Sentisah's Novelty Boats!

Today we had the usual dry and very hot weather. I'm  waiting on the adhesive I added to dry. If the materials are well bonded together, then any type of separation would cause them to get torn, ripped or to snap. The goal is to have one whole solid structure. Tomorrow I'll check on how the adhesive dried overnight. When everything is completed, I'm hoping nothing comes loose during the boat's maiden launch.  Its currently drizzling with some thundering at the time that I'm posting this blog.

I went to check to see how the adhesive had dried. I was happy to see that most of the "Noodles" were stuck firmly in place. I wanted to work more on the boat but I started feeling droplets of rain. Not even enough to really be considered rain. I retapped some "Noodles that had adhesive still drying, so I use the last bit of decorating duck tape. I decidedI that the best thing to do was to let the adhesive dry longer. I really wanted to add more "Noodles" to the stern of the boat but I felt adding more"Noodles" was going a bit overboard with too much enthusiasm.

The boat got drenched in all the rain we had recently. I had to apply more adhesive to some areas that had adhesive  which didn't dry at all. I decided I better cover the boat up goid this time because we're supposed to be having another down pour tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I applied adhesive to the "Noodles" Today I'm going to see how the adhesive dried. The weather is a constant issue now. It's been raining almost everyday or every other day. It was raining as I was editing this blog. I'm going to have to look into building a temporary shelter that will allow me to be able to work on the boat when it rains. Finding bonding glue is a challenge, only because I'm using "Noodles" which were  made for playing in water. They're made out of foam rubber or even plastic. Once I see that the adhesive bonded the "Noodles" solid to the fronds then I'll be able to start adding rubber spray to coat the whole bottom of the hull before turning the boat over to finish the deck. The boat really should be able to float without the"Noodles," but using them came closest to the idea of using buoys.

I added more glue and  also added "Noodles" to the center of the hull, giving the hull a Catamaran like appearance. Uniformity is a work in progress for this project. I have to buy more glue and it'll be the 4th bottle I brought. I have to make sure that the "Noodles are firmly attached to the fronds as well as to each.other.

When I went out to check to see how things turned out this morning, I discovered that the "Noodles bonded very well to the fronds; much to my delight.

Trying to glue the large "Noodles" to the fronds was a real challenge. I realized that a lot of glue was required to bind the "Noodles" to the fronds. It was wearing away my patience. I have to admit I was feeling impatient about getting closer to completing the bottom of the boat!

 There's nothing like being able to use your ingenuity in order to get the job done. Creating something useful out of discarded things I find really enjoyable. Today I was also able to buy up the last box of "Noodles" from another store. The "Noodles" I brought today, are much thicker than the leftovers from the other store I used already.. I decided I'm going to cut the "Noodles" I brought today in half to use on both ends of the boat. There's definitely no rushing through this project, even though I been visualizing riding in the boat already. I didn't do much work on the boat today. I started adding support to the fronds at the stern (back) end of the boat. I used metal fastener from a computer chassis to connect two fronds together which  makes the fronds more straighter. I had to hammer the fastener out to get the desired use out of it. I have to look for some more metal spare parts that I can use in this way. The good thing is

An idea lit up like a light bulb in my head. I ran out to the store and brought all of the water toys called "Noodles" the store had left. I'm really sorry I just came up with the idea just today because the summer is about over and these toys may not be available until next summer. Hopefully I can find stores that still have some left. Today I made a real mess. I got glue all over my hands again. Safety is the most important thing to be mindful of when doing any kind of project.

.I was able to work on the boat over the weekend. I decided to loosen the binds on both ends of the boat. Hopefully the fronds will stay upright. I attached the fronds at the bow with some metal I made into fasteners. I'm plan on doing the same thing to the fronds at the stern of the boat. In order for me to be able to straighten the fronds at each end, I had to raise the boat higher. The next thing is to add more glue in order to seal all the fronds in place, which will strengthen the hull over all. A rubber sealant will then be applied once all the fronds on the outside of the hull is rock solid.

To my horror I discovered some fronds were lose so I decided to insert smaller fronds in between the larger fronds that became lose. I applied glue which sealed the fronds in place, practically rook solid. I planned on just starting to work on the stern (back) of the boat but I was compelled to push on. I nailed other fronds onto almost all of the fronds that make up the stern. They also give support in keeping the fronds that make up the stern stay upright.

I was able to screw down some fronds  that acts as supports for the stern. I have to add fronds to the bow for support as well.

I'm hoping the boat doesn't buckle under pressure. Her backbones have to be able to keep the stern and bow beams upright. Thinking how you want things to work don't always go according to plan. So far they are holding.