My 71 Skier Progress

I know a lot of you like pictures, so I thought I would share my progress so far. I'm sure anyone that has jumped into wet sanding the entire boat has questions like is this really worth it? Am I going to have anything to look at when I'm done? When the h*ll will my arms quit hurting? I guess when you get a little closer & can see that shine, it makes it all worth it. I compounded half of the front deck last night & there it was, a bright red boat.



The first two pics are when I brought it home from Indy. The second two are with a newly rebuilt trailer under it getting ready to take over my wifes parking spot in the garage. The third are with the 320 grit sanding done on the hull. The last one is the deck with 1000 grit sanding & one round of compound done. Can't wait till it's done & start on the interior.

GottaSki- what do you mean "consider using a wet DA"??
I am going to get mine to shine this winter. Maybe replace the pin striping and lettering. I will probably need to wet sand the entire boat also.

BTW- How many beers does this project require??

Tim,

A rotary toll won't leave little swirl marks on the gel? Do you put rubbing compound on the rotary attachment? We'll hook up in the spring so I can get all your steps down perfectly.

No luck on finding that '88 in NH, Tim. We'll keep our eyes open in case it pops up again.

Ken

TRB- Look at that shine!

I am almost certain I will need to wet sand, the boat has quite a few dock scratches and I will need to blend in a coulple dings i am going to repair with gelcoat repair paste. I will have to take some pics and post them...


40 hrs on the deck or the whole boat?

Lets do some figuring...

40 hrs @ 3.5 beers per hour...

40*3.5= 140 beers

140/24= 5.83

I am going to need 6 cases of beer!

Ken, the rotary is pretty aggressive- but thats the point. The trick is using progressively finer products to smooth the surface. I wetsanded with 320, 400, 600 and 1000 (2x) grit. I compounded with 3M super duty compound (2x), then microfinishing compound, then Finesse-it II polish (2x). I finished off with glaze and wax, both by hand. Next time Ill probably skip the glaze.

I used specific pads for each product, wool being the most aggressive. Ill have to show you in the spring.

Let me know if you catch wind of that '88.

Skicat, sorry for the threadjack- looking good!

TRB Thanks for the good advice... I will get some pics and start a new thread in the near future....

Skicat- keep us updated with photos, I love that red! It's going to look real nice when done.

81nautique,

Paul did take the trailer. Don't see many with fenders like that do you! He sent a couple guys down to pick it up for him. I saw the pictures of his boat at the reunion & it looked like he did a pretty good job fixing that one up as well.

I had a pretty good weekend on the skier. Here are some newer pics of the progress. I have to get the dash, motor box & the bottom yet. Then it's time to get into fixing the gel dings, stripe & wax.

Also

Mojoman wrote: Man that looks fanastic Skicat !!! Must feel pretty good !!! Question for anyone: what's the best product for filling in deep scratches or chips? I've read here anything from Bondo to Gel paste?? I'm going to repaint anyway, so color isn't an issue for me... Hopefully this helps Skicat as well.. Thanks Moj'

Gel paste is good. If your going to paint,then Marine Tex would be a good choice, but a little harder to sand.Also,Evercoat makes this purple, fibergla$$ reinforced stuff, that comes in a big toothpaste looking dispenser that actually works great.This stuff would be an even better choice.

75,

I am going to try Minicraft in Florida for my gel paste. There are a lot of threads on here about the repair. I don't know how that would work with paint though. With the gelcoat you can sand it all smooth, but the paint would be a different story. Maybe someone else can help you out with that.

Thanks all for the words of encouragement on the boat. All I get around here is grief for taking up the garage!!

Skicat, its looking great!

Are you planning on sending Minicraft a chip of your gel so they can custom match it, or are you using a color wheel? Or are you going to match it yourself like Scott mentioned?

Id love to have them match it for me, but Im afraid of taking a hole saw to my boat!

Wow, Awesome shine coming back. I love the old solid color boats, kudos to you for putting in the time to restore it and not whipping out the paint gun.

75 Tique wrote: Scott, How do you smooth that out...blend it into the existing hull paint/fibergla$$? Can't really sand it with paint can you?

Smooth it out with a plastic trowel. If you want to patch the paint too, then use that Evercoat stuff for your repairs, then blend in the paint after the repairs are finished.
I thought you said you didn't want to paint again. That's why I suggested the gel.

TRB,BKH,
I have been looking at all of the skiers I can find & the only original looking stripe I see is the one like Reid Pinkham's skier in the diaries section. I am thinking of a stripe like this in white (only the one around the hull, not the deck). The interior will be white with red piping. I think the carpet was the red/black astro turf, so that is what I was considering for the interior. Here is the motor. I haven't seen many of these chryslers.




Reids boat

Got it Tim. I didn't realize it was a skier. I was thinking Ski Nautique.   Now I think I'm completely confused. Without respect to authenticity, I think it will look good either way. BKH