Another SN followed me home!

My 64 skier had the same pump, my guess it was the days before submersible pumps

Planned obsolecence . . .

Keep in mind that Correct craft had only been building fiberglass boats for a few years at this point... Construction techniques were still a little rough.

My guess is that the thin fiberglass skin was meant to keep water out of the foam, whereas the ply on top provided impact resistance so you could walk on it. The ply isn't really a problem but the thin skin that stops short of the nose and gas tank really isn't sufficient to keep water out of everything long term. They addressed this in the 70's.

Don't forget they had been foaming for even less time and would have had to rely on the supplier for info on how it would work IMO. The wood was different back then too,what is premium today was off the shelf then. That seemed to change around the early 70's. I used to notice it in the houses I used to work in,floor joists were a big clue on when it was built.

Makes sense, thanks. I found some of that "wallpaper" along the edges where it tucked under the plywood. It must have been cut off and replaced with the blue carpet I removed.
The plywood is only 3/8 inch secured by 4 to 6 screws per panel. The screws themselves were half gone, but the wood frame is very solid.
So what to do. Seems this "design" is still solid after 48 years. There are a few cracks in the thin fiberglass coating, and water seeping into the bilge area and battery box. I have a heat lamp and box fan going to dry it out. Suggestions?
The trailer has a 2 inch ball adapter welded over the 1 3/4 original, jack housing cut out and moved forward, fenders reattached with welded bar stock, all very hack job, but functional. The trailer is a project unto itself..
The hull has been painted a least twice. I cleaned an area about 2 by 2 ft with lacquer thinner, and the first chalky color came right off, revealing a cream colored paint. Only the 2 inch square where the registration sticker was seems like the original white gel coat.
Well getting to the steering cable will be easy now. The shifter and throttle cables are functional but stiff. The floor panel would have to be removed to change them because of a screwed down clip in the tunnel area they are run, so this will be done. I'm thinking of running them behind the new side carpet inside a housing rather than on top of it like the PO did. Was the "wallpaper" fixed under them or over them for"easy" access to change them.

You can delete the Captain from your memory bank Tim. I had done a lot of googling and yes the Corvette guys do use it but others there recommend just to sand the paint off their Vetts. So anyway I bought some for the Shamrock job because I thought it would get the old paint out of the non skid of the deck,which it did by removing the gel in that area and the surrounding plain areas.Luckily I tried it in a small area first. When you think of it, Corvettes are not gel coated and that may be the key

Painted right over the fiberglass, no gel.

Gel is just poly resin without glass, sounds like the spra strip isn't as safe as advertised! I know other chemical strippers can be used (some people swear by oven cleaner) but you have to be careful with it (how long it sits on the surface, etc). Guess this one is no different.

John, soda blasting sounds easier than sanding- does that require a booth? I wonder what it would cost to do a hull and deck...

By the early 70's, CC was spraying a splattered (gray/white) gel on the inside hull walls on boats where they would be visible, either partially (SN's with ski pockets) or fully (Skiers,etc). I do not believe that was done in the mid-late 60's though... I think they were either covered with side panels (common in late 1gen) Mustangs) or painted. I don't recall seeing vinyl on the walls. The vinyl actually installed on the ply floor before they were screwed down... The vinyl wraps around the edges and t-trim installs between floor panels (this was done thru the early 70's).

This pic of a '67/68 sort of shows the floor and walls.

http://correctcraftfan.com/reference/1968_brochure/index.asp?page=14

Is that a '58 Vette? Hard to tell if it has the hood vents & trunk straps or not from the pics.

Beautiful car nonetheless.

Soda blasting a painted hull piqued my curiosity so I contacted Redi strip and asked about removing paint from a gel coated boat hull. They have done this for customers with success, but, according to them, there are a lot of variables such as the type of paint applied and the condition of the gel coat under the paint. Some customers have been satisfied while others have not. They do a small test area and require the owner to approve of the result before doing the job. It also allows them to give some gross estimate of the cost involved. Remember that the hull was painted for a reason and the reason usually wasn't because the glare was blinding other boaters. What I understood after talking a while is that it can be done and will not damage the gel beyond what a good buff will restore. Pricing is time and material so there is no way or accurately predicting the cost. I have had parts stripped there both by acid dipping and soda blasting and it is not cheap, but compares to other methods unless you want to do the stripper and wire brush / chemicals / sanding / in your garage and have a lot of spare time.

C-Bass wrote: skutsch wrote: Painted right over the fiberglass, no gel. I guess I'm going to have to re-think my plan on how I glass the floor to the wall then. I was planning on just using 2" tape, 4" tape, then cloth from hull sides to primaries. But the transition from cloth to woving roving on the hull sides would be clearly visible and look terrible in my opinion when covered by just paint.

Nothing a little grinder smoothing (and thickened resin filling if necessary for any low spots) can't fix. You should see some of the smooth, near-mirror finishes achieved in the bilge after a stringer job by some here! Heck, I smooth out the transitions even if I plan to cover with carpet.

What boat are you talking about and why would you be glassing the floor to the wall in a boat old enough that you would care about the look of the woven roving on the side wall?     You are right btw the transition would look terrible.. I did it in my 67 mustang it would look terrible painted over and visible.

This is the Home depot indoor outdoor carpet I used on my 88 Barefoot. It cuts and trims easily and looks and feels great when it's hot on bare feet. 3M #77 spray adhesive sticks great, is tacky fast, and doesn't bleed through. It was much easier and cheaper than the Boatcarpet.com carpet and cans of glue I used on my 87 SN (no shipping for one) and looks better.
Sometimes, original is not the best solution. Hot, slippery vinyl has no appeal to me. Just my opinion.

I too thought carpet was the answer when I first did the Mustang. My pan was a mess and at the time no easy alternative was available. Within the first year I spilt oil on it changing the filter,I've hated carpet ever since and was so happy to find a pan. From a manufacturing standpoint carpet has to be easy and looks great at the showroom but I'll take a glass floor or maybe a Seadek over carpet any day IMHO

Gary S wrote: The wood was different back then too,what is premium today was off the shelf then. That seemed to change around the early 70's. I used to notice it in the houses I used to work in,floor joists were a big clue on when it was built.

Not really. Typical construction lumber today is still 8/4" when milled but unlike the "back then" surfaced after kiln dried to the actual 1&1/2". Grades were very similar.