Zach Matthews
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Matt –
That’s just the reasoning I have heard given when I’ve asked around the industry; I am not necessarily sure it would apply to every situation. I imagine there are factors in play like degree of stretch, dirt, etc. Also, I am certain that Patagonia weighed non-recyclability as a big negative for that coat – they are very serious about their environmental initiatives.
Zach
Hey Shane –
The non-PR speak version is this: the Stretch SST was a super-cool product that suffered from a deficiency.
Yes, it’s challenging. In my case I had a bit of an added burden because I didn’t want to fail it on the podcast. 🙂 However, I also had the benefit of hearing the deliberations after the fact, which were recorded. I didn’t include all of them in the show. I think I passed the test with a little more room to spare than I thought I had at the time.
The 36 question test had some head-scratchers and some that were fairly easy. The ones I missed were mostly due to me misreading the question; casting is a bit of a subjective subject and it’s hard to know exactly what one is being asked some times. Then again, some of the questions were very objective, like the diameter of 6X tippet. It definitely pays to know a lot about line and casting.
Here’s an example: Of a WF6F, a WF6S (Type 2 sink), a DT6F, and a WF6S (Type 6 sink), which weighs more in its first thirty feet?
Zach
Aaron –
Do you have artistic ability? I’m basically seeing a couple ways you could do this. #1, you could get a screen-printing company to make you a full-sized skin-transfer which you would heat-shrink onto the body and then gel-coat or something to waterproof. That’s the professional way to make the vehicle look cool, and it has the advantage of being able to stretch over the windows (those sections have little holes punched so you can see out a la a screen).
Of course, no Airstream could ever look as cool as a Ford Windstar.
#2, you could do the transfer yourself, school-teacher style, with an overhead projector. This would be hellaciously difficult outside, but you could probably rig it up in a dark garage. To do that, you would just design the paint job in miniature in advance, print on transparency, and project onto the body of the trailer, to be painted (by numbers!) by hand later. Labor intensive? Yes. Probability of looking like crap when you’re done? High. Possible? Yes, but you might need painting experience to pull it off.
I guess option #3 would be what I would call the Redneck Mailbox. Basically, intentionally go for a rustic look and paint it on there pretty thick. On the plus side, when you get done you’d have a perfectly livable trailer if you wanted to put it up on blocks in Branson, Missouri.
If you get an Airstream, I would focus on renovating the interior first, then get someone professional to paint the outside. Besides, painting an Airstream is like painting a DeLorean: only the Saudis do it.
Zach
Well I appreciate that Mike, but I have to admit that Andrew has done most of the fine work on this project. I did work out the complex angles on the first front support with the chop saw, but mostly I’ve been what I advertised myself as: unskilled labor. I can frame up a house as long as you don’t ask me to think too hard about roof angles, and I can plumb pvc, but most of my construction experience has been lifting and carrying and swinging a pick.
Lawrence –
Andrew knows all the terminology; he is a former home contractor who really does build skyscrapers for a living.
Andrew and I spent yesterday evening, this morning and the early afternoon today at work on his boat. There was quite a bit of scrubbing involved last night, and quite a few errands to run this morning, but we ended up getting the front deck built. We’ll build out the back deck before we glass it in, but we’re making some nice progress. We also got a coat of wax on the boat – it’s going to need three or four more before it looks green as opposed to pasty.
This is the life of Andrew Wright. He spends his days building skyscrapers, hosing off boats, and otherwise being manly. At the end of the day, his pretty wife comes home, kisses him, and hands him a cold twelve pack of beer. Andrew nods appreciatively and goes back to hosing off his boat.
Here’s what she looked like prior to having any mods done, but after being cleaned up pretty thoroughly.
We started out making the things we knew we’d need, like a general template. We gathered up wood, tools, various sizes of drill bit, screws and saws, etc. Other than a much-appreciated loan of a mitre saw from a neighbor, we didn’t find ourselves needing anything once we started.
We started the cuts by hollowing out a pair of holes for rod holders. Andrew’s boat is not the largest model Gheenoe so he opted to only do one tube on each side, which should be plenty.
The insides of the seats are filled with old foam, surrounded by cardboard (presumably the molds used to form them up out of the sprayed fiberglass in the factory.) They’ve shrunk over the years a considerable amount, and are now dry and brittle.
You can see the 2″ PVC used for the rod tubes. Schedule 40 wasn’t really necessary but we couldn’t find two inch landscaping line. Andrew wisely capped the ends so that when we finish glassing in the front deck, there will be no way for water to invade the space via the tubes.
This was probably the one step we could have skipped. The front seat had a hump in it about 1/4″ to a 1/2″ high, which we decided to remove. In retrospect, we might have been able to get away without cutting this off.
Here’s the main front deck supports: two 2 X 4s locked in along the Gheenoe’s flanges.
They are held in place with a skyscraper-grade epoxy used for tying steel to concrete. 35 minutes after application, I lifted the entire boat several times holding only the center 2 X 4.
Obligatory IA Food Shot. We didn’t take a picture of the beer cans in the recycling bin by this point, but we probably should have.
Here’s the almost-completed superstructure. I argued that we were overdoing it, but in the end, this proved to be a wise move, again by Andrew. The plywood material we used for the decking was not especially strong and needed this much support.
Here’s Andrew cutting the deck out of the plywood.
A final look at the superstructure under the deck. It’s solid. 🙂
For the time being, it still looks like a bit of a redneck project. Once the front is glassed in, however, this is going to be a pretty impressive modification, I’m confident.
Zach
