1980 S&S Restoration and Modernization

[waterlogged882]

Nice progress.

I am looking forward to seeing you put the stringers in and putting it back together.

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[WhiskeyTango]

Thanks for the kind words, Chuck. I’m learning a lot here.

Today we sprayed the blue. Mrs WT mixed and I sprayed. 3+ hours not including masking and prep time, and about 3 gallons of mixed material applied. Curing now.

(Great to have help this week between the boss and my oldest daughter home from college.)

I decided that part of my previous problem with pin holes was that my gel may have been a little cool, and the first coat was applied too thin. So I got the shop toasty and applied very fat coats. Less holes to deal with this time, but a few sags and runs. They’ll sand right out so probably a good trade.

Side note: Basically gelcoat is sprayable resin, i.e. glue., so it’s nasty to spray. Shoes get sticky enough you could walk right out of them. I threw away the tyvek suit at the end. I literally could have stuck it to the ceiling. I kept having to clean my eyes because they would start to stick when I blinked. Gross.

[waterlogged882]

The flake stripe is on the hull. Laying this out was more art than science. Measurements from before deconstruction indicated it was of variable widths and not symmetrical between the sides. So we eyeballed it then checked and adjusted to get it relatively even between the sides.

I finally got the timing right on removing the masking and had little clean up to do on the edges.

Ready for blue.

Love it. I think you have it nailed down. That's all I can say...speechless at the extent that you have kept it in house. This rebuild has been a lot of work. Holy smoke.

Thanks again for taking the time to document and share.

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[WhiskeyTango]

The flake stripe is on the hull. Laying this out was more art than science. Measurements from before deconstruction indicated it was of variable widths and not symmetrical between the sides. So we eyeballed it then checked and adjusted to get it relatively even between the sides.

I finally got the timing right on removing the masking and had little clean up to do on the edges.

Ready for blue.

[Ironhorse]

Awesome!! This is one of my favorite threads. Thanks for the update and pics

[WhiskeyTango]

Not exactly boat progress, but I needed a slip for the 1980, and my dock partner has a new boat on order, so we’ll be moving stuff around to better use our space and get the boats in the right slips / lifts.

Step 1 was getting two jet ski ports out to make some room.

Nice day for it once the rain stopped.

[RDahler]

[QUOTE=WhiskeyTango;n2696439]Hope everyone had a great Christmas. It’s been a crazy month of work travel, a ski trip, holidays and covid (cold-like; no big deal… luckily).

The deck is mostly done; just have a bit of follow up polishing to do.

Got the gray base color for the stripe on the hull yesterday and got it sanded tonight. Hope to get some flake and clear on this at the end of the week.

Looks like you got Gel figured out Looks Great.

[waterlogged882]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. It’s been a crazy month of work travel, a ski trip, holidays and covid (cold-like; no big deal… luckily).

The deck is mostly done; just have a bit of follow up polishing to do.

Got the gray base color for the stripe on the hull yesterday and got it sanded tonight. Hope to get some flake and clear on this at the end of the week.

Looks better all the time.

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[osmonet]

Glad you're feeling better, and boat Looks amazing!

[WhiskeyTango]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. It’s been a crazy month of work travel, a ski trip, holidays and covid (cold-like; no big deal… luckily).

The deck is mostly done; just have a bit of follow up polishing to do.

Got the gray base color for the stripe on the hull yesterday and got it sanded tonight. Hope to get some flake and clear on this at the end of the week.

[WhiskeyTango]

Thin areas were sanded, taped and back taped (rolled tape to soften the edge from a hard tape line for easier blending). Sprayed it last night and tonight I unmasked it and did the first sanding to let it continue to off-gas and cure. Supposedly if you polish it too soon, not all the gases from curing have been released, so it needs to sit another 24 hours before fine grits and polish.

I am looking forward to moving on to the hull (hopefully soon) and redoing the doghouse now that I’ve improved my skills a bit.

[waterlogged882]

Well, this was hard to do. By backlighting and close inspection, I found the thin spots and am starting to prep for repair. Hope this works.

Key lesson: double up gel on all the edges, and don’t cob up the sanding so bad you have to do it twice.

Doesn't surprise me. I have seen thin places from time to time. The sides of the hull rarely have this issue because the sides are stuffed with Balsa wood.

Here is a keel area looking from the inside outward toward light. I put in two layers of cloth on this before I covered it back with flooring.

.

[WhiskeyTango]

Well, this was hard to do. By backlighting and close inspection, I found the thin spots and am starting to prep for repair. Hope this works.

Key lesson: double up gel on all the edges, and don’t cob up the sanding so bad you have to do it twice.

[barefoot]

I wish I had those skills...Super impressive project!

[Ironhorse]

Milestones make a project. Its looking great. Get through this stage and you'll fire back up when you get to move on... and put sanding in your rear view.

The boats going to look amazing! Love this thread.

My thoughts exactly. I hate sanding and you're obviously into the most labor intensive part of the build. It looks amazing! Great work.