. Nice and comfy weatherproof loungers and the like :lol3 I figure pretty soon he'll be using a console for desk :biggrin2

Unfortunately, the rails had NO side doors, just a front and a rear door that opened onto fore and aft decks. Well, OK, there was a single port side door that was way too far back to be useful to me because of my shack. So that door got hard bolted into the structure and I am cutting in two new ones where they belong. At the same time, I am shortening the whole length of the playpen by a few inches.

I'm going to use new 'Q rail' for all the vertical posts that need to be added and re-attach the skin properly by crimping it down. Here is the contact info for the guy that sourced the Q rail:
Jeff Collier
FIRE & MARINE INC.
(937) 323-2770


Beautiful SouthBay 'filigree' work is going to suck to try to match up again, especially with a (ahem) minor 'headache' :drink4 :coffee
I have a helper for the day and if we get lucky, we might get the bulk of it done. While I'm making such a huge metal shop mess, I'm gonna pre-add a lot of hardware ahead of time...like latches, hinges, cam cleats, nav lights, pike pole holders, EZfender's (thanks Bryan)! I'll try to remember to take a lot of shots.
ToddBob
'Al the Mirthmaker' (The Third)
Build-- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14007
Rainy Lake/Voyageurs National Park
International Falls, MN

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MPosey519
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#67 Post by MPosey519 » Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:32 am

No offense to anyone else, but this is my favorite thread on the forum!
Michael

20ft - '87 Riviera Crusier - Rebuild started in September 2012
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mike
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#68 Post by mike » Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:40 pm

Yes, great looking build and funny too... :nana
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Texoma Toon
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#69 Post by Texoma Toon » Tue Mar 19, 2013 4:29 pm

Outstanding Todd! U DA MAN!! :thumbsup :thumbsup
2007 G3 LX 22 Fish & Cruise
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tuned
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#70 Post by tuned » Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:19 pm

Thanks guys.
Unfortunately, tonights report is mostly bad. On the upside, I got a new camera finally, love it. So here's a few shots (in focus for once!).
This first one helps explain why I didn't get as much done as I wanted this winter:
Image

Here is the jig I use to cut the rails to a manageable size. It worked really well. They came out nice and square. I used a 'universal abrasive' disk on the antique Skill saw with the squealing bearing howling along to the Sublime crankin' on the stereo :guitar . It made nice thin cuts and didn't throw too much for metal shards, just dust.
Image

I cut the 'Q Rail' with a regular carbide tipped blade on the miter saw. It DID throw shards in a million directions :scared
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One of the doors mocked up and ready to tack. ALL of the work is now cut, cleaned and ready to join.
Image

Now the bad part. Had a crappy time with the Muggy Weld. We spent hours and burned through a bunch of rod and gas. Tried a number of tricks and never got a consistant bead, so I couldn't do ANY actual rail brazing :donno . Maybe 1 in 5 practice joints was strong and looked OK. I need to talk to them tomorrow, but I don't think we had enough heat even with two of us running a Mapp heating torch AND a Mapp/Oxy rosebud. The rep had said that Mapp was enough, but I'm not convinced. Next step will either be to line up the Oxy-Acetyline or find a real welder to do the work. I think the Muggy Alloy probably can work well, but it appears that it is not as forgiving as they would have you believe. The bottom bead is the factory weld. The top bead is one of the better Muggy brazes, probably the best one of the day:
Image

Here's a couple more practice joints that weren't too bad. They only got worse from there...MUCH worse. I won't torture myself by publishing them:
Image
Final thought for an exhausting day: It is a very uncomfortable feeling to cut brand new railing apart in a bunch of places and not have a way to join it back up
ToddBob
'Al the Mirthmaker' (The Third)
Build-- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14007
Rainy Lake/Voyageurs National Park
International Falls, MN

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Mrtoler
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#71 Post by Mrtoler » Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:17 pm

I used alumaweld rods on my Jon boat. It took me along time to feet consistent at it but I'm pretty good at it now.. The rods I had they say propane is enough heat but I found out on anything thicker than a coke can an oxy ace. Torch was needed. The torch is not near as forgiving as the propane..lol... My welder I used highly recommended the sticks I used but only to patch holes not for anything structural, but that is only his opinion and my 2cents would be save yourself the trouble and hire a good tig welder! Ryan
Ryan, Martha, Ana and Nathan Toler.
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tuned
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#72 Post by tuned » Wed Mar 20, 2013 11:54 pm

Thanks Ryan. However, there are only about 3 good welders within 2 hours of here at the moment. We had a few more, but death...retirement...relocation...you get the picture. The guys that are still left are up to their armpits in work. It is the busy season for the loggers as they try to beat the spring thaw. There are busted trucks and trailers everywhere!

As far as the Muggy rod is concerned, I took one of the square tube joints with only two out of four sides tacked decently and put it in the vice. I then proceeded to beat the shit out of it with a 20# maul! I destroyed the square tube, but the joint NEVER failed. It is plenty strong for me. I just need to get better bondage. Wait that didn't sound right :biggrin2

So the next step is Oxy/Acetyline. I just ordered a nice little portable kit http://www.ebay.com/itm/281061726640?ss ... 1439.l2649and will try again next week with the right heat. It'll be nice to have a real torch around the garage anyway. Or I can turn around and resell it if I want.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other items to keep me occupied. Prolly start on the other big job that is left--modify the old 'doghouse' from the SeaRay donor boat and build the rear bench over the motor and equipment locker. Gonna be a real engineering challenge. Here are my priorities in order:
1. Make it weatherproof
2. Make it strong enough for fat drunk people
3. Make it come apart with a minimum of tools and time.
4. Make it look OK.
5. Make it comfy
Gonna need a lot of beer for this one...
ToddBob
'Al the Mirthmaker' (The Third)
Build-- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14007
Rainy Lake/Voyageurs National Park
International Falls, MN

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tuned
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#73 Post by tuned » Sat Apr 06, 2013 2:55 am

Lists and more frickin lists :coffee
Image
Sometimes boatbuilding just plain sucks. Maybe someday.... :nana
ToddBob
'Al the Mirthmaker' (The Third)
Build-- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14007
Rainy Lake/Voyageurs National Park
International Falls, MN

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oldcoot
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#74 Post by oldcoot » Tue Apr 09, 2013 12:50 pm

and put it in the vice. I then proceeded to beat the shit out of it... but the joint NEVER failed. It is plenty strong for me. I just need to get better bondage. Wait that didn't sound right....
:happy :happy :lol: :lol: HUH?? :P :scared :lol3
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tuned
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Re: Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

#75 Post by tuned » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:48 am

OK, with the Mommy crisis slowly coming under control and only ten inches of fresh snow on top of the 6 foot plowbanks, I am back at it.
The rail saga continues:
After realizing how hard it is to keep loose square tube lined up properly for brazing or welding, I decided to use a number of stainless corner braces to keep everything square. As I am still determined to braze this all if I can, the braces will be especially helpful as I think the whole joint will be molten and needs to be done all in one step with no 'tacking'.
The braces got a little involved, as I didn't want any slop when I put the rivets in and the brace holes were slightly larger than 3/16. I chose to drill out the holes to 1/4" which also gave me the advantage of stronger rivets (aluminum).
The problem there was that there seems to be no such animal in existance by the name of 'manual, right angle, 1/4" rivet squeezer'--believe me I looked. I ended up buying a nice little air powered one. Frickin awesome! Shoulda got one years ago. Would've made the several underskinnings I have done much easier....

My right angle drill attachment (quick attach bits for airplane work). Gets into all the tight spots. Gonna make actually mounting the rails much easier and neater. Every other old rail mount I ever did had bolts at an angle. Not this time
Image

The air riveter--I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS TOOL! Just the sound alone...KaaaPooooooong!
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That's lookin' like a homemade door. Just starting to get the 'filigree' lined back up here.
Image

Gonna terminate a few thousand wires today, then tomorrow get back to Brazing101. Wish me luck!
ToddBob
'Al the Mirthmaker' (The Third)
Build-- viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14007
Rainy Lake/Voyageurs National Park
International Falls, MN

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