Now I'm getting serious....

[gcarter]

The Testa Rossa has been proceding a lot more slowly than I anticipated. But I finally broke down and rented a scissor lift to hang some chains from a roof perling some 18' in the air. Here's a few pics of my service manager on the lift drilling some holes in the perling. The idea was to bolt some 2" X 1/4" X 18" flatbars to the perling and then shackle 7' long 3/8" proof chain to the bars. Then I can hang comealongs at whatever height I need. There are three chains at predetermined locations so I can easily pull decks on 18's, Minx, and 22's.



Unfortunately I have to go to Cleveland for a national dealer meeting tomorrow and I won't be back till saturday evening. But I will post some pics on Sunday of the deck hanging in the air.

[MOP]

It is about time now tear that bugger apart, you have been dragging butt tooooo looong!

Phil

[mrfixxall]

The Testa Rossa has been proceding a lot more slowly than I anticipated. But I finally broke down and rented a scissor lift to hang some chains from a roof perling some 18' in the air. Here's a few pics of my service manager on the lift drilling some holes in the perling. The idea was to bolt some 2" X 1/4" X 18" flatbars to the perling and then shackle 7' long 3/8" proof chain to the bars. Then I can hang comealongs at whatever height I need. There are three chains at predetermined locations so I can easily pull decks on 18's, Minx, and 22's.
Unfortunately I have to go to Cleveland for a national dealer meeting tomorrow and I won't be back till saturday evening. But I will post some pics on Sunday of the deck hanging in the air.

i built a jig and lifted mine from the ski locker,,its was a safer method and didnt want to put all the stress on the front or rear deck of the boat..try lifting the front of the deck and you will see what i mean..

[Ed Donnelly]

George; Don't you just hate it when work interferes with boat time...Ed

[gcarter]

i built a jig and lifted mine from the ski locker,,its was a safer method and didnt want to put all the stress on the front or rear deck of the boat..try lifting the front of the deck and you will see what i mean..

Actually, I'm doing something similar....through the fuel fill hole, I'll have an I-bolt through a 2 X 4 under the deck supporting it over about 4'. Then at the rear, there'll be two 2 X 6's running transversely just at the front of the engine compartment, under the deck, also with an I-bolt through them on the center line of the hull.
The advantage for me is I need to do a good amount of work on the cockpit bottom. This way I'll be able to support the deck w/the cockpit floor unemcumbered, or, I'll be able to lower the deck onto some furniture dollies and move it around. This is similar to what I did w/the Minx.

[Cuda]

The Testa Rossa has been proceding a lot more slowly than I anticipated. But I finally broke down and rented a scissor lift to hang some chains from a roof perling some 18' in the air.

Hmm. Didn't someone suggest the lift a couple months ago??

[MOP]

Get Em Joe! We all know about dragging butt! Drive over and break some chops, maybe even ask Deb for assistance LOL!

[gcarter]

Get Em Joe! We all know about dragging butt! Drive over and break some chops, maybe even ask Deb for assistance LOL!

I'm not worried about Joe....., but Debbie, that's different!!!
Maybe Laine will protect me.
Yep Joe, you're right, I just got tired of waiting.

[Cuda]

It's by far the safest, and fastest way to work that high. We just finished a job at a new Home Depot in Jax. They had an army of these lifts on the job. They'd plug them all in at the end of the day to charge, and if I plugged in the wetsaw, it would blow the breaker. I had to unplug a few of them, while we were using the saw.

[gcarter]

So I did get the deck off on Sunday, but the camera card was in my computer bag...........
Here's a few pictures from today;

BTW, Mr Fixxit was right! the front deck is a lot more flimsy than the Minx. I started out w/the front support through the fuel fill hole, after just a little while I saw the error of my ways and moved it to the anchor light hole.

[mercsl55]

in 1990 I bought a new 18 2+3 and this is when OMC had bought them out and of course it had an OMC out drive and I was not satisfied with it. Your testarosa is a 22 2+3 am I corect??? With a merc out drive??? Even if not I dont think it will be a deal stoper. Please give me an aproximate time as to when it will me ready. Believe me I know that things come up all the time but I am very patient when waiting for what I want. Also if you could give me an aproximate time as to when it will be ready, and what it will cost me??? Thanks My name is Corey. I am an auto broker in Lafayette La. Waiting on your reply!!! PS You sais something about a 454. Are you planiing to work on the performance side of it??? I am very interested in this area. what are you planning on the HP being???

[gcarter]

Buddy PM'ed me about stress cracks. The foot box has its own share of them around the perimeter of the ply coring on the bottom of the box.
Where there are stress cracks, esentially there is a weakness. Before any crack repair is done, the back side has to be reinforced or the cracks will reappear.
In this picture, you can see the cracks because they are highlighted by the grinding dust.



After the reverse side is reinforced, the gel on the front side must be removed or it will reappear, just like painting over cracked paint.
Here's an example;

This is a picture of the cockpit floor after I repaired it from the backside. It had broken in two from repeated contact with the stringers.



If I hadn't taken additional action, those cracks would still have been there. Instead, I ground out the gel, and the resin and mat under it. I refilled the area w/thickened and reinforced resin, and then faired it;

[gcarter]

I got in here early this morning to get the grinding done before it got hot.
Here's some pictures of the edges of the foot box cut areas. I tapered them as much as I could w/o it becoming too fragile. Also notice the hole I made from shoving a wood chisel through the panel while removing the ply core on the backside.
Again I tapered the edges as much as I could in preporation for glassing everything together.

[Greg Guimond]

Mr Carter, how about some carbon fiber pop up cleats to match the cool dash.............

[gcarter]

Mr Carter, how about some carbon fiber pop up cleats to match the cool dash.............

I seriously thought about having the tops of the pop-up cleats powder coated red to match the hull..........
But after four years, I gotta stop somewhere!

You may come to that point too!