Saturday, March 5 2004 After a month and a half of sanding, lay-ups, and the occasional gelcoat, this Saturday we popped the top female mold. It all started with a game; find the 3 score screws we used to attach the flange to the mold. We almost won; a lone screw however thwarted our victory. Next was the massive effort of moving the mold from the back room out to the front. One truck ride (thanks to Kirk from Formula) and a Herculean effort later, we had the mold inside the front room and were stringing it up (see pictures below), preparing for popping process. Historically, separating the two molds has taken the better part of two hours, a lot of jumping on the mold, and cursing all around. This year, thanks to a new waxing system (with easy to follow directions: Step 1. Sand, Step 2. Step 1, Step 3. Step 3, Step 4. Step 8) the popping process to the better part of two minutes. After taking the now much lighter female mold out for a bath (see pictures below) we commenced with the soapy wet sanding. Fun and numb hands were had by all who partook. After taking most of the mold down to 600 grit, we applied some gelcoat to a problem area in the rear and left her to dry overnight. The bottom male is also coming along nicely. This forgotten child of SMV was taken down to 600 grit (except for a trouble spot on the back) and steps 2 and 3 (or 1 and 3 depending on how you count) of the waxing process were completed (see picture below). This leaves step 4 (or 8) and the application of the parting wax and PVA mold release left in the waxing process. After attaching the flange we will be ready to spray the first layer of gelcoat on the bottom, thus commencing with the creation of the female bottom mold. Screwing the eye-bolts into the bottom of the top male mold Stringing up the mold on 4x4s The female right after being popped The male after being released from the females Mike washing the female Isn't she beautiful? Chris waxing the bottom male Features | Next Contact Cal SMV © 2004 - Berkeley, CA Contact Webmaster