ford gpa g504

Well I thought I post a few pictures to give an idea where I am in the process. I am not personally doing the welding (I have hired someone) as it is beyond my skills.










It is a slow process and I do not expect to be finished with the hull for months. However, everything else is finished and it will turn into a big erector set!!

Thanks for everyones help,

Donovan.

Hello Donovan,

Thanks for sharing your photos. The repairs that are done look great :!:
I see your hull has allmost on the same places 'bad spots' as mine.
Yes it takes time, but doing it right pays off in the future.

Keep up the good work and be patient :D

Hi Stephen,

I recognise quality work when I see it.
What I have seen on your pictures is quality work in the highest degree.

Bravo !!!!

Luc

Yes, really a great job done. Halas, this guy is too far to be hired later by myself, that's a pity ... :cry:

Your GPA will be soon restored for a lifetime and more.

Everyone,

Thank you. The guy I am using is a true machinist and could probably recreate any part of a GPA if required. But he also knows not to make it pretty as some of my original welds are downright ugly!!

So I try and be patient and nudge him along and maybe the welding will be done by late summer!?! (fingers crossed).

Donovan.

Donovan (and others)

Nice Job!, keep up the good work!
It gives you a lot of troubles and it costs you a lot of money
but !!! , when she's ready I'm sure you will enjoy every minute
driving and sailing with her!

Bob

Donovan wrote:Well I thought I post a few pictures to give an idea where I am in the process. I am not personally doing the welding (I have hired someone) as it is beyond my skills.










It is a slow process and I do not expect to be finished with the hull for months. However, everything else is finished and it will turn into a big erector set!!

Thanks for everyones help,

Donovan.

This is the way to work on a hull ,a non primered metal,the one I am working on is primered and that is sometimes a pain in the .ss
Looks great btw .
Peter

Peter,

You are correct in that it is better to work on an unprimered hull than with it painted. However, once it is sandblasted it will start to rust and so you have to spray it with WD-40 or some other protectant to keep the rust at bay. I am still trying to figure out how to approach things.

For instance: Presently, the frame is not in the hull and the welder and I are concerned that we need to have it in place to get the final locations for the "through the hull" connections to the axles where we need to repair (especially in the rear of the hull). Given the flexibility of the hull and that there are so many individual pieces, I am very curious how they put this little monster together and made sure everything lined up!! It must have been interesting.

In addition, I am replacing some of the rub rail but not all of it and I am not sure how to remove the old rust inside the existing rub rail and protect the metal inside the rub rail on the GPA. How have other people approached this area?

Thanks,

Donovan.

You are doing a fantastic job with your hull, keep up the good work.
To stop the hull rusting after sand blasting you can buy a black primer that you can mig weld and spot weld through with out a problem.
This I feel is better than WD40 as you have to wash the WD of before painting.

To treat in side the original rub rails I sprayed mine with Tectyl 506 made by Valvoline. The Tectyl I dilluted with solvent and blasted it in side the rail with a kero wash down gun. 20 years on they are still in good order.

Hope this helps.
Best regards Richard Sanders

Donovan,

Yes its important to put a frame inside the hull to keep everything lined up... I was lucky that I had a several extra frames to use while my main one was being restored in parallel. As for lining up the holes.... the frame was put in and then the holes drilled. I had that NOS hull which did not even have the spring shackle holes drilled in it ever.

Cheers,
Tony