67 SN Resto/Mod rev. 2

Not a whole lot to report. After a weekend out of town, just really started digging into the boat after I sprayed the gel. I started by wetsanding with 320 but it was quickly apparent that I wasn't removing the orange peel, so I ended up going all the way down to 120. So my process is:

120 grit dry on an 11" Durablock to knock down 90% of the orange peel
220 grit dry on 6" DA sander
400 grit dry on 6" DA sander
600 wet
800 wet
1000 wet
3m Super Duty Rubbing Compound
3m Perfect It Rubbing Compound (???)
3m Finesse It

Any input on whether the Perfect It rubbing compound is needed? I don't have any of that and wondered if it's worth buying it and another wool pad.

I was worried if the gel was going to be thick enough but I think I'm out of the woods with that. After the 600 grit you're not really removing hardly any material. I'm only through 800 grit but I'm super happy with how it's turning out. I finally feel like I'm reaching a milestone with this project. Here is a shot after I sprayed it down after 800.

You know it is done right. I don't think you will get the same care paying someone else.

I am always amazed at people that can tackle a job like this. Lots to be proud of! Nice work.

Gary S wrote: First off Craig,looking great. 2nd is your garage connected to the house,if so your wife is going to kill you Looking at the last couple of photos it looks like the boat is all the way down on the ground already,I'll bet it was quite the workout.I assume the "old" gel turned out ok? What gun did you use,got a picture and tip size?

Gary, this is all being done in the detached garage. Definitely no way you would ever want to do this near the house unless you took major precautions to seal it off.

The boat is up on stands I made, probably about 18" off the ground. You can see a better angle in previous pictures where I had it rolled out of the garage to wash it off. It's the perfect height for working on the sides, but a little high for doing the bottom. I'm not so sure if I did this all over again that I wouldn't just work on the bottom first, then when it's complete/cured, work on the sides on a separate day. It's just a lot to tackle for one person.

I used a cheap gun off of Amazon with a 2.5mm nozzle. I don't have much painting experience so I can't really comment on if it's good/bad, but it seemed to work OK. I think I would've preferred a bigger nozzle though to be able to lay down heavier coats quicker.

81nautique wrote: Awesome work Craig, Looks fantastic. I have a project lining up that is going to need to be regelled and I may take your advice. Want to do another one for me?

After watching the Hurricane thread Alan, I'm not sure you want/need to take any advice from me, but I would be happy to share. Honestly, I would advise anyone thinking about doing their own regel to re-consider, and have it quoted somewhere else. Unless you have good bodywork skills, and have a dedicated facility/tools to do all of the grinding/fairing/spraying, it is just a ton of extremely messy work. It has taken me wayyy longer to get to this point than I ever imagined and I still need to flip the damn thing over . I would've been better off taking the time I worked on this part of the job and got a part-time job at McDonalds, and just paid someone else to do it with my earnings . All that said, there is something to say about learning something new, grinding through the learning curve, and finishing something yourself. The goal for this boat was always to do every bit of it that I thought I was able to do.

Craig,
I feel the color is great (unless my monitor is off! ) It's looking fantastic.

First off Craig,looking great. 2nd is your garage connected to the house,if so your wife is going to kill you Looking at the last couple of photos it looks like the boat is all the way down on the ground already,I'll bet it was quite the workout.I assume the "old" gel turned out ok? What gun did you use,got a picture and tip size? I used the Duratec on some console parts after the main part was done,it leaves a funny looking sheen on the part,which I can see in your pictures but sure smooths it out better. I never sanded or buffed those parts though because they were inside and I just wanted it done to cover the old color. I'm sure it will make a difference in your sanding project. Once again great job!

Wrapped up spraying the gel last night. Took about 6 hours of spraying, after which I was ready to ditch the respirator. I am pretty relieved as this was certainly a major milestone. This continues to be a learning process, and I definitely learned a few things about spraying gel:

#1. Even if you think your color match is right on the money, it will change once you mix it in with the "neutral" gelcoat. I had it matched exactly like the original powder blue, but once I mixed in the 20+ oz's of tint into the 5 gallon pale of neutral gel, it changed. So I scrambled to work back towards the original color but definitely did not achieve it. However, I just had to remind myself that I still like the color, and nobody outside of this forum will know what the original color is anyway...so who cares.

#2 Just because everything you've sprayed to this point (Duratec VE primers) needed 2% MEKP, that does not mean that the gel (US Composites) needs 2% MEKP. Cleaning out a HVLP that has gel starting to kick is not fun. Watching the rest of the gel boil in a container is kind of cool though.

#3 Duratec Hi-gloss additive is worth the money. If anyone is even thinking about spraying gel, I would highly recommend it. It extends the pot life, it thins the gel so it's easier to spray, it lets the gel flow better (less orange peel), and it allows for air cure without wax (although I did add wax for maximum hardness, per Fibreglast's advice.)



#4. You need a lot of acetone, I had 1-1/2 gallons of acetone and I almost ran out just on this spray alone, and all I was using it for was cleaning the gun out. I lost count but I mixed up & sprayed just over 20 batches of gel. Everyone of those is followed by a thorough cleaning of the gun, or you will have problems.

#5. You should take time to get the boat into a comfortable working position. After spraying for 5+ hours, I really wish the boat was a little lower to the ground. Trying to reach the keel while holding the gun full of gel, and not touching the side of the boat, got old fast.

I'm sure there are other things I've learned as well (like just pay to have someone do this for you ), but all in all, I am happy with how it turned out so far. The color in the pictures is a little misleading, so I will just say it is light blue. Obviously I have to start sanding it down now and hopefully I don't find out I'm too thin.

This will be one of the nicest ones out there ,,,,, Great work keep posting the awesome photos.

C-Bass wrote: I know there is a shelf life and I tried to protect against that by spray some of that "Bloxygen" in the container to help preserve it.

Craig,
Do you have ether a TIG or MIG (gas and not flux core) welder? I do and use the gas to protect all my finishes that may oxidize during storage. The Bloxygen is good but pretty pricey and welding gas very reasonable,

Gary, the plan is to shoot the gel this upcoming weekend. The garage is heated/insulated so even if the temps drop I think I can get it up to 75° no problem.

I bought 5 gallons of gel and was hoping to do the whole boat with it. I think it should certainly be enough to do the bottom/sides.

I was a little to optimistic about how soon I would be shooting earlier this year and I went ahead and bought the gel back in February.... I know there is a shelf life and I tried to protect against that by spray some of that "Bloxygen" in the container to help preserve it. I am going to test shoot a scrap piece of wood or something and make sure it cures OK. I am certainly going to use fresh MEKP. Anyone have any horror stories about older gel that might make me think twice about it?

Wow Craig! Are you planning on shooting the gel soon before it gets too cold out? How many gallons of gel do you think you will need?

Started winter #3 with some more fairing around the inside radius just below the rub rail and then I was finally to a point where I was satisfied and ready to put down the final primer. One thing I have learned is how much easier PE/VE resins are to work with if you just give them some heat. Most labels I've seen say 60+ degrees and you're fine. I've found that even 70 doesn't quite set up fast enough to work with within the same day. Once I started getting the garage up to around 75, things went much smoother.

I used Duratec's VE primer with the same hvlp that I used before with the 2.5mm nozzle. Line pressure was around 38-40psi. I mixed 700g of primer with 2% MEKP and added about 8-10% of MEK to thin. I was able to spray that within about 10 minutes and never had an issue with it starting to kick in the gun. I bought 1 gallon but should have got 2. I used up the whole gallon just for the bottom and sides.

This primer laid down much smoother than the fairing primer. I did discover several pin holes that were visible after covering the boat with one color. I will fill these spots, give the whole boat another light longboard sanding, then I will be ready to gel. I feel like I'm comfortable shooting the resins so hopefully it goes well.

Pictures to follow.

TRBenj wrote: Wow my back hurts just looking at the pictures! Awesome work. Are you sanding by hand? If so, don't worry- I hear finger prints eventually grow back. Have you decided on a color yet?

99% of the sanding has been by hand with Dura-Blocks. Occasionally I would use the inline or DA to knock down a high spot right after applying the compound. The Dura-Blocks are pretty nice but yeah, I'm way over the sanding portion even though I still have a lot to do .

The color will be the original Powder Blue, or as close as I can come to matching it. You could say it's for the sake of keeping it exactly original, but I actually like that color the best anyway so that's what it's going to be.

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Wow my back hurts just looking at the pictures! Awesome work.

Are you sanding by hand? If so, don't worry- I hear finger prints eventually grow back.

Have you decided on a color yet?

Sorry, I did not knowingly post that rotten wood photo.