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Ryan23
08-03-2006, 12:00 PM
Hey guys! I'm in the process of restoring my 75' Spitfire. I found out my boat had been painted sometime during the first 5 years of it's life. Curiosity got the better of me and I started stripping this hideous paint scheme off. Lo' and behold, I found the original gel with not one but two stipes. The gel seems to be in really good shape with only a few spots that need to be touched up. Obviously I still need to get busy with the wet sanding.

The stripes themselves have a bit of a jagged edge, almost like someone got a little carried away with the sander prior to it's previous paintjob. I figure I can tape those off and straighten them out with some Interlux "Brightside" marine paint.

The upper stripe tapers toward the bow while the lower one does not. The lower one has about a 3/4" gap from the chine which appears to be in line with the "classic" boot stripe. The upper stipe is also a bit thinner than the lower. Do you think the upper is a "factory" stripe? It would appear to me that it is. While the stripper (Interlux 299) managed to eat all the old paint, it didn't faze these stripes at all. I'm guesing they are gel'd. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Ryan


http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scoobywrx/donzi/new3.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scoobywrx/donzi/new4.jpg

RickSE
08-03-2006, 12:39 PM
If you can't feel an edge between the red & white then it's in the gel and original. Looks like they Probably stopped the upper stripe where the DONZI decals woul have been??

Looks good, Cool boat.

Ryan23
08-03-2006, 02:06 PM
looking good ryan
damn the boat is red to boot too
damn now I am feeling really bummed :rolleyes:
there are so few of those boats who knows what should be standard
i would bet the stripes are gel if they are original

The pics are a tad deceiving, it's actually a REALLY BRIGHT orange. :)

Ryan

olredalert
08-04-2006, 09:43 AM
Ryan,,,
------That was actually the original color of my El Pescador. What a difference a bit of sweat-equity makes. The boat looks 100% better than the custom paint.
------RickSE is a bit off on the gel-coat stripes. If the stripes were put on in the mold you wouldnt be able to feel an edge, but back in this era the stripes were gel-sprayed on after the hulls were popped from the mold. Because of the application method you can definetly feel an edge.
------With all that said, the upper stripe is very unusual and was probably requested by the original owner. It stops just in time for the DONZI logo and flags. Should look very cQQl when you get it buffed and detailed........Bill S

Ryan23
08-04-2006, 07:17 PM
Ryan,,,
------That was actually the original color of my El Pescador. What a difference a bit of sweat-equity makes. The boat looks 100% better than the custom paint.
------RickSE is a bit off on the gel-coat stripes. If the stripes were put on in the mold you wouldnt be able to feel an edge, but back in this era the stripes were gel-sprayed on after the hulls were popped from the mold. Because of the application method you can definetly feel an edge.
------With all that said, the upper stripe is very unusual and was probably requested by the original owner. It stops just in time for the DONZI logo and flags. Should look very cQQl when you get it buffed and detailed........Bill S

Yeah, you can feel an edge on both stripes. After spending some more "quality time" with the boat today, I'm pretty confident they were applied at the same time. Given the location, etc, I'm pretty certain they were factory. I wonder if it's an oddity to my boat or if any others have the upper stripe too.

Anyways, finished sanding/compunding/waxing the starboard side today. Overall I'm pretty pleased with it. I'll probably go back and do a little bit more wetsanding up by the bow before I'm "done". I started on the port side this afternoon, I'm about halfway done with the stripping process. So far, so good. If anything, I haven't found any thin gel spots yet.

Here's a couple of pics of the starboard side. She's starting to looking classy again!

Ryan


http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scoobywrx/donzi/new5.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scoobywrx/donzi/new6.jpg