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2donzi2
08-24-2009, 08:24 PM
Hey George,

Pictures of your boat are beautiful. My question is: I am working on another project I bought a few weeks ago. 1967 Triple Hatch that I have decided to do myself. The boat has been painted and I would like to put back to the original color. Boat appears to have been red/white. I've stripped the deck down and before they painted it they used some fillers on the deck. Just wondering if I should dig that out before I gel it. I also have a 72 18 being restored now and my glass guy removed all fillers, repaired stress cracks the right way and when needed fillers, used cabasil and gel. Would I be setting myself up for a poor job if I don't strip it like my other one? Building this boat to look like a nice driver. My 72 is being done more to show specs and i'm leaving my hornet in the original excellent condition. I wouldn't consider myself a novice, but i'm more into the drivetrains than the glass and paint work. Although i've been thru many restorations and know i'm capable, just would like to avoid any unnecessary mistakes. Thanks for any input you can give me.

MOP
08-24-2009, 08:38 PM
IMO if the filler is in good shape after what ever time frame it has been leave it alone, if you do the new stuff wrong and get shrinkage after you gel it you will be sick over it! Humid weather, a little off in the mix, hot waether all can give you a head ache!

2donzi2
08-24-2009, 08:41 PM
Hey Scott,

Been meaning to thank you and everyone else who gave my son lots of help before we purchased this boat. If you recall it was a honey color boat posted about a month ago. The hatch had been glassed all together which we will be separating and putting back to the way it should be. Lots of things we should've looked for just didn't click until the discussion started and again I thank everyone for their info. You can see where the holes for the original hinges were. We pulled the motor already, freshened it up and put it aside until ready to put back in. Just started stripping it now. Here are a few pictures of the engine.

gcarter
08-24-2009, 09:07 PM
Donzi didn't put a lot of glass in their decks. Many times where you see some filler, there's been damage from collisions w/docks etc. On the TR, where there was filler in places where the deck wasn't cored, I reinforced the bottom of the deck before grinding out the damaged mat. Then I filled the ground out areas w/polyester putty filled w/cut glass strands. The repair will be stronger than original. If there's any damage to the underlying glass under the filler, the cracks will print through the repair everytime. Think about it, the damaged underlying glass will flex because there's no strength in the repair.
You really gotta approach each repair individually and determine the cause of the repair and how it was fixed.
Ya sure don't want to see problems print through after you spend all that time gelling something.

2donzi2
08-25-2009, 08:48 PM
Well George, it appears the gel was down pretty thin and just old which is why I guess they painted the boat. I believe some of the filler was used to fill some of the light areas and where the gel was just old and worn to the glass. We got the deck stripped down completely tonight and did not see any major stress cracks in the glass. It appears some of what appeared to look like a stress crack was the filler used either cracked or shrunk. My question is if the deck looks good and free from major repairs will the gel bond with some of the spots where they spotted it with filler or should I remove the fillers down to the glass and re fill with mil fiber, cabasil and gel before I shoot the hole deck with gel?

gcarter
08-25-2009, 09:12 PM
You don't want body filler under gel. Instead of cabosil, which adds no strength, I like milled fiber added to polyester putty.
Use a good inline sander to get the surface nice and flat.
Good luck w/your project. It's so much fun in the summer.

2donzi2
08-25-2009, 09:18 PM
I was thinking that was the best way, but wanted to be reassured by a pro. Looks like tomorrow morning we will continue stripping all fillers to the gel or glass. Thanks for your input.

2donzi2
09-18-2009, 09:12 PM
George,

Have another question. The last couple of times I sprayed gel it seemed to kick off faster than I wanted. What type of mixture would you recommend to get maximum time out of the gel and what capacity gun or pot did you use. Did you spray the boat in sections? What size tip on the gun? 2.0 or 2.4mm? Any info would be appreciated.

gcarter
09-18-2009, 09:46 PM
This is very tricky.
Minicraft furnished me with a 5 or 6 page guide to the amount of MEKP to add to any amount of gel from 1 OZ to 1 qt. and factoring the temperature.
The best way to start is to get a infared temp gun. you can get them on eBay fairly cheaply. Then you average the surface, gel in the can, and ambient air temps, look on the chart, and add the appropriate amount of MEKP to the amount of gel you are using with a syringe. This will give you about 45 minutes of working time.
So you see, there's not a set answer.
I'll try to scan the guide tomorrow.
I used a 2.2 tip and about 24 OZ of gel in a bag. It probably covers 12-15 sq. ft.

gcarter
09-19-2009, 08:31 AM
Here's the gel catalyst mixing guide;
I use a 10 CC syringe to measure the MEKP. It's really hard to count that many drops.

gcarter
09-19-2009, 06:05 PM
George,

Did you spray the boat in sections?

I missed this one.
Yes, I sprayed in sections.
For instance, the sides;
I would mask off the rest of the hull and spray from the rail to the chine and from bow to stern.
I would figure approximately the number of square feet and pour enough uncatalized gel in quart cups to 24 OZ to do that section. When one bag was empty, I would spray some acetone through the gun, add another bag, catalize the gel in the next cup, add it to the new bag and keep spraying.