Just a thought here
It appears those vertical rod holders / cap supports are going to be real "Toe Catchers" and also block water washdown flow.
They don't need to tab too the deck. I would reconfigure them :eek:

BTW: Great Job!

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...isplay.php?f=3

Here ya go, notice there are some other sections with good info and advice, including the gathering section!! Your boat is looking real nice, you are really on your way to a sweet ride. Good luck!

Thanks Don! It's gonna be so much sweeter once I get that hermco bracket hanging on the stern!

I would love to spray it but have had nothing but frustration the last couple times I sprayed gelcoat. I would have to do some sort of primer to ensure I don't get pinholes and sand that anyway. So just figure I will try rolling and sanding. I've gotten pretty good at sanding anyway....it's my favorite thing ever! ;)

The boxes on the sides are for support and one side is for my fuel fill and vent. I wish I didn't need them but I do. I'm sure my toes are gonna hate me for it at some point. Drunk friends at the sandbar are gonna hate it even more!

This is what you need to spray the gel, no thinning needed. Still will require sanding but not as much as rolling. You can thin it and spray threw a gun with a big tip and get good results but it can be tricky. The gel gun works well and don't take much training to use it. Best thing is it cleans up in seconds, you just throw the cup away and clean the tip orifice and you done.
Attachment 10349

So how do you deal with the pinholes? Prime it first?

If you are using poly-ester gel then you are better off just fairing it out with a poly type of fairing compound first. It will take care of the pin holes and also the ruff spots or low spots. Spraying a thick coat of high build poly base primer like dura tech will be better prior than just spraying straight gel on the bottom. Block the high build primer down between coats and get it close as possible then spray the gel as even a possible on top of that. Once the gel sprayed it will have to be blocked down and buffed out to a shine. If you don't get it true before you apply it you will sand threw the gel on high spots and have to re-coat it. Rolling it will make for a lot more sanding. You also don't want to fill the low spots with gel due to if the gel gets to thick it will crack. To thin is also a problem. Gel needs to maintain a cetin thickness to hold up. Dura tech also has gel additives that will help against water intrusion. That is the problem with the poly gel, it is porous and will over time suck water in. A good epoxy barrier coat will prevent this but then you can Not coat poly over epoxy or it will not stick well. You can do epoxy over poly but never poly over epoxy. They make vinyl-ester gel coat that will provide you better water protection than the standard poly. This will prevent blister in the long haul at a little more cost. You can even install the ve gel over an epoxy barrier coating for better protection. I usually only gel coat molded parts due to the high labor evolved in buffing out the sprayed / rolled on gel coats. You will sand either way but no buffing if you use a 2 part urethane over epoxy.

This is what I usually do:
I use 2000e interlux epoxy primer most of the time as a base primer. It is a high build, high solids 2 part epoxy that goes on thick. I spray several coats until I get the required thickness which is about the same as the thickness of a dime. I use epoxy water tight 2 part filler (fair compound) on the low spots of scratched and gouges over the first coat of 2000e to take care of the big stuff. Once the bad spots are took care of on top of the first coat of primer then I do several more coats and block it down between those coats to get it even straighter and truer. I try to buy two different colors of the high build primer (white & grey) so that you can alternate them between coats so that once sanded the high spots show better plus you can see you coverage better on recoats as you spray over the last. Once it is close I use interlux epoxy 2 part primekote or awlgrip 545 primer over that as a final primer seal coat. The 2000e is a barrier coat and seals up the old glass and prevents water intrusion. The primekote or 545 is a final pre-paint primer that goes down prior to spraying the final product. After this I use awlgrip or interlux perfection as a top coat. Three coats with light wet sanding in between them. The final coat I don't touch. If you use awlcraft instead of awlgrip then you can wet sand and buff plus touch up in the future.

Either way will yield good results, but you will get better protection with the ve / epoxy products over standard poly gel. I would at a minimum use a dura tech additive or step up to a vinyl ester gel if you are set on spraying / rolling on gel coat. Talk to Dave (blueheron) he had a good result on his 25 seafari doing the bottom of his boat in gel coat. I think he thinned and sprayed it from a paint gun with a large tip. He did not have much sanding or buffing doing this way as you would using the other methods above. You got to have everything super fair tho going this route just like using paint cause you wont have the extra thickness to sand down into afterwards as you would with spraying with the cup gun or rolling the gel. Maybe he can give you some tips if you want to try to thin the gel and spray in like paint.

What ever you do just be prepared for many hours of sanding and buffing to get the gel to look good as it dose out of a factor mold. Main thing- get it close before you apply anything. The prep work is what makes a final coat look good. There are many ways to skin a cat, and positives & negatives of both. Also make sure you under coats are compatible with the top coats, don't mix polyester over Epoxy. Some ways are more forgiving than others and can be repaired better than others. That's one good thing about gel coat, it is repairable better than some paint top coats but you don't get the water protection of the epoxy products. Like said before there are more than one way to do it, just make sure you prep / fair it well and apply it correctly whatever way that you pick to do it. I would do what you are most comfortable doing.

Although you'll still have to do the fairing and block sanding that Frizz describes, why even spend all that time and effort on gel coat, which is porous, will quickly oxidize anyway and require frequent maintenance?! I'd use Signature Finish paint, which doesn't require any primer and will work fine below the waterline, unlike most other urethane paints like Awlgrip or Awlcraft. It's intended for DIY use, is easy to roll & tip and repair, and can be buffed to eliminate any orange peel. I used it on my bottom painting project 5 years ago and it's still holding up great. Island Trader used something called Insignia which is also supposed to be good for below the water line and is probably better if you want to spray it. I read the All At Sea article on the new paint forum member Shine is selling at a good discount, and it also sounds good, although I don't know if it will hold up underwater. All the paints are probably a bit more expensive than gel coat, but if you count your time and labor as worth anything, I think any of the paints would be far superior, longer lasting and less maintenance than gel coat!

Wish you had sent that message earlier! My main concern with paint was leaving it in the water for a week or so. That's why i went with gelcoat. I already rolled the gelcoat on and got the whole boat sanded down with 80 grit. It's coming out nice but I did burn through in a couple spots on the transom that i thought i faired good enough. Figured 5 coats would be enough. Nothing more gelcoat won't fix. I'll post a couple pics when I get a chance.

I used interlux vc performance epoxy on my boats bottom. Turned out great and can be applied over gel coat. Doesnt stain at all.

You could still put paint over the gel coat. It would probably have still have needed some fairing anyway before paint, and the gel coat is good for that. I believe Tom recommends sanding with something like 280 grit before the first coat. Then you just scuff it with the red 3M pads between coats.

I will be buffing out the gelcoat for now. The old gelcoat was in pretty darn good shape and it was 45 yrs old! I will be painting the interior of the boat so this may be the way to go. Do you know how it sprays and is it cheaper than awlgrip?

My gelcoat is 43 yrs old and it's still in pretty good shape too. If you're gonna stay with gelcoat, I'd forget about the buffing and just put Polyglo on it! It's much easier than compounding/buffing/waxing and way more durable as well. I think a kit is about $65, or maybe less if you find it at a boat show.

I thought you were gonna re-gelcoat the whole boat, but maybe that was just for the bottom and transom repair, so gel coat makes sense if that's the case. I haven't tried to spray Signature paint. Island Trader looked into it and if I remember correctly, the guy who painted his boat wasn't comfortable with the support he got from Tom for spraying it. It seems to be primarily made for roll & tip DIY applications and I think that's ok for the interior, as the finish there isn't as critical there as it is on the outer hull IMHO. I repainted my aft seats and inside of transom with it using a roller about a year ago, and frankly did a lousy job because I didn't apply it thick enough as I was trying to stretch some leftover paint! Pic below shows how it turned out . . . it's got some orange peel in it and I never did buff it, but it still looks better than it did before! It's tough paint and makes for an easily cleaned surface.

Regarding cost relative to Awlgrip, it's probably cheaper just because you don't have to buy all the special primers and stuff required for Awlgrip. Checked my records and I spent $280 for enough to paint my entire bottom with 3 coats including bootstripe. This included both the green and ivory paints custom mixed (Tom can mix up any color you want!) to match my Sunbrella top and original gel coat, as well as thinner, catalyst, foam brushes, rollers, 3M scuff pads, measuring cups and stir sticks. The last paint I bought was $280 for enough of the ivory to do my interior and top deck above the rubrail. Tom Fabula really knows his stuff and if you just tell him what you're doing, he'll provide everything you need. He also sells a special textured plastic roller you can use to create a non-skid surface. I haven't tried that yet but Capt. Chuck has used it with good results, so you could PM him to ask about that.

Since you're just painting the inside and not below the waterline, the new paint Joel is selling might be another option, as it sounds like he might make you a good deal on it.

Ok so who is Joel and how do I get a hold of him?

I really appreciate all the detailed advice! I ended up rolling poly gel and have started the sanding process. Burned through a couple spots on the transom repairs. Thought I had it faired good enough but guess I didnt. Nothing more gelcoat won't fix. I rolled 4 layers non waxed and the final layer waxed. Sanded the bulk off the orange peel with 40 grit hand sanded all the edges with 60 grit, and am in the middle of sanding with 80 now. The plan is 40g 80g 120g 180g 240g 400g 800g heavy duty compound and then some polishing. That first round with 40 was a bear but now it's going much easier.

Most of the spots in the pics are due to my broken camera lens but you can make out the couple spots where I sanded through on the transom.

Oh and finally figured out the engine! Test drove it compression looked good and got a great deal so hope it works out!

Joel Shine (Forum Member Shine, moderator of the GulfStreamComposites forum). Haven't you read his thread on the paint? Sure would be more durable and much less work than all that sanding and buffing you're planning to do on the gelcoat, which will be oxidized and need waxing again in 6 months!

Well done sanding and buffing and am very happy with the results! I put 1 coat of wax on and was thinking about putting another coat on. I'm not sure if it's necessary or how long to wait to let the first coat harden up. Any recommendations?

Couple pics after first coat of wax.

Looks good, plan on doing the same thing, will be mixing with duratec and shooting tho, my brother is redoing a small whaler right now and he tried shooting gel with a dump gun but had tons of orange peel, was sanded down and reshot with duratec and gel and boy does it lay down, sanding time was cut at least by half if not more, duratec will make lay down

I tried duratec before and didn't prime the boat first. Ended up with tons of little pinholes. I guess if you a good prime coat on it would help with the pinholes. I will try it again on the next project.

Anyone have any tips where to start with a prop for the 200hpdi???

Mercury Mirage Plus 19p. I'm running an old carb'ed Yamaha 200 on my 1975 20' sf. Right at 400 lbs it does great on my boat. I can only get 5200-5300 rpm out of it at wide open but I think its mounted a little low.

I'm gonna try the yamaha reliance 19 sds. A guy with a 200 4 stroke is using it and he said he's very happy with it.

Better compare the gear ratios of your motor and his! Just because the HP is the same doesn't mean they'll want to turn the same rpm or same prop!

Will do. I'm gonna stop by my local yamaha guy and see if he will work with me to make sure I get the right prop.

Got the interior faired and primed. Ended up sanding through in quite a few places. I would like to paint over it but thinking its gonna need another coat. It looks pretty darn good and I would like to avoid spraying more primer but I will I'd it's necessary. I've done some research and have seen some info saying to sand with 320. The awlgrip guide says 220???

I like to do my final sand with 320 and even 500 sometimes prior to paint. 220 just leaves to much scratches. It works well for knocking down thick high build but I would shoot one more coat and lightly sand with 320 to keep from breaking threw. If you paint over that it will take may coats to hide the white spots. Grey and white are good to alternate as you can see where you do sand threw and makes it easier to see where you applied it at when coating but it will bleed threw if you paint on it like it is in the final picture. The base color makes a big difference in the look of the final coat. Also I like to prime with a high build primer or a base primer. Your last coat should be done with a sealing primer or final primer prior to paint. Big difference in the two types of primer. The final pre paint primer will not sand well but you shouldn't need much sanding on it. I usually wet sand the last coat of sealing primer. Make sure you don't break threw down to the base primer or you will need a recoat. You can paint over what you got here but for the best finish add a few coats of final prep primer prior to your paint work. This is how I do it any way, others may have different ideas.

Thanks for the advice! Finally got her painted and the nonskid down. Awlgrip with rhino hide additive for the nonskid came out great! Also dropped the boat off last night with Don at Hermco. Really glad I decided to go with one of his brackets cause they are nice! Ended up going with the 24" setback.

looking great!

Well got her in the water and couldn't be more pleased! Top speed 52mph at 5600rpm. Could use a bigger prop fir more speed but its perfect for how I load the boat. The motor is mounted three holes down which seems to be the best performance. Slight porpoising when the motor is trimmed up at lower speeds. Tabs or trimming the motor down stops the porpoising. Couldn't be happier with the overall finished product. Thanks to all for all the help and special thanks to Deny for all the technical insight!

Boat porn!

Pics

More Pics

And more pics!

Last pics for now!

That's a great looking restoration! The last pic is pretty sweet too.
It's hard to tell in the chop but it looks like the stern rides nice and high with the 200 on the back, maybe it's a Hermco thing! Please post motor model and performance when you have it dialed in.

It's a 2004 hpdi 200hp. So far I've seen 52mph at 5600rpm and still had a little more to go. Rpm range should top out at 5500 so didn't want to push it any further. Don't know the fuel burn yet as I do not have a flow meter so gonna have to wait for a trip to get some accurate numbers. Hoping for 2.5-3mpg average! I'll post as soon as I have the numbers.