Latest Pictures, Trailer Pickup

I have had several requests for up-to-date pictures of the boats. Next week we will be on the water learning basic kayaking skills.

No students today- NRHS Career Day and Spring Fling are happening at the High School right now. I am in the down town classroom planning our trips and preparing to pick up a boat trailer, life jackets, and paddles at Camp Mayhew around 1:00pm.

Todays Progress

Today we made the seats for the kayak. We made the seats out of neoprene foam. We are now working on the straps that will hold the hatch down.

Customizing and Cutting

Today we are making custom designs and cutting a hatch for the boat it looks really cool...

Sanding Fun Fun!!!!!!! NOT

Well today we went outside and it was cold and we sanded the top of the boat so it is smooth. We can pant it or if you want, put on more epoxy. We are going to put the epoxy on so you see the wood color. Do your own paint the way you like it.

Personal Project

Assignment: Choose a project to work on during Challenge class and at home. The project must be finished on or before it is due: the last day before finals week. This is for part of the final grade in Challenge Class.

Guidelines:

-You may work in groups

-You must fund it; on your own, or with “fund raising”

-You must be able to work on it during Challenge Class

-It must be legal (obviously)

-You are responsible to find the equipment needed

Requirements:

To get a passing grade, you must:

• Type a proposal for what you will do onto the Challenge Blog

• Choose a project that is challenging for you.

• Show effective problem solving skills

• Show effective group/people skills

• Present what you have done, and what you learned in some way to the instructor and the class

Some Suggestions:

- Put on a community breakfast with food from Shop n’ Save; challenge yourself to get more than 15 people to attend

- Build a bike

- Build something simple with wood

- Make your own blog

- Design a skate board logo, deck, or sticker

- Design a Alt Wheels sticker and get it made

- Make a Challenge Class ’08 yearbook

The Search for the Right Paint Goes On

It is down to the wire for the boat building; this next week it will be time for boat using.

We need a final protective coating for the boats, something that will protect against UV from the sun and give it a nice finished look.

I have been researching types of paint outside of class.


We need something that:

• will stick to epoxy
• is environmentally friendly
• will protect the boat
• will not flake off when stressed
  
• is as cheap as we can get

Oil based house primer paint- Cheap, but has many volatile chemicals during painting and drying. The jury is still out on how it effects the environment when dry. some states have banned the sale of oil-based paints in gallon sized containers and up because of environmental problems.

Acrylic latex porch and floor paint- still cheap, less volatile chemicals, may not stick as well to epoxy, may not be a durable.

I think we should test the latex paint, that way we can paint it on with out having to use a respirator mask. It will impact the environment less as well.

What does everyone else think?

Go Get Some Fiber

WE had to cover the kayaks with fiber glass tape. The way we did it is we put epoxy on the bottom and then put the fiber glass tape over the epoxy and then put epoxy over the fiber glass tape. The way we spread it on the kayak is we used a brush. Thats what we used yesterday.