1964 ski Nautique project

Wow I didn't realize it went up that high. Does that boat have a mound of foam poured haphazardly around the lift rod as well?
There was a scrap of one main stringer that had a angled section, but I assumed it leveled back out like the later models. I was planning on pouring foam in that whole area up to the bow and then shaping it flat with a slight slope back towards the cockpit. It seems that's how Tims skier is.

Ethan, Looks like you're making great progress!

I would say the bulkhead mounted pylon is correct. Steve can correct me, but I don't think his Dad's boat has a bulkhead which is why the mount is glassed to the bottom of the floor. I'm going to guess your boat was made at a later time when CC added the bulkhead. Does anyone know if Art's boat has a bulkhead?

As far as I can tell, the front floor section and seats are really unique in the Kutsch boat. Most that I have seen have a bench seat and under the seat is a large cut-out to access the battery.

I'm attaching pics from Skeeter's 64 below so you can see the seat base construction and battery access that I believe is correct and more typical.





Since you don't have the original hand throttle, I'm assuming your boat was set up like mine, I'd suggest going with the foot throttle as it should be a lot easier to find one and I think it will be more functional. I am not looking forward to low speed maneuvering (like docking) with a shift on the dash and throttle only on the side both operated by the same hand. Seems like a clumsy set-up,

-Phil

Hi Ethan, I have a 1960 Atom. Similar circumstances in regards the throttle. I found the Morse throttle mounted on the gunnel was to busy combined with the shifter lever on the column. Original was long gone but had been foot. I have been installing the teleflex cable system with a non original foot petal and I think operation will be much more user friendly.
Go for it.

Eether wrote:    Does anyone know of a good way to match the color other than trial and error?

Ethan,
See if one of Mini-Craft of Florida has a standard gel color

Ok, some more questions for the geniuses of CCfan..
While removing the gelcoat back to bare fiberglass, a ton of these little “pockets” have shown up in the old layup directly under the gelcoat. Is filling them all with fairing compound during that process a reasonable solution or is there a better procedure?
The more concerning issue is all of the hair line cracks that matched up with the cracks in the gelcoat. They are the lighter colored lines you see everywhere. (Literally thousands) There really isn’t any discernible crack you can feel, it just somewhat scary considering the time invested in this hull so far. They are really only near the water line as well which is incidentally where the gelcoat is the thickest. Id have to check, but it seems like Cbass put a layer of cloth/mat(?) on the bottom of his for extra insurance against cracks?

Take a few measurements of the bunks on that trailer and I'll compare it to my #3 and #4dv. I didn't think that there was such a thing as a non-dv #4, but that sure seems to be what we're looking at. The dv keeps the bunks parallel so as not to cross the strakes on a deep vee hull... This causes loading issues for a flat bottom boat. I would guess you're probably OK since these bunks clearly taper- but let's confirm.

On a side note, I know of someone who would probably swap a #3 for that #4... So perhaps we should discuss!

Tim, I'll take some measuments tonight. The 1975 brochure shows it listed, and one of the trailers in the picture looks similar, but it's hard to tell.. Seems like it's about 55" at the back of the bunks if I remember correctly.

Pete, there are some definite voids that will have to be addressed, but mostly just those small bubbles. There's still a ton to do, but the tool of choice thus far has been a 36 grit pad on a 7" grinder. I grind carefully until the sandpaper just barely starts to "kiss" the glass, and then switch to a long board or in line sander depending on the contour. By and large everything is staying very smooth and fair. One issue is that there are certain places along the chine where the gelcoat ran down the mold and puddled. I'm just leaving these til later when plan I'll probably grind them out individually and fair them with the surrounding glass. I'm trying to spend more time at this stage, because it will probably save me time on the back end..
Is it imperative to take it to bare glass even where the old gelcoat is in good shape?

Those little cracks that go through all the way down to the glass are likely to telegraph back through the new gel.   You are going to need to cover them with some glass – I would probably go with a thin surfacing veil mat.   I would consider vinylester for this layer, I know the layer is going to add time, cost and work but minimal comparted to what else you have done. That will also fill in the little voids to a reasonable extent.   This needs to go under your fairing efforts.    

Scroll up Pete.

TRBenj wrote: Scroll up Pete.

What the H do you think I've been looking at??? I don't see any cracks!

It's all cracked - follows the pattern of the crazing in the gel - you can see them crossing the fibers

I believe I can see the cracks even on my phone... Try zooming in and using the bifocals Pete!

81nautique wrote: 4 Can you use epoxy directly over the old polyester? And can you use a very thin (almost like a cpes ) mixture to really flow into all those tiny cracks before going any further with your cloth and fairing layers?

No problem in putting epoxy right over that poly, however I doubt you could really do much good trying to get it into those hairline cracks even at a cpes consistency. The cracks are there, even if you can get some epoxy into them you cant prep the two walls of the crack to be anything that would be solid to epoxy to. Because of the need to then switch to vinyl before the fairing and the gelling I wouldn’t recommend it. Getting some glass fibers in tension over those cracks is the best solution.   

81nautique wrote: Can you use epoxy directly over the old polyester? And can you use a very thin (almost like a cpes ) mixture to really flow into all those tiny cracks before going any further with your cloth and fairing layers?

Everything I've seen, heard and read says You can use Epoxy over Poly but NOT the other way around. If you are going to gel over a repair you need to use Vinyl-E cause Gel does NOT like Epoxy resin. It'll stick but long term it doesn't work...Like me and Kim's Thinning the resin would work to fill the holes but then then it would run out unless your surface is horizontal... That's where Cab-o-sil comes into play. Still pure resin but thickens it.

Thank you gents, learning for the future. I never paid too much attention because I said I will never do another stringer or a re gel job and now I have both.