mustang #1 pictures

Looks like a good project. Everything's there. Have fun. BKH

farmer - that should be a nice winter project... I love the old Mustangs, what a cla$$ic! keep us updated with pics of your progress. I think a good cleaning would make a huge difference. it looks like it was left in the water. When i got mine i tried everything to clean the hull (muriatic acid, hull cleaner, etc.) found that Purple Power worked the best worked great cleaning the bilge too. $9.99 for 2.5 gal. at Autozone. Good Stuff!

BTW- next time you post pics try hitting the enter button after each pic post. when you put each pic post on it's own line it will stack them vertically instead of side-by-side. makes it a little easier to browse through. trying to help...

Brian- hope your getting some sleep over there!    

Turn the boat over??? How Why??

Randy in Ohio Here are a couple of pics of the gelcoat below the waterline. The entire bottom is like this so I felt the easiest way to work on it was to turn the boat over. Does anyone have any experience with gelcoat in this condition? Farmer

farmer wrote: Help. why did the text stretch out so far past the pictures? Farmer

That's an easy one, your pics in the first post are all on the same line so they dictate the frame of the post window for all subsequent posts. All you have to do is put a carriage return(enter key) after each Picture when you're uploading them and the pics will line up vertically stacked shortening the window width. So your problem is not with the last post you made but with the first. I hope that makes sense

You got yourself a quit a project there. All complete, but you should consider removing all the gelcoat via grinding and painting the hull. Or, you can re-apply gelcoat if you are up to all the sanding involved.

Good luck and keep us updated.

David,do you have any experience with gelcoat removal etc?

...and the 7 series in the garage shows that this guy doesn't fool around.

Its gel- DavidF doesnt mess around!

farmer wrote: David,do you have any experience with gelcoat removal etc?

Yes, just a bit of experience The easiest way to remove the gelcoat is with a 4" or 4.5" grinder with a 36 grit pad. Do not be tempted to use a 7" grinder as it does not work nearly as well and the extra weight will wear you out more than twice as fast.

When you get down to the fibergla$$, you could switch to a 7" grinder to help even out the fibergla$$ surface. You will then have to fair (fare?) the entire hull. Bondo is fine for fairing, or you can use thickened epoxy which is what I used as evident in the pictures above.

Thought I'd repost the pictures that were lost.

Lifetime or 3M 5200 will both do the job as a sealant, the 5200 is a better adhesive but that is not always a good thing.

Gary, I would go with the 5200 just because of it's adhesive qualities. Re bushing can be easily done on the boat. If you ever do need to remove the strut, that's a easy one too especially with the non recessed base type strut. Hot wiring works great. A piece of nichrome wire or even stainless mig wire hooked to a car battery cuts right through the 5200.

Since you removed more thickness on the bottom than what you put back on, you may need to add some stainless flat washers under the strut so the shaft bore in the strut will line up with the hole and log in the bottom of the hull. That's another good reason to go with the 5200. If the strut if off more than 1 thickness of a flat washer, I have used thickened epoxy under the strut to build up a base. Use a piece of wax paper when bolting the strut down into the epoxy so it doesn't stick.

Gary, I would because I really like the 5200 and it's sealing. I worry about removal later! The recess I'm reffering to is the new boats where the whole strut base sits in a pocket molded in the bottom of the hull. If you can't get a hot wire under a strut, a torch can be used to heat the strut. I seem to remember that it only takes about 200 degrees to soften the 5200. That temp will not affect the temper of the bronze strut.

Did you catch my post about using a hard plastic bushing in place of the rubber cutlass as a temp means of using the prop shaft to line up the strut with the hole and log in the hull?

Edit: I do see the recess now! Don't count on it being the same. Do check the strut to the hole alignment.

wow that is amazing Farmer.....wish i had those skills ....