TOPIC: 1964 Johnson Deluxe Resto-Mod

Are you spraying or rolling the gel coat on Andrew?

MarkS wrote:

Are you spraying or rolling the gel coat on Andrew?

I used a small foam roller to press the gel coat into the cracks and imperfections.

I am impressed...
This hull is sorta a three point hydro / Hickman sled thing. Its going to be shockingly fast even in a foot chop I suspect. I bet it corners a bit flat like a tunnel/3pt hydro.

For future info... Instead of gelcoat for filling-building-sealing-priming use Clausons All-U-Need. Great stuff, sticks to any thing, sands fairly easy even though its tough and impermeable. My body guy neighbor used the heck out of it redoing the bad paint/clear coat of the 80ies-90ies, to seal over the old but tight paint.
Clausen

l98tpi wrote:

I am impressed...
This hull is sorta a three point hydro / Hickman sled thing. Its going to be shockingly fast even in a foot chop I suspect. I bet it corners a bit flat like a tunnel/3pt hydro.

For future info... Instead of gelcoat for filling-building-sealing-priming use Clausons All-U-Need. Great stuff, sticks to any thing, sands fairly easy even though its tough and impermeable. My body guy neighbor used the heck out of it redoing the bad paint/gel coat of the 80ies-90ies, to seal over the old but tight paint.
Clausen

The unusual look of the hull is what attracted me to the Deluxe. I wanted something different.
Thanks for the tip, I had never heard of that stuff.

More gel coat and sanding

Update: Top side is primered, next up is the BIG FLIP!

I slowly realized that this monster had to be flipped over. The bottom was in too bad shape to not do it... Plus I had to figure a way of doing it by myself.

That is going to be one sweet ride

She's coming along great!

Bob

Thanks so much for the compliments, she has a long way to go!

The bottom side needs a ton of work...

Time to sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand......






After sanding the crap out of the bottom, I started applying the gel-coat with a roller to fill in the 10,000 cracks and imperfections...

Excellent, she's coming along great!!!!!!!!!

Bob

Waterwings wrote:

Excellent, she's coming along great!!!!!!!!!

Bob

I'm so thankful I'm not cutting an fitting wood like you are!

Thanks for the kind words!

sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand......

agleason wrote:

sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand......

That could be a catchy tune. Kinda like the spam song from Monty Python. Now that that's stuck in your head time for more sanding.

Looking good!

Looking better with each sander pass.
I never worked with gel coat but did all my spiders with coats of high build primer, sands a lot easier.
The sand, sand, sand you boat, gently in the shed (tune of row your boat) keeps running through my head now......thanks.....NOT!
Cal

It's coming along great.

Shelby18 wrote:

agleason wrote:

sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand......

That could be a catchy tune. Kinda like the spam song from Monty Python. Now that that's stuck in your head time for more sanding.

Looking good!

Dude! I had that song in my head all night!!

63 Sabre wrote:

Looking better with each sander pass.
I never worked with gel coat but did all my spiders with coats of high build primer, sands a lot easier.
The sand, sand, sand you boat, gently in the shed (tune of row your boat) keeps running through my head now......thanks.....NOT!
Cal

It's coming along great.

Now I've "Sand sand sand the boat" in my head! UHGG

I love working with the gel coat, I can roll is on super thick, press it into the cracks, etc. I sets up and I'm sanding the next day.

The sanding continues...

After measuring about 20 times to be absolutely certain... I relocated the transom aperture about 4 inches because my 800 series stern drive is shorter than the 1964 stern drive...

Prime, prime, prime the boat...

I wish I had been following up this closer. I could have shared a technique that would have spared you 80% of the sanding and as a bonus ensured the gel cracks would not come back.

pray tell us....ron

Yes please!

Bob

I think the technique might involve a few gallons of gasoline and a match.

l98tpi wrote:

I wish I had been following up this closer. I could have shared a technique that would have spared you 80% of the sanding and as a bonus ensured the gel cracks would not come back.

Please tell me now, I still have some cracked engine covers to fix...

Ok, I didn't intend to come off sounding like a smart ass there.

What I have in mind for one of my projects is not something I came up with alone. Its a mashup of several techniques. This is for a hull where the glass is sound but the gelcoat is past it to the point spot repairs are not going going to cut it and the over all value of the project at the end does not justify a grind down and gelcoat spray.

Basically its like this:
>Pressure wash the bleep out of the hull to blast off all the loose bits and grime. The hull is going to need to dry for week or two, up the the point you seal it, because you don't want to trap water under the coatings to come later. Meanwhile...
>Go over the hull with a pointy object looking for any gelcoat that is loose and encourage its departure.
>Now sand the oxidation, paint, graphics and so on off, ending 80-120 grit finish. Bristle and poly mesh disks are great if you have paint and decals to strip. Be careful here to keep the surface fair, no sanding gouges, do not waste time 'sanding out' cracks gouges and other low spots. Fixing those comes later. You just want a clean, fair, but rough surface for the next part.
>Mix straight epoxy, thinning it a little is an option. Paint the hull with the epoxy using it as a sealer and filler of small cracks. Coloring the epoxy by adding white or black pigments is an option to help prevent the old color from affecting the top coat.
>With an epoxy filler (mix your own or ready to go) fill all the big cracks gouges holes and such left. Sand fair and repeat as needed. Try to fill soon (hours) after the sealing coat since epoxy (and everything else) sticks better to a not completely cured base.
>To ensure the repairs and cracks never telegraph through and give a slick base for the paint without more sand paint sand. Laminate on a layer of light 4-6 oz 'clear coating' glass with epoxy. While the resin is still tacky add coats or resin till the weave is filled. This stuff disappears in both texture and visually when the fine weave is filled with resin.
>Scuff the gloss off the epoxy and paint. You may or may not need to prime based on what your paint requires.

I suppose you could pigment the epoxy and call that good, saving painting for a refinish later. On bottoms that are epoxy coated it is common to use white titanium, graphite (slick), copper (anti fouling), powders in the epoxy.

You wind up with a really tough skin that if scratched can be fixed with a little sanding and touch of paint.

Yea... sometimes you just have to diplomatically say gas and a match is the best solution.

I will grant that laminating even a light and very flexible cloth over this complicated bottom wold be tough. Doable but maybe a wash as far as sand prime sand considering the condition of the finish.

Enough jacking this thread...
M

I took a similar approach, cleaned good, sanded with 120 grit, cleaned with acetone, mechanically applied 2 thick layers of polyester gel coat pressing into the cracks and imperfections. Sanded smooth and re-applied when necessary. Then 3 layers of polyester primer, wet sanded with 400, base coat/clear coat finish.

Your boat may not have been cracked up enough to make this approach worthwhile. It mostly is insurance against old cracks coming back and avoiding much of the finish sanding.

My boat has godawful thick gel coat in places. Like corners and details and its too thin in the center of the panels. So the trouble is its cracked mostly in the thick places, and loosing chunks and trying to 'grind out' those places will wreak havoc with inside and outside corners, steps and other details.

The boat is looking good BTW

Update: After DAYS of wet sanding the primer I finally said ENOUGH, and painted the bottom of the Deluxe. I used base coat, clear coat Lexus white from TPC Global...

Most excellent! Can't wait to keep following your progress.

63 Sabre wrote:

Most excellent! Can't wait to keep following your progress.

Thanks for the compliments! You can get up to date posts by clicking the OMC link in my signature...

WOW! looking at the other OMC links this baby is a dream. Love the dashboard and other accessories. Now you're making me drool. My very first project 28 years ago was a 60's Evinrude trihull with the Buick V6 and 800 stringer. When I bought it at auction it was called Evirudes answer to "cab over" That phrase will tell you what era I was in (referring to the "new" style vans. Glad you highlighted the links.
Thanks for sharing your progress.
Cal

63 Sabre wrote:

WOW! looking at the other OMC links this baby is a dream. Love the dashboard and other accessories. Now you're making me drool. My very first project 28 years ago was a 60's Evinrude trihull with the Buick V6 and 800 stringer. When I bought it at auction it was called Evirudes answer to "cab over" That phrase will tell you what era I was in (referring to the "new" style vans. Glad you highlighted the links.
Thanks for sharing your progress.
Cal

You must have had a "Front Runner"

Before and after's...

I'd say your method worked pretty darn well Andrew, nice results!

Wow dude, that's crazy! That's going to be a sweet ride when its completed.

Thanks you so much for the compliments! I can't begin to tell you how much sanding was involved.

Now I have to flip this monster back over without ruining it...

Well done Andrew!!! You're cranking right along. Better than me at this point. Too many life things jumping in my way! LOL

Bob