New '93 For the M3Fan family

I did a full refresh on one side of the boat so far. This is a lot of work and includes a 4-stage compounding/polish (wetsand on just the rear foot or so of the red stripe, then 3 stages of cutting/polishing compound on the whole side). Then I replaced the big side decals, the small rear side decals, and then finally the pinstripe. I have the other entire side to go but I'll rest a bit before I take that on.

You might recall I did this on the 2000 SN a couple years ago (except replacing the main side decals) so I'm not entirely new to this process.

The gel on the 93 was pretty much perfect other than some oxidation on just the tapered portion of the side of the boat, by the 1993 Singapore sticker (which was a total PITA to get off, BTW). The side decals were a bit beat up, and so was the pinstripe. It all had to be replaced and buffed out to make the boat go from a 8.5 to a 10 on the outside.

For sticker/pinstripe removal I used a hairdryer and a plastic scraper. Some stickers came off easily, some where absolutely horrible to get off. The two worst ones were the little foil PCM sticker and the 93 Singapore sticker. Both came off in a million little pieces and the glue residue had to come off with acetone. The rest came off easily with some heat and patience, including the pinstripe which means I can return my eraser wheel to Amazon.

Rearmost oxidation and the dreadful Singapore sticker in mid removal:



Working the HF rotary like a boss, this is a nice ab workout.



Just the faintest ghosting from the side decals, just enough to align the new ones by.



Mmmmmmhmmmm!



The wheels. The heavy polish was cutting the red gel like a crime scene. Very nice compound. Props to Timmy B, again, for coming up with the 3-stage 3M compound and pad combo that works so well for these boats.



I was a rebel and put the side decals on completely dry. Stakes were high at 114.00 a side. I had no problems, really, doing this. I did the SKI portion first, then cut the backing on Nautique to NAU, TIQ, UE and taped the whole thing up there. Hinged the sections up, peeled out the backing, then carefully applied. These decals are dead nuts on the shadows of the old ones. Trying to see the old shadows in the polished gel while getting the decals aligned was like looking at one of those 3D fractal images and trying to get them to pop out. All of a sudden you'd see the ghost image perfectly, then it would disappear. Interesting. These decals are incredibly high quality, from Nautiqueparts.com. Exact 100% matches in every detail, even the circle R sticker at the end. Very impressive.



Note half the backing is off, I lightly scored the backing sections using a sharp razor.



The result, pinstripe on as well.



Rear stickers for bonus points



One side down, one to go!

So, this is interesting. Don't count the eraser wheel out! I started on the decal removal on the other side and though the Singapore decal came right off, the AWSA and PCM foil stickers were again only coming off in dust-sized pieces. Just for the heck of it I threw the eraser wheel into a cordless drill and HOLY cow. No fuss, no muss, it ERADICATED both decals without even the slightest chance of damage to the gel. We're talking 5 minutes to basically make both decals completely disappear, cutting through them like butter. I wouldn't count this tool out, ever, or discount it's effectiveness in any way. Had I thought to break it out on the other side it would have saved me a half hour at least on the tougher decals. Highly recommended timesaver and in my actual hands-on experience it would be really difficult to damage the hull with it.


Highly recommended for stubborn decal removal!

just lookin' awesome Joel & fun to follow your pictures






john

awesome...but I gotta ask..there is a cover on the lift...right?



john

Looks Great Joel, I guess the SN is heavier and sits taller than the MC but worse than that is that car topper! I hate towing with them, even a low profile one like yours can just kill your mileage.

Hope you guys have a great summer, We need to get up there eventually to check your place out and run around those lakes. Some day!

Hey Joel! Nice find.
You should stop in sometime as you're headed north. You have to drive right past my place (hwy g just before 7 mile)

They're not his decals. He has customers supply them so I'm willing to bet the decals would be coming from any of the known sites we use. I figured he's worried about ghosting too as am I but he only said it was a concern with the transom decals. Idk, figured I'd ask Joel as he's a few weeks ahead of me on the same project. I seen the detail guys work which looked good and came recommended to me by other ccf members.

M3Fan wrote: jbear wrote: awesome...but I gotta ask..there is a cover on the lift...right? john Com'on, brother! You bet. By the time the canopy was on and the boat was tucked under it you couldn't see anything so I decided to go for the skeletal shot.

thats what I figured but just had to ask. Boat is way to nice to sitting out!

john

Your boat looks great - good work! (and a lot of it...)
I know what you mean about the towing; our F150 gets only 12 mpg highway towing our sport @ 65mph.

How, very nice. Sounds like you an awesome season.

M3Fan wrote: Pro-Tec held out just fine all year and now I have Todd's spare coil pack if mine should go unannounced,

Joel,
I can hear the tick, tick, tick from 12 miles away and it's in storage not running! At least you have the spare coil and of course the option to convert. Plenty of help here if a conversion is ever needed. By then, maybe they'll have figured out where to source the 12 volts from!

I liked the Pro-tec coil pac? Until it died, or melted like the wicked witch of the west.

That is very Sweet! I can feel the excitement of the 93 SN Pro Boss since I just picked my almost perfect 93 up this summer! Thanks for the pics.

Donald80SN wrote: Joel, I am just curious. Did you sell the Master Craft yet? I am not interested in buying it, I just thought that it was a very good looking boat. It was a great color combo in great condition. Donald

It was sold instantly. I rolled it home on a Sunday and it rolled out of my driveway that Tuesday. Talking to the new owner it also had a very good summer.