Author Topic: Relaunching the Bird  (Read 2915 times)

PonoBill

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Relaunching the Bird
« on: May 14, 2017, 08:02:24 PM »
I need to start shooting more pictures, preferably using my Inspire2, but just some cell phone photos will do. today we relaunched "The Bird" a fairly beat up sixmacanu (six man canoe) that Hood river Outrigger Canoe Club owns. It got run up onto a submerged rock on Friday, we hauled it out and I towed it through Hood River to my shop Friday evening. Ground out the fractured glass and goop Saturday morning, glassed it before noon on Saturday. Then the weather turned cold and sunless. the epoxy just wouldn't completely kick. Everyone here that does repair or board building knows what I'm talking about when I say the glass was hard, but it loaded up an 80 grit pad in ten minutes 24 hours after I laid on the glass. I did seven layers of 6oz glass to simulate two of 20-ounce leno weave because I have a lot of straight 6OZ in my trim box. Long, deep scratches, some very deep. We were hauling ass when we hit the rock. The bird is an old boat, and every time I ground some margin around the crushed glass I found blobs of straight epoxy fill with no structural reinforcement. If I got fussy I would have ground the whole surface off. but standard sixmacanus are hearty critters. They aren't a skinny layer of carbon and glass, they're about the thickness of a bread slice of fiberglass, resin, and old shoes. Or maybe socks, or both.

Anyway, I ground wide, glassed wider, and intended to fair the glass back to the tapered edges. But I would have spent a small fortune in Festool disks to get there. So I ground it down to about the smoothness of a sack of walnuts and put on two coats of rattlecan white. Done, until we can launch our third boat, pull the second boat and get some bottom paint on it, and then pull the bird again and sand it properly.

On the bright side, our unlimited arrived yesterday. The frantic "get the boat back in the water" has to do with the enthusiasm of the Hood river crew for paddling every morning. If we have two boats in the water, they're full for three sessions per day, every day. If we have three, they're also full. I think once we have the Unlimited and three standards that they will be full just as often--maybe more.

Hood River is a different kind of place. 7000 people and 6952 are athletes. How many towns of 7000 people support three bike shops, five watersport shops, three BIG sporting goods shops, a kayak shop, a great specialty fishing shop, two gyms, ten breweries, three distilleries, I don't know how many vinyards and wineries, five hard cider companies, one of the the worlds largest non-citrus fruit juice operations, dozens of great restaurants. etc, etc, etc.. What an outrageously concentrated place. We've lived right in the middle of it for nine years and we are astonished every day--mostly by the natural beauty, but then there's the people.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2017, 08:05:40 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

SUPcheat

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2017, 10:18:10 AM »
Does Hood River have a house of ill repute where they flog each other while wearing biker tights?
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LaPerouseBay

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2017, 12:34:21 PM »
Does Hood River have a house of ill repute where they flog each other while wearing biker tights?

I've never been to Hood River, but places like that have lots of bikes on the road.  In a community as small as that, word would spread quickly of a bike hater - As in "lets call the cops before that jackass kills my wife."   

i hope you are not one that mocks bikers.  It would be a real shame.  If memory serves, you are a physician.  For what it's worth, it wouldn't surprise me.   

Plenty of haters here on the zone, I've seen it over the years.  Smart people too.  Just ill informed, I hope they change.  Roadies don't wear lycra as a fashion statement.  Frankly, they can't not wear lycra.  Some MTB'ers hide it under cargo type shorts but that doesn't work on road bikes.  The speeds are too high. They parachute.  Also, any flapping fabric will wear skin raw, including shirts. 

Wind resistance is EVERYTHING on a road bike.  The force required to overcome wind resistance increases with the square (actually, the cube) of velocity.  And road bikes are very, very fast (100+kph).

I'll borrow a quote from a bike forum that was commenting on the news of yet another talented young racer recently killed by a car.     

"A person at the wheel of a car is just as dangerous as a person wielding a gun. With great power comes great responsibility, and should also come with great legal repercussions for endangering lives. Sadly this is simply not the case."

So - if I'm in error and misread your post - sorry.  If not... 
« Last Edit: May 15, 2017, 12:35:56 PM by LaPerouseBay »
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PonoBill

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2017, 01:08:51 PM »
The responsibility of driving is ignored daily, to the tune of a hundred Americans killed per day. Ten times more per day than the Vietnam war.

The Lycra thing is more about attitude than clothing. Same applies to motorcyclists who strut around in leathers at Starbucks saying "look at me." Human nature, but it's irritating. If you ride an electric bike you get a shitstorm from the Lycra dudes (women don't seem to care, they don't have as much of the bullshit "do what I do or be judged" mentality). Having a pack of them scattered across a country road flip you off as you pull out to pass in your car also doesn't endear the "serious" bikers to anyone.

Yes, there are lots of bike riders in Hood River, we have great roads for it and lots of bike lanes--even a bikes- and pedestrian-only road that connects Hood River to Mosier. I'm a long time bicycle rider though never really got serious. But when I see some clown in full Lycra clacking around a coffee shop with his helmet on I don't think "wow, what a cool guy"
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

yugi

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2017, 02:53:24 PM »
I've always wondered: what's the marketing angle behind designing men's clothes to look like toothpaste tubes?

PonoBill

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2017, 03:13:32 PM »
I've always wondered: what's the marketing angle behind designing men's clothes to look like toothpaste tubes?

And then there's that. A specific fabric or fit I get, but the color-coordinated, multi-sponsor clusterfuck hasn't got much to do with practicality and everything to do with peacock display.  A friend gave me a set of Arlington Club bicycle togs for my birthday last year. Very nice design, lovely colors, understated graphics by Lycradude standards, but with my gut and muffintop I look like a bad Richard Simmons infomercial, only without the hair. I've never worn them out of the house.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2017, 03:17:34 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

SUPcheat

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2017, 05:54:18 PM »
Didn't mean to get anybody's biker knickers in a twist.  I'm not a physician, but I play one on TV.

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Sunova Flow 8'7"x30.25"@121L
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Me: 6'1"@230 lbs 68 years old

LaPerouseBay

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2017, 08:23:15 AM »

I've always wondered: what's the marketing angle behind designing men's clothes to look like toothpaste tubes?


Kinda surprising to hear that coming from Switzerland.  Sponsors in pro cycling pay big bucks as a title sponsor.  Team Sky's budget this year is 35 million Euros.  3.5 billion people will tune in to the Tour de France this year, millions of fans will line the roads.  But then, you know that, you may have seen the caravan in person. 

Big pro races are gigantic parties in Europe.  That's why the ads are on the jersey's, not so they can look like peacocks as PB suggests.  BTW, some jackass in a car chased last year's tour winner up on a sidewalk about a week ago and tried to kill him.  He's fine BTW.

Maybe it was the horribly offensive jersey Sky wears.  Here's a pic from yesterdays stage winner at the Tour of California.  I never had any complaints from the ladies when I was a road racer.  Athletic chicks love guys with shaved legs, I know that for sure.

Some men find men in lycra offensive.  Not sure what's going on there, but the truth is, we didn't really care.  The world is full of people that worry too much about the appearance of others.  I say men that have a problem with other men wearing lycra on bikes should not spend so much time looking at men wearing lycra on bikes.       

I do get bent out of shape when they get violent with deadly weapons...
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PonoBill

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2017, 09:37:38 AM »
How does that relate to some dickhead sitting in Starbucks with his full regalia including a helmet. 
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

SupPadre

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #9 on: May 20, 2017, 09:46:48 AM »
I rode over 5,000 miles a year until everyone started looking at their smart phone instead of the road. I found SUPcheat's house of ill repute response humorous.
When I started stand up I found that the triathlon shorts are very comfortable to wear under board shorts. The tri shorts keep everything "packaged" and the padding will surely help a little if I catch the board between my legs.

yugi

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Re: Relaunching the Bird
« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2017, 11:12:32 AM »
^ you make joke, right?

 


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