Tsunami floor restore

[floorboy]

Yeah ok it's a 79' But Tsunami is a cooler name than Sceptre.

I am looking to restore the floor in my.....sceptre. When I bought it last year there was carpet glued in it (poorly done)
I pulled the carpet last summer hoping the glue would wear off, but it didn't. I can get the glue off no problem but I am left with a less than perfect floor yet.
What I would like to do is regelcoat it. Is this stupid, or should i paint it? To be honest the painting idea doesnt turn me on for some reason, I know you guys do it all the time. Just...I don't know, I would rather regel it if its not too big of a deal. Is this dumb? Can I get gelcoat to match (close)? The boat has always been stored inside, but I am sure ther is some fading in it. Even at that, I want to do the while floor so that makes very little difference.
There are a couple of repairs to do first.

1. Some corn nut drilled a hole under the seat on the stbd side. Thinking of just putting a little foam in under it and getting it set in place then injecting some cabosil? in around the edges. Then grinding it down and glassing over it?? What do I need for mat?



This is through the stringer. Do I dare try to get away with this or do I need to chop the floor out to patch it??


Hatch covers before adhesive removal



after





They look pretty good in pictures but up close there are a few defects I would like to fix.

I also plan on pulling the tank as long as I am at it. Chipmunks ran through it before I bought it and there is a never ending supply of foam pieces and nut shells floating around in the bilge.



Welcome to 1979.



The foam is dry, tank is good. What is the easiest way to get the foam out from around the tank? Long sawzall? I can only get dug down about 1/3 of the way to the bottom. The main reason I want the tank out is so I can get under the motor to do some bilge work...pumps ect.

Thanks

[htillman]

I redid my floor last year and went the Signature Finish route. First I took the white paint along with a hatch to a local Sherwin Williams and had them match it - took a little work but you cannot tell the difference. I applied a coat the the floor and then taped the floor to maintain the original texture - time consuming. Mixed the anti-skid supplied by Tom at SF and painted the deck per his instructions. Came out very nice and you cannot tell I redid it, I also painted the non-skid on the cap.
I have never used gelcoat so I cannot compare but I really like working with Signature Finish.

[bigeasy1]

Rod, I don't think you'd have to dig out the floor for that hole.Doing what you mentioned is fine.
As for the deck floor,here's my opinion for what it's worth."Paint it".
I did my deck floor with gelcoat with a textured finish.I am not happy with it.It is very durable and very non skid,and looked great for the first year,but it's a bi-tch to clean and it stains easily.
Don't be afraid of paint.Several of the very expensive high end boats like Hinkley are Paint over gelcoat on the hulls.

The two part urethanes are extremely durable and fairly easy to apply.You can mix some non skid additive in the paint for a good footing.One of these days,I'm going to sand the gelcoat on the deck and paint over it.

The deck floor under my seats was rotted out,and some previous owner had drilled several large holes(1")into the stringers.
I cut out the deck to solid material and glassed in a couple of layers of 1708 cloth than some marine fir plywood and finished it off with more 1708 on the top.My deck was too shot to try and keep the original pattern,so I didn't have to worry about perfection in the finished glass.

All my hatches were rotted as well so I had to dig out the cores and replace them.After all was done I mixed up some cabosil with Gelcoat to a consistency of ketchup and rolled it on.

Try a long flexible coarse sawzall blade in your hand,or a long cheap serrated kitchen knife to cut out the foam around the tank.Don't foam the tank when you re install it,as the foam just holds moisture and can make the take corrode.
You have a nice place to work on it during the winter(all year where you live)Good luck,keep us posted.

Here's a couple before and after of my deck and hatches.

[uncleboo]

Very nice!! I like the 2-tone.

[floorboy]

Thanks guys, UGH Ok I will consider painting it. I am just relating it too the floor paint that people buy at Menards and slop on their house floor and I get to grind off after it goes to hell on them. Granted they probably did a poor job prepping it, but that might be why I am scepticle about it.


Here is another fix I would like to get done this winter.



I dont know if he missed the trailer loading it or smashed a dock but it is all the way through the gelcoat into the glass. Ideas to blend it???

[floorboy]

Well with it being near -0 degrees out and 6-7 more inches of snow today, me and the little lady decided to do some work on the boat tonight.

Started cleaning up the floor a little in preperation for .....paint.
















We didn't get much done, but we had fun.

[floorboy]

Ok it is moving along slowly....

Decided to ^%$% can the idea of restoring the original non skid. There were quite a few flaws that appeared to be from the factory. Ground the whole works off and am in the process of fairing it out and starting over.













Going with signature finish paint. Talked to Tom the other day and he said he could match any competitors color.

Any idea what color, if any, matches the original seacraft color?? do any of the Awlgrip colors or other manufacturers come close?

Any way, heres one for you southern guys....



Its always 65 and sunny in here though.

[Bushwacker]

Rod, it looks like you have some good quality help there!

A lot of paint shops (and some ACE Hardware stores!) have scanners now attached to computers that can do a really good job of matching paint, so you could do like ET23 did and take a hatch cover or something with gel coat on it to a paint shop get the paint matched, and then send Tom a sample of that paint for him to match (or just send the sample direct to Tom!) Tom is local to me, so I took him a piece of fg I had cut out for a Phye access plate, and he matched it exactly! He called it "Denny White". The color below the bootstripe and on the sides of the steps on my boat is the Signature Finish paint he mixed up for me, but the rest of the hull is original gel coat, and most folks can't tell the difference! My '72 gel coat may be slightly different than yours, but if you mention this post, that formula might be a good starting point for him in matching your gel coat. Denny

[floorboy]

Ok Thanks. I have my fuel sending unit hatch laying there yet. I ill run that uptown tomorrow. Ill mention the Denny White.

[Capt Chuck]

Going with signature finish paint. Talked to Tom the other day and he said he could match any competitors color.
Any idea what color, if any, matches the original seacraft color??

Tell Tom you want #162A White