Needing Repair Help...
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14171
Printed Date: November-17-2024 at 6:45pm
Topic: Needing Repair Help...
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Subject: Needing Repair Help...
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 4:59am
| Hey yall, I'm a little new to the site and the ski-Nautique scene.. I've been doing a little research and have found bits of very useful information (great site) but i still think i could use some help. I will be purchasing a 1976 Ski Nautique from my uncle who has had it for 30 something years, and it'll be my first boat. It needs some love and a lot of money, and any opinions can only help. It definitely needs interior, motor seems sound, and stringers were recently replaced and epoxied. Here's the help list, I am planning on reupholstering everything, installing a tower, reworking the rear wood deck, and repainting it (this i would like help with, understanding the gel coat and where it is in relation to the paint). My aunt does graphic design and she can match the original decals, so that isn't a problem, we think... I'm only 20, but very capable with wood and electronics, and have read up on fiber-glassing and have help to paint. What things can be done by me and what things should i bite the bullet and pay someone else? Hopefully we can get another clean old school back on the water! Thanks |
Replies:
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 10:26am
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Brad,
First welcome and second just how bad is the hull. Does it really need to be re gelled? Pictures would help. ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 2:24pm
| well the boat has never sat in the water, so my uncle has assured me it is fine and i have looked for soft spots and found none.. i would just like to throw some fresh color on the boat.. is the paint under or on top of the gel coat and if under is it worth the hassle if the gel coat is fine? I can get pictures this weekend |
Posted By: bkhallpass
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 2:48pm
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I If this is a 1976 Ski Nautique, it is probably a white boat with Ski Nautique graphics down the side. The white is gelcoat, not paint. It is a colored resin, fairly thick covering the fiberglass hull. Gel coat can be buffed to bring it back to its shine, or in more severe cases, wetsanded, and then buffed. If there are small cracks, chips or scratches in the gel, you can buy small amounts of gel to be applied in the chips, sand them down, buff, and the repair will hardly be noticable.
The graphics on the side are painted. No different that a pin stripe painted on the side of a car. Some people sand the old graphics off completely, some sand them enough to prep for repaint. Some are replacing the painted graphics, with vinyl graphics. Check the reference section of this site. There may be computer files of the graphics for your boat. The site does not have all years. There is nothing you have described that you should not be able to do yourself, if you have the desire, and if you are patient. If you try to cut corners, you'll no doubt muck it up. Just take your time, ask questions, and do it right the first time. It would be helpful to see some photos to understand the extent of what needs to be done. BKH ------------- Livin' the Dream |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 5:22pm
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Brad,
Brian (bkhallpass) explained the gel coat/painted graphics very well. We'll wait for some pictures to give you some more advice if needed. There is also a search feature on site that can be used for more info such as "buffing gel" "wet sanding" etc. I encourage you to restore the gel first. Painting a glass boat is in my opinion a "band aid". If the gel is beyond repair then re gelling is really the sound way to retore the boat. A boat with wood stringers is prone to rot. It doesn't matter if it's been kept out of the water or not. Water gets down into the foam floatation/wood, stays there and the rot starts. You've stated the boat has had the stringers replaced. That's great as that is a major issue that hopefully you don't need to worry about. Was it done professionally? Was it a complete repacement? ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 5:40pm
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Permit me one correction...its probably an ivory boat.
(it just erks me when people sand it agressively trying to get it white.) ------------- "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing." River Rat to Mole |
Posted By: bkhallpass
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 6:11pm
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Hey Gottaski,
In 76, CC actually called the color "pure white." Whether it is actually pure white, or an off white, I couldn't say. To your point, in many years, the white is actually an off white. On my 82 I think they call it taffy ivory, on my 2001 they used silver cloud. I think gottaski highlight two big points 1) don't keep sanding looking for pure white, you may not find it, and 2) if you need to do small gel patches, you will need to match the shade of white, ivory, or gray that's on the boat. BKH BKH ------------- Livin' the Dream |
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 7:11pm
| 8122pbrainard, pertaining to the stringers he only said they were replaced, professionally or not i do not know but he is very close with the sort of people that do that for a living i believe so i trust the repairs to be good. I think he only replaced the bad stringers and used some marine grade plastic wood.. I'll have to give him a call and drill him now that i know what questions to ask. I'm wanting to do this right and no shortcuts, so redoing the gel coat seems worth it to me in the long run, but i won't be tackling that for a while it looks like. Pictures should be up tonight, thanks again for all the help! |
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 10:11pm
|
okay remix, apparently it's a 77. Engine runs for now so I'm gonna worry about that when i have to.. The only thing that really concerns me is the gel coat has many "spider web" cracks in choice spots, mostly the port side (very large area), by the throttle, and a few other small spots. Ive read that to fix small cracks like this it's recommended to make the cracks deeper and use gel coat then sand it smooth.. Am i right so far? My pictures are too big for this site and i don't know how to make em smaller so here's a link to flikr.. hope that works. What're yall's thoughts on the cracks and that little box in the dash right behind the seat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39865673@N02/? |
Posted By: bkhallpass
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 10:31pm
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Brad, if I was 20 years old, I'd hit that boat with a buffer, throw a coat of wax on it, and go use the hell out of it for the summer. You can always repair and repaint in the winter. Also, after a summer's use, you will know what you want to do with the boat beyond the cosmetics.
The extent of your spider cracks is beyond my knowledge. I'm sure someone else will come along who knows better than I. I'm guessing your going to have to grind away a pretty good section of gel coat, and do a fair amount of gell coat patching, to really repair properly. I don't think you going to get away with just filling individual cracks, but again, I'll leave that to those with more expertise than I have. It also looks like you have the smaller Ski Nautique on the side. It's a little less flashy than the large Ski Nautique, but it's also less common. I would definitely repaint in the same size when you are ready to do it. BKH ------------- Livin' the Dream |
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 10:51pm
| Yeah, that looks like that's what i'm gonna be doing.. Gonna take it to school with me, bring it back thanksgiving and then start to blow my money christmas break and get to work. I had also noticed the size difference, and it sounds like you, me, and my uncle all agree on keepin it the same size, it sets it apart a little but i am looking to use a vinyl instead of painting it when i do get to that. Do you have any idea what that little box is for? Maybe an old cassette player i'm thinking. Just out of curiosity, is it strictly to stick to the original look that nobody has changed the base white to a different color? I was trying to envision it in maybe black from the dock rail down with the white ski nautique outlined with an aqua blue.. just curious what yall thought on a color change |
Posted By: bkhallpass
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 11:14pm
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If you're talking about the hole cut in the dash, someone did a sloppy job of cutting out a whole for a radio. These boats did not come with radios in them.
Is a major job to change the color of gelcoat on the boat. You can paint it, but when you scratch it the white underneath will really show through. We have had some guys on the site lately sticking to original graphics, but customizing or modernizing them with colors to their liking. There is an 80 SN in lime green graphics, and another in bright orange. Both look good. Alan has a very nice 81 anniversary edition that looks very orginal, but if you look closely, he chose a more metallic blue paint than originally on the boat. There is also a guy on here with a Barracuda that someone painted black. The paint has not held up well, and it doesn't look very good. He spent a day just removing the paint from the engine box. I would think long and hard about changing the color. That boat is a classic and white is a good color for it. Free advice, take it for what it's worth. BKH ------------- Livin' the Dream |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: June-26-2009 at 11:46pm
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Brad,
Overall from what I've seen in your pictures the boat really isn't in that bad shape. It's defiantly not in need of a paint job. A wet sanding, buffing job and new hull side graphics would bring it back. (The graphics are paint) I only see a couple areas of spider cracking. The gunnel on the port side looks looks like some rough docking and the spot next to the helm is most likely stress related. I'd wet sand the areas out and buff and in most cases this cracks will be less noticeable. You are correct on the repair method. The cracks are routed out with a burr in a die grinder (Dremel), filled with gel, sanded smooth and buffed. The biggest problem is matching the gel color. Kits with colorants are available. Please don't paint or do a wrap!!! I'm one of the people who feels strongly on keeping things original. Probably the strongest here on CCfan!!! Brian is correct. Clean it up some and get it out in the water for the summer. ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Date Posted: June-27-2009 at 12:04am
| Haha thanks a lot Brian & Pete, yall are pointing me in the right direction. Tell ya what pete, I'll fix it original and keep it that way (minus tower and stereo) until it NEEDS a new gel coat, then we'll talk. either of yall know where one goes online or locally to get a kit like that? I'm sure a can find a dealer on my own just wondering if one was recommended. Every time i get an answer i found another question, if it turns out that the hole is a poor location for a newer stereo or it's too tall, which it looks like both are true, should i be searching forums about fiber glass repair? *also, it doesn't have a rear wood deck like i thought it did, can i fabricate one and get rid of the useless ladder? |
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: June-27-2009 at 1:19am
thanks for the correction of the correction! I remember a black-on-grey '81 that was just stunning and it has a <gulp> chevy. ------------- "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing." River Rat to Mole |
bkhallpass wrote:Posted By: newoldboat
Date Posted: June-27-2009 at 1:21am
| Be very carefull installing a tower. The previous owner of my boat installed the tower incorrectly so now I have to move the rear mounts and fill the hole they drilled. Assemle the tower completely on the boat and tighten all bolts. Remember, measure twice cut once. When you're dealing with your boat measure 10 time and drill once. |
Posted By: bkhallpass
Date Posted: June-27-2009 at 2:19am
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To fill the hole on the dash your going to need to put a fiberglass patch across the back, and fill in the surface with gel coat.
You can add a swim platform. Somtimes guys part out boats and platforms and brackets are for sale on this site. Some have purchased brackets, and fabricated the swim platforms. The trick is getting them mounted properly. There are a number of threads here on adding platforms. Just do a search. BKH ------------- Livin' the Dream |
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Date Posted: June-27-2009 at 4:38am
| okay, thanks alot on both of those topics.. i've definitely learned my lesson on prior things with the measuring a hundred times, then once more.. I'll post more pics as soon as progress is made |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: June-27-2009 at 9:50am
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Brad,
Swim platforms weren't available until about 78 and for sure 79. Many have added them and removed the ladder. My own Tique has the platform on it from the PO (yes, it's not original!!) You'll need brackets ether fabricated or purchased and the Teak itself. You can make one or do a search for "teak world" - Tim one of or regulars just had one made for him. Here's one of the gel coat repair kits. Larger ones are available. %20 - http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=99155F ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: Brad on CCF
Date Posted: June-27-2009 at 8:26pm
would it be possible for anyone to take a picture of the underside of the platform and send that to me? I'm having a hard time finding a picture like that on the forums.. Also if anybody knows someone who wants the ladder im sure i could work a deal. Thanks for the gelcoat link Pete, if you ever decide you wanna go original and trade that platform for a "pristine ladder" you know where to find me! 
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