Guys, guys... I figured out a better solution!..... Don't sink! Seriously though, I will add this to my to-do list, thanks for the feedback.
Here are some pictures from the September SCRAP battle. Invincible also participated in two sorties in October. Total sorties to date for 2018 is now 26. Although I won't make the November battle I'm hoping to make the December one. All systems are still running strong and no further mechanical discrepancies have occurred. However, I did notice that the rear deck developed some longitudinal cracks that appeared to originate within the wooden deck and come to the surface of the resin. Perhaps this is due to poor quality fiberglass resin? Or insufficient coverage? I used two coats of the Bondo brand fiberglass resin. The crack in this part of the deck is the dark line just to the right of the knurled nut. On the aft deck which had the most cracking I sanded down the existing resin and re-resined it. Hopefully that will keep it at bay.
Well after 28 sorties and 530 holes I decided to re-sheet Invincible as well as do a thorough inspection of her structures and systems. I found what looks like additional surface resin failures along the weather deck. I also found that the wood that the gear boxes are mounted to has had multiple failures in its resin coating (warping/bubbles/cracking). I took a flat head screw driver and tried to get rid of as much of the flaking resin as possible and then sanded it down. No more Bondo brand resin for me. Finally on board with the West Systems. So for now any place that appeared to have a surface failure has been sanded down and coated with West Systems. Sometime in the future I may need to sand the whole deck and apply West Systems for a more uniform look and to prevent further spot failures. Towards the end of the season I felt like my guns were shooting a little too hard. I also had read that the BC regulators might start letting more than 150 psi through if the seals aren't replaced. BC also recommends that the seals be replaced every year anyway so I went ahead and did that. The pet screen internal armour did wonderful and I found no signs of penetration. However, because I only E6000'd the screen to the rib backing it has come off in several places. So I've placed a small brass screw through the screen into every other rib backer to keep the incoming bb's from pushing it too far inward. The last sortie that Invincible participated in I lost a prop despite the shaft being flatted. However, I think the props might not have gotten any thread lock. So a new pair of BC props are standing by and will get thread locked once the new paint is applied. I also 3D printed some new drag props for the dummy shafts. So far I've got the base coat of grey applied and once I re-check the waterline I'll get the bottom paint and waterline back on. Once all that's done it will be onto systems testing in preparation for the February SCRAP battle. (USS Phoenix operated splendidly in the January battle).
Sometimes I wonder why I bother putting in a lot of prep work but then I'm reminded when I pull off all the tape... Sure she'll only look this way for a total of about 10 seconds once battle is called but she's going to look awfully pretty while trading broadsides. I would probably cry though if I got rammed the first sortie out after a re-sheet. Just need to put the waterline on now. Also got the props (real and dummy ones) on and the motors re-installed. Did some quick systems test and the motors still turn, rudder servo is solid, and the pump doesn't hesitate one bit. Once I get the waterline on I'll hook up some Co2 and check for leaks and run some bbs through each of the guns.
