A busy day at the shop mid April showsRon Brown and the crew crafting the sponsons and grinding on the bottom.
	The original '82 Atlas instrument paneldisplayed prominently above the door while Steve Schmits, Bob Allen andSteve Peterson labor on the sponsons.
	The sponsons were built in two stages.After battens were bent around and screwed to the sides, the entire sponsonwas covered in plywood. This was done to have a water tight sub-floor ineach sponson. The flat bottoms also served as foundations for the recoveryand riding surfaces to be built onto. Used by Jim Lucero on the boat originally,this technique allowed for quick changes to the riding and recovery areaswithout  effecting the integrity of the sponson.
	Ron Brown and Don Mock struggle bendingand clamping one of the recovery battens.
	Once the battens were securely glued inplace, Ron Brown expertly planed the surfaces for the plywood and fiberglasscoatings.
	The right sponson ready for its plywoodsurface. Ron Brown constantly referred to a surveyers level to accuratelymeasure the sponson construction. As a result, the two sponsons differless than 1/16th of an inch in their dimensions.
back to top

 

	View of the left sponson prior to addingriding surfaces.
	Twenty years of layers of paint and gluehad to be sanded off. Jeff Stubbers and Curt Palmer (forground) put insome hard hours with the sanders.
	By mid June 2002, the sponsons were complete.Only the aluminum primary ride pads and recoveries are left to attach.Also, the entire bottom had a  new 1/16" alluminum doubler sheet vacuumbagged in place.
	With the sponsons complete, the attentionwas paid to the bow block/leading edges and canard. Both used molded partswhich required plugs and molds to be made first. Then the finished fiberglassparts were vacuum bagged in the molds.
	On June 30th the boat was turned backright-side up. The tedious job of routing out the tops of all honeycombstringers and frames was next. With an inch of core material routed out, long inch square mahogany strips were then glued in place. This strengthenedthe tops of the frames and created and ideal gluing surface for the deck.
	After hundreds of man-hours sanding eachand every internal compartment, and with "Sgt."Ron Brown's final approval,it was time to paint the inside of the hull white.
	Left side of the boat with painted interior.An example of Ron Brown's engineering and welding skills can be seen inthe steering system pulley housings.
	The newly refurbished and cad plated steeringbox is in place as is a few of the other systems.
back to top	page 1  2  3  4  5  6  7