Re-painting the 1981 Nautique

Scott, dont take the comments personally. Many here have received a good tongue lashing from '79 (myself included), so just consider it a right of passage. Stick around.

Judging by your tower speaker project, youve got some skills- I saw it on PN and am glad you decided to share it here. You should post up more pics of your cupholder/gauge pod as well.

TRBenj, thanks for the comments. Too bad we all cant be as cool as some others huh. All I was trying to do was help someone out on an opinion and an experience of how I fixed up my MODEL 82 2001 SERIES THAT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE AN 81.. Oh well.... whatever... I guess some people.. can just never say "hmm interesting but you know its a 2001 model." And Id say yup and move on. But no matter what IM wrong and your right, arent you 79nautique?

bk-broiler. Sorry this nonsense took over your post. Good luck with it and post some pics on another site where you will be sure to get nothing but compliments....Planet something rather....

tiqueman97 wrote: TRBenj, thanks for the comments. Too bad we all cant be as cool as some others huh. All I was trying to do was help someone out on an opinion and an experience of how I fixed up my MODEL 82 2001 SERIES THAT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE AN 81.. Oh well.... whatever... I guess some people.. can just never say "hmm interesting but you know its a 2001 model." And Id say yup and move on. But no matter what IM wrong and your right, arent you 79nautique? bk-broiler. Sorry this nonsense took over your post. Good luck with it and post some pics on another site where you will be sure to get nothing but compliments....Planet something rather....

guess you didn't know HW who called you out on the 81 to start with spend tons of time on PN as well as many others here, we just don't care so much for all the crying about stereo's and how to do basic wiring tasks or the many trival topics they discuss over there oh and there's another major diference we actually get together and meet one another face to face. Oh and check out the Sept page in the PN calender that's SKI LIME and my boat at Green lake WI. Sorry I didn't see your boat in the calender but not everyone makes the cut so that's ok.

well if you actually have a '81 then Allen has the files and I believe they are posted in the reference section too, but you can use those to create the stencil to mask off and repaint. Your best bet is to use that stencil or create your own then sand off the old graphics and wet sand the complete boat to make the gel-kot shine again then mask and paint the graphics, using auto paint is fine just use the right primers so the paint will stick to the gel-kote. Gas won't hurt the paint. maybe allen and Mark or some of the others can chime in on what brands they actually used or their projects.

JPirotte wrote: Would you have to regel coat over the paint?

No the paint goes on top of the gel.

Wow, first post in a week and look what I started. Glad tiqueman can atleast recognize someone made a mistake somewhere down the line and that it is an '82 Ski Nautique. Oh, and the deck was 82-86 not 87. Oops I did it again!

Jay, Paint and gel are two completely different systems. Re gelling is usually the complete hull or deck when the original can't be brought back to life with wet sanding and buffing. It is however a expensive process because it is labor intensive. Paint can be used for graphics and was used by CC until 81? (help me here on the year Tim or Chris) Paint is also a less expensive alternate to re gelling the complete boat. I must warn you that paint is exactly that and needs to be treated as such - very carefully! If paint is used, I highly recommend one of the linear polyurethanes designed for marine use such as Algrip. Do not use a automotive paint as they are not recommended to be in the water for more than a couple days. I feel Scott's (tiqueman) choice to go with the bottom line PPG Omni AU is a poor decision. Give us more info on the boats condition or better yet post some pictures. What exactly are you trying to do to the boat?

tiqueman97 wrote: 79nautique, you should...... Did you build it, gel it, do the upholstery, mount the windshield...... anyone can do that,

well sorry for the rest to hear it again but since he's a newbie.

Lets see, it will be shorter listing what I didn't do, so No I did not gel-kote the boat or lay up the hull or replace the stringers, or rub rail. Didn't build the windshield but I did replace the gasket's in the frame rails and did have it in the living room while I worked on in the winter. I also replaced the vent hardware with NOS from CC.

SO that would leave restoring the bow cover.
replacing all of the skins, foam and wood in all of the seats. I did replace the carpet, fixed a soft spot in the floor before hand. rebuilt the motor completely, bought a blanced long block but installed the motor and everything that goes on it. My buddy did the tranny that I pulled and re-installed, didn't know about Eric at the time. Spec'd and replaced the entire ignition system, would have been nice to use the system I designed the the Chevy Ilmore engines that won Indy in the ninty's but then it wouldn't have look orginal then so oh well. So what else replaced all of the sending unit's, hoses, vents, upgraded the electrical system, rebuilt the carb, painted the side graphics and bought vynil for the transom with help from Kieth, website owner, oh then there was the strut bushings, prop, prop shaft, replaced the stuffing box with a dripless version and some other stuff.

But basicly I bought the skins and a long block as my block wasn't rebuildable to start with, so I opted to get a performance long block that came with a 18 month warrenty to install.

Just basic stuff that many of my friends here have done as well. Basic restoration work that you do your self and DON'T PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU.


That way you can Say Yea... I've pretty much built that boat.

Oh by the way..79 didn't read the last post by you until now....WOW.Seriously you all are a such a wealth of knowledge and for someone that doesn't( and can say so) have the talent or know how to do this sort of stuff you guys are much appreciated. Thanks for the time.

Cheers!!

Mine never had the correct craft on top?

Jay, I think I have the picture now! You have had the complete boat re gel coated. Polyester gel coat and not paint correct? Now you want to have the graphics painted on the hull sides and you don't have a tracing of the original. Well, the best way to have a paint mask made (Gerber mask) is with a full size tracing. Do you know anyone with a 81 that is willing to let you trace? A digital photo won't do it because it will not pick up the curvature of the hull. Here's a picture of what I suspect was done off a picture. It is a 70's hull just to show what happens when graphics are developed from a photo. See how the lettering and the stripe are skewed upwards and aren't parallel to the chine. It looks like a nice job but the graphics just didn't turn out correct.



Here's the way it should look.



Jay, It looks like Brian in the thread is trying to do the same. Maybe you guys can get together. A tracing that can be used to make a Gerber mask and split the sign guys cost.
Brian's 81

1981

JPirotte wrote: my old graphics sure look like that guy getting bashed for think ing he has a 81 when it might be a 82'?

tiqueman97's boat was an '82, how many times do we have to go through this???

Rick, Welcome to the site. Glad you found us. I'm glad to hear that you are planning to restore the graphics with paint. The Gerber mask is the brand of masking system that most sign shops use. It is designed for paint masking and is cut on the same equipment as vinyl signs. Don't forget to post some pictures of your project.

Take a look in the reference section at the top of the page.

Here is a link:

Graphics