After months of hard work we finally poured the ballast! This marks a major turning point in the whole project because we can now move on to building our frames! We poured on the 23rd, and we have to let it sit for at least two weeks before we can stand it back up right. We have started the process for building our frames which we were really hoping to knock out while we waited for the keel to cure. Unfortunately the wood for the frames wont be ready for at least 3 or 4 more days so we will be delayed a bit. No big deal though, whats another few days I suppose… Anyway back to the subject at hand! The ballast pour went fine as frogs hair. We had some friends show up just in time, and they were a huge help. We hired a local cement company to bring a truck up which was totally worth it. It was inexpensive, on time, and the driver was really laid back. If anyone in the columbia river gorge needs some cement poured I recommend rapid ready mix in Bingen WA. We ended up with just the right amount of scrap iron, and the whole process took less than two hours!

 Bolts driven through. Me and DJ building the ballast mold.

 All the scrap iron about to be treated with ospho.

 Coating the rebar, and dry fitting scrap before the pour.

Here it comes!

Final touches.

  A bit of a tight fit!

 He poured a little out at first to check the consistency. We added a bit more water…

 All scrap, and second layer of rebar in.

 Smoothin things up.

 Pretty stoked!

 For hydrodynamics…

 That is a damn stout keel!