Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Thanks John. I never knew this stuff existed, and even though the label calls it "stucco tape", I am still not sure of exactly what they use it for. Obviously it has something to do with stuccoing a house, but not sure what they do with it. Maybe to put the seams in a wall, and when they spray stucco over it that area stays smooth? Anyway, nothing sticks to it, that's for sure.

I used more of it today to correct my little "miscalculation" in clearance for the bellhousing. I cut out the offending area with an air saw (and was happy to see our glass job was about 1/4 inch thick). Once I slid the tranny back to where it belongs I noticed it was still a little tight right over the main body of the tranny, so I cut out more until all the interferance was gone.

Evidently what happened was when the original foam sunk from the resin, I didn't build it back up enough with the drywall putty, or maybe the putty shrank too? Whatever happened, I didn't have enough room under there. Glad Dan said to me "have you tried the transmission under there?" and when we did we found the problem.

I was NOT going to make the same mistake again, so I gave myself more than enough room this time. I cut up small pieces of foam and carpet glued them all over the top of the tranny, then taped them down solid with more red tape. I laid up bunches of layers so the resin had no way to get to the foam. Then I put the tranny back in place and jacked it up just a little higher than it will really go. That, combined with the 3/4 inch thickness of the foam should give me lots of room under there.

Finally, I reglassed in the missing section, building up about 4 layers to meet the same level as what we did the other night, then laid up 2 more layers overlapping the existing tunnel, to tie everything together. It should not move an inch with all these layers. Some boats aren't that thick. It actually faired in pretty good and doesn't look too bad. Carpet padding and carpet will hide it all anyway.

Here are some shots. The first one is the area I thought I would need to cut out, the second one is the actual area I ended up removing, and the third is the area all glassed in. It should cure by tomorrow, and I'll remove the transmission and red tape.

Don