'71 Seafari 20 Rebuild

[Locke N Load]

I was able to get a smooth finish using 60 grit and will move up before priming and painting. I got out most of the scratches and chips, even getting through all the gelcoat down to glass in some spots, but still have plenty of hairline spider cracks. Should I worry about these or will covering them with the epoxy primer and paint be sufficient?

[Xcomunic8d]

Looking good!

I didn’t have a lot of hairline cracks like I see in your pics. What kind of top coating are you putting down? Once you send me that I’ll call my local paint supplier and get his feedback for you.

It’s going to be a trailer boat? What’s the longest it will be in water? I’m guessing a barrier coating and then primer and paint should be fine but I’ll check for you.

[Locke N Load]

Cool, thanks.

The bigger hairline cracks and chips have been sanded down until either I could no longer see them in the gelcoat or I got to fiberglass. What is left are the very fine cracks that didn't even absorb any of the bottom paint.

I am thinking for below the waterline to us Interlux VC Performance Epoxy with their epoxy primer. Then for above the water line and everywhere else Alexseal Premium Topcoat 501 with their primer.

Yes, this will be a 100% trailered boat. The longest it would be in the water is maybe an overnight so say 24 hours.

[Locke N Load]

I have been creating a lot of dust lately. Every little chip and crack on the hull sides and top has been sanded out, filled in with thickened epoxy and sanded smooth. I am going to do the same for the bottom. Once the temps come up a little more the deck will be going in and the major glass work will be done.


This has me focused on preparing for painting. I have identified all the components I need for each area. Now I just need to figure out how much.

My measurements and guesstimates show 120 square feet for the exterior hull sides to get the blue paint. Figure 25 feet of length when including the transom area and average 2.5 feet of height = 60 +/- each side.

Everywhere else will be white and I figure it is twice as much square footage. Does this seem right, 120 for the sides between the rubrail and waterline? 200-240 square feet for the rest? The rest includes the transom seating area and splashwell, interior hull sides, deck, cap, partition and helm separating cuddy, cuddy structure and inside the cuddy.

The Alexseal paint states 244 square feet of coverage per mixed gallon of base color, converter and reducer. I will be doing three coats making the sides 1.5 gallons (120 s/f x 3 divided by 244 s/f/gal) and the rest 3 gallons. 4.5 gallons of paint seem reasonable to paint a whole Seafari above the waterline and interior?

The bottom is getting 2 gallons of primer and 2 gallons of Interlux VC performance Epoxy. There was a calculator for this.

[JBASS02]

I used just under 1 gal of alex paint(+the additives) for the topside of my build. I didn't use alexseal for the nonskid which I hear eats up a lot of paint. I sprayed everything and had no experience spraying and wouldn't do that again... I'd recommend rolling with their additive.

[Locke N Load]

Every time I feel like I am making headway I hit a roadblock. Latest is the transom core and outside skin. I knew I had an air pocket on the port side that needed attention and finally got around to inspecting it. Tapping with a knuckle gave inconclusive results so I went to a hammer. Same deal as differentiating the tones was difficult. Then I tried the shears for cutting the fiberglass cloth. Just right! Big problem.

The air pocket was contained to a baseball size as I had thought. Tapping kept finding more areas eventually leading to me removing nearly the entire bottom half of the skin. Ugh. Ok, I have created a whole bunch more work for myself, but at least now I will not have to worry about and know it will be solid. Problem.

I ground down a taper all around, sanded it smoothish with 60 grit, filled low spots with thickened epoxy, wiped it down with DNA then grease/oil remover per my usual practice and tried to lay some cloth. No bueno. The cloth just kept falling off. My tried and true method is spread some resin on the hull, stick the cloth in place then fully saturate the cloth and get any air bubbles out. I could not get the cloth to stick in place. I tried full saturating the cloth first then applying and that did not work either. I even tried just a small 6"x6" piece and it would fall right off too.

I get my resin from US Composites and have been very happy with it. Recently they changed their composition of the medium hardener due to not being able to get an ingredient. The new formula works still, but it is thinner and clearer and does not blush. Ok, great except when you are trying to work on a slightly inverted vertical surface and upside down. I mixed the resin correctly and it was 78 degrees and not humid. I checked the resin that was left on the hull three hours later and it was a little tacky at that point.

Now I need suggestions on how to deal with this problem. I could mix up a few ounces and coat the hull, wait three hours and try applying the cloth then and see if it will stick. Or I could try thickening the resin a little with cabosil for spreading on the hull and see if that gets the cloth to stick. I worry about full adhesion and air bubbles with this method though. I could get a different hardener. I could try peel ply.

I am open to all suggestions.

Thanks

[dirtwheelsfl]

When a hammer doesnt work, try dragging a quarter or fender washer over the surface!

Was the void in the skin or between the skin and core? Doesnt matter much anymore just curious.

Just leave a sacrificial 6" of glass on the top and masking tape it to the hull. Flip it up, and spread a lil thickened stuff down, let it tack a little, then wet it out with plain resin and flip glass back down.

Dont wipe with anything, just blow all the dust out with a fine tip compressed air blower held right at the surface at an angle. Whatever microscopic stuff that remains will emulsify into the goo...

Even in 78degrees id be blending slow and tropical for a layup that size.

[Xcomunic8d]

Yeah what dirt said. I catalyze real low here too. I try to wait for days where it should get hot in afternoon to help. I use mainly poly though. .75-1.25% depending on temps.

As to vertical surfaces. I paint some in with chip brush, wet out my stuff and get to it with a spreader, then roller. Walmart started selling bondo jelly resin. I’ve never used it but that would be a ton easier… and yes voids are lousy. I had some. Drilled holes and injected filler with a caulk gun. They sell tubes at west marine you can load and squeeze in there

[Locke N Load]

The void was between the core and outer skin. Two layers of 3/4" Coosa epoxied together and then bolted in place. I laid down what I thought was a thick enough layer of thickened epoxy on the skin before butting the Coosa in to place. I even had squeeze out around the edges and a couple of holes so I thought I was mostly good. Wrong. I am glad I inspected and got all the failure out. Would have been nice if it worked the first time. I think I have a picture from the transom core install.

I will try laying down extra glass and taping the unsaturated edges in place. Fingers crossed.

I have had no problems with the medium hardener. As cool as down to 50 with a heat lamp overnight and as warm as 80's. I just mix a smaller amount so I can spread it all before it starts to kick when warm out. No issues with being too sticky or not sticky enough until today. Oh well, tomorrow's another day. I still need to finish filling in all the spider cracks are ground out in the hull bottom and then sand smooth. Mostly done with that unanticipated project. One grind out lead to dozens of feet of grinding.

[cdavisdb]

FAIR WARNING, I am not a highly experienced glasser.

FYI: I used US Composites slow epoxy on my 25 seafari hull repair. Florida, spring. Had no trouble getting the glass to stick to vertical surfaces, but lots of tiny air bubbles. The resin was so thin for so long that it dripped out of the vertical glass before it could set. Added some cabosil to thicken the resin, took care of the problem.