Back To The GRIND! - Onboard Lifestyle ep.388

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:02]Hey, hey, hey.

[00:00:22]Over the past few episodes of Onboard Lifestyle, the crew was in full diagnostic mode, looking for an elusive electrical gremlin in our poor engine.

[00:00:32]Then finally tracking down that annoying little troublemaker.

[00:00:38]>> See, I kept my cool.

[00:00:41]>> Simultaneously addressing a cockpit soul failure that needed to be fully re-engineered to correct this reoccurring issue.

[00:00:47]>> Make sure that everything planed out. It looks really good. Let's pick up the story as we can now focus on completing this somewhat complex project.

[00:00:59]>> Well, my hands have been tied for the last day or two. Weather has not been cooperating.

[00:01:05]>> Uh we still have these downpours that are still going to be moving into our area.

[00:01:09]>> We've done our best to keep things dry.

[00:01:16]Taped it off. put a sheet of plastic over it, but this whole area has been just kind of underwater.

[00:01:28]So, spent the morning towel drying everything out, and I did my best to keep as much water out of this area as possible, but with the wind and the rain yesterday, it was uh challenging.

[00:01:42]So, we're going to get this all peeled open and hopefully uh we were able to contain that water and keep it out of this core. The core does have a scrim cloth surface on it, which is absorbent to water, but it has a little plastic barrier under it to keep it from penetrating.

[00:01:58]>> It's all of the southside that's seeing some really heavy thunderstorm activity and some heavy rain. I guess I should just stop talking and and unberry this and uh see what we're in for. Hopefully uh it's dry and we can get on to the next layer. So uh that's the goal today.

[00:02:15]I've got a couple hours. It's supposed to rain again tonight, but I think it's enough time to kind of get a few things done on this.

[00:02:37]little bit of moisture. I'd say it's 99% dry. I can see a little bit that got under right here. Okay, I'm going to dry this out. It's just sitting on top of that scrim cloth, but we'll dry this out before we get started.

[00:02:54]Okay, that already looks better. Just blot blotting the surface right here.

[00:02:58]There was a little bit of moisture here and here, but everything's uh out. I think I'll let it air dry for a little bit. I had sealed this all along this edge to make sure no moisture got in there. But look it when I did it, couple little knobs are just poking up. Here's another one right here. I'll clean these up.

[00:03:21]Uh so when the next layer of cloth goes on, it's not snagging on these. Just a few to take care of.

[00:03:34]Well, everything's looking real good now. I'll just leave this fan on here while we're cutting the cloth and uh probably lay that down in about an hour.

[00:03:42]I just want to make sure there is zero moisture in here.

[00:03:46]Cut it 11 and 7/8 by uh 45 and 7/8. I want to cut it just a 16th of an inch shy around this so it sits in there nicely.

[00:03:58]Got it.

[00:04:01]Sure. Just sucks cuz this is 41.

[00:04:05]>> I know. I know.

[00:04:06]>> You're just like a couple inches shy.

[00:04:08]>> I'm sorry. It's my life story.

[00:04:22]This is not easy to work with and it's nerve-wracking that it has to fit just perfect.

[00:04:28]>> Oh, you nailed it.

[00:04:31]>> There you go.

[00:04:32]>> Thank you.

[00:04:36]Okay, I feel prepared here. Got everything lined up. Lyn's inside mixing some epoxy. Oh, and here it is.

[00:04:45]Okay, first I'm just going to wet out the scrim paper.

[00:05:41]the Okay, we've been building up this over the past few days and we had started leaving this bottom skin on this deck and we had removed all this core and we had layered a few layers on on the bottom to give it some extra stability before putting in our structural honeycomb. We put that in a little bit less thickness than the deck so we had room to put this 1708 which brought us right below this upper skin. We still have this Baltic mat right here over it.

[00:06:30]So today, what we're going to do is we're going to grind that back about 2 in exposing the fiberglass, the upper skin, because I want to see what level we're at here. You know, this may have a little bit of wave to it. I want to make sure that we're planning out exactly with this skin. And if we need need an extra layer of glass or cloth in here to build up that, we will. because ultimately we're going to put another layer of 170 over eight over this whole area overlapping this 2-in perimeter.

[00:07:01]So, let's get that laid out and start grinding away and uh see what we're in for.

[00:07:14]Okay, I've laid this out. That's how much I'll be grinding back. Only I don't want to come to sharp corners here. So, what I'm going to do, take my grinding wheel, which I'll be using to remove this, and look at that radius, find something similar to it, and there we go.

[00:07:33]And I'm just going to match that radius.

[00:07:36]That way, my grinding wheel will get in there nicely. And then I'll just transfer this to my cloth when I'm uh cutting that last layer.

[00:08:15]Well, I'm on the home stretch here.

[00:08:19]Everything's coming out nicely. Nice and clean coming around the perimeter here.

[00:08:24]I just have this little bit left. But yeah, it's looking good. Nice crisp line.

[00:08:34]That'll make it easy to to butt real close to that with my next layer of cloth. And I'm starting to see the elevation difference between here and here. Looks like I have a little more buildup to do in places.

[00:08:47]So, that's what I'll have to tackle next before this major overlay goes over everything. Okay, keep grinding.

[00:09:01]Okay, with this all cleaned up and me cleaned up a little bit too, let's take a look at where we're at.

[00:09:07]Okay, everything came off nice. Wiped everything down. There is a, you know, going around the perimeter of this, there is one little area I want to pay attention to. The skin got a little thin right through here. It actually dips down right there.

[00:09:25]That's kind of where this fracture was.

[00:09:27]So, I'm going to put another little layer right over this before I put my 1708 over it because look at this elevation right here. It's a little bit of uh this is slightly below up here still, but this dips below this. So, I need to build this up uh regardless.

[00:09:45]Just going to put a couple little patches on anywhere I see any low spots.

[00:09:49]Well, after further inspection, I saw that it was actually low all the way down around this perimeter here. So, I just ran 2-in tape around this to build it up to the same level as that. And I'm just wetting it out now. And we'll let this fire off.

[00:10:05]That should give me a nice even playing field for the next layer.

[00:10:15]Well, we're sitting in a good spot right now. And good thing rain's just starting. Looks like it's going to be raining the rest of the evening. But hey, everything's looking good. Got that lamination in the low spot here. Got a little heater out here. trying to fire this off before any water gets in here.

[00:10:38]Um, we are 100% waterproof now after this cures, but it's nice to keep it as dry as possible till we get the final laminations on there. And we'll do our best to keep it dry overnight. But I don't think the weather's going to let me uh do any more laminations tonight.

[00:10:54]Might have to just bag this up and uh hit it first thing in the morning. We'll see, though.

[00:11:07]Well, we are getting down to the last few stages of this repair.

[00:11:13]Been battling the rain all morning, but it's light. We're able to keep the moisture out of this project, so we're just going to push through it. I spent the last hour sanding and prepping for this next lamination.

[00:11:34]So, let me show you what we have left to do. I had built up right through here.

[00:11:39]There was a little bit of uh the deck was a little thin. So, I wanted to make sure there was enough structure there, which actually planed out nicely. If you look at this, this is the 1708 on top of our polyester honeycomb. That structural panel was the perfect thickness to put the 1708 and just have enough room for one more lamination before our last skin. Okay, we put throw a straight edge down here so you can see we've been keeping this substrate nice and even as we come across here, but we still need a little more buildup.

[00:12:20]But that's a good thing because I want to get one more layer of carbon down here. One more carbon fiber layer. And that's going to plane us out with the substrate on either side.

[00:12:34]I've been paying attention making sure that everything is planing out and it looks real good.

[00:12:44]So, let's get this lamination going.

[00:13:13]This should go down pretty quick.

[00:13:22]Thank you.

[00:13:56]This is laying down nicely.

[00:14:00]Just trying to gauge how much epoxy to put down. I don't want to get too much.

[00:14:04]I don't want any pooling. I just want a nice clean saturation.

[00:14:09]This last lamination here is to add a little more stiffness to the bridge deck. This is a a large span and it's nice just to have a little bit of a a stiffening beam. That's basically what we've uh built here. keep that from ever opening up again. I feel pretty confident that this is one of the strongest elements of this entire cockpit. out.

[00:14:53]Even though it looks nice out today, we are forecast to have a little bit more aggressive thunder shower activity. So, I'm going to bag this up. We'll pick up some supplies and uh get back here and uh button this up.

[00:15:30]Well, the plan for today is to button up the final laminations on our project.

[00:15:38]Earlier this morning, I was uh kind of going through and looking at our elevation from one side to the other.

[00:15:49]the two different core thicknesses uh was a bit challenging as I was stacking them up and they didn't quite plane out at the end. I could take a straight edge and set it on here and I could see that from this side planes out nicely. You could feel it. But this side's got a little bit of a a lip and it probably extends about six inches across here with the most depth right through here. So, what I'm going to do is lay down a couple layers of tape down. I'm going to do a two and a four and then overlay with a four. And I played around with that to get the exact thickness that'll plane out with this other substrate here.

[00:16:34]lens inside. Mixing up a little epoxy.

[00:16:36]Now I'll get these first little spacers in. This is nothing structural. I'm just trying to avoid filling this with fairing compound or thickened epoxy. And uh by just laying this tape down, it should do the job nicely.

[00:16:53]>> Another round of epoxy, guys. Three pumps start.

[00:16:58]>> Nice.

[00:17:21]Well, it has been a few hours.

[00:17:24]I've got my 1708 all laid out, all the gear I need, my sander, and vacuum.

[00:17:34]This is fired off enough.

[00:17:37]I could slightly sand it. I'm just want to knock this transition down a little bit so that 1708 just lays down over this nicely. I don't want it to kind of hump over this. So, we'll just spend a few minutes and uh just kind of feather this down.

[00:17:58]So much nicer. Okay, I'm just going to give it a little scrub over in case there's a little I mean blush. I don't think so. Everything feels nice. Looks good. Feels good. I think we're about set.

[00:18:15]And let's take a look how that filled that gap. Hey, much better. Yeah, I'm feeling comfortable with that now. Lens mixed me up a larger batch of epoxy. The 1708 is much more absorbent.

[00:18:33]So, we'll get this out, wet this down, and uh see how things go. We'll kind of gauge the quantity as we uh start saturating the material.

[00:19:17]I think we've done this too much.

[00:19:20]>> Uh, you think >> I don't even ask and she just takes a look at what's left to do and calculates out what I need and just keeps me uh busy.

[00:19:31]>> What can I say? I'm the epoxy queen.

[00:19:36]>> And that's a title to be proud of.

[00:19:38]I'm just kind of trying to make sure that no bubbles are forming underneath. I just take my little foam brush.

[00:19:47]>> I know. That was quite a bit of epoxy.

[00:19:49]>> Yeah. But look at this. It's I mean, it's laid down nice. This is all planed out as good as I'd hoped for.

[00:19:56]>> Let me guess. You're really happy with it.

[00:19:59]>> I I am happy with this. I am. See though, look at this little bubble right here. Here's what I'm talking about.

[00:20:04]This what I'm working out. Just a couple little light spots under here. Just forcing any air out. Let them saturate and >> and just watch it.

[00:20:15]>> Yep. Just kind of babysit it for a little bit. We're to a point where we just got to walk away. Let it do its thing. Everything's uh laid down fully saturated.

[00:20:26]And you can see that area where I put that slight rise in there telegraphing through color-wise. But besides that, everything's looking nice and uniform.

[00:20:39]Yeah, I'm liking this. We'll let this uh fire overnight and uh see where we stand in the morning. But yeah, looking good.

[00:20:49]Oh, okay. Well, I'd love to continue on this. I'm kind of in a groove and excited to finish. And it will finish in a couple days. We got to get out of here, though. Emma has a very important next couple of days, and we're going to make sure we're there for this milestone moment.

[00:21:18]I look into your eyes, I see we're out of time.

[00:21:25]I guess no one's to blame. Nobody crossed the line.

[00:21:32]I guess we couldn't see some we couldn't feel.

[00:21:40]Maybe we roll so fast. Maybe we got too high.

[00:21:45]>> I'm ready for prom.

[00:21:48]You look so pretty.

[00:21:51]>> I absolutely love it. But hey, >> nothing says prom like a nice wool sweater.

[00:22:00]>> I can pull it off. You'll be the envy of all.

[00:22:03]>> Oh, >> oh, you look beautiful.

[00:22:10]>> I wonder we were always going to last.

[00:22:20]Yeah, I do remember tears in the l.

[00:22:28]How could we fall so fast?

[00:22:34]>> Thanks for watching this week's episode of Onboard Lifestyle. A special thanks goes out to our amazing patrons whose generosity gives us the opportunity to create these videos. Join our crew if you can. With the bridge deck repair nearing completion, the crew will have to prioritize what project will be next.

[00:22:50]Oh, and by the way, my prom so much fun.

[00:22:54]Come back next week as life on basic continues. See you then.