Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

[slyoder]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

FINALLY! The grinding is behind me! Didn't quite get done last night so I finished it up tonight and I got my first layer of mat cut. I plan to use it as a pattern to cut the rest of the material and possibly use it to cut the balsa. BTW the balsa came in today. hopefully I can get the cutting done tomorrow night. We plan to go camping for this weekend so I won't get much more done till next week.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Sly,

You are doing some very fine work!!! You really are!!! I would recommend getting some bags of sand for "Clamps" and Plastic so it won't stick to anything. I am looking forward to seeing her completed.

 

[slyoder]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Thank-you for the generous compliment Wood. I too am looking forward to getting her completed. We are leaving on July 23rd for a week of fishing in Canada and I really, really, reeealy would like to have her done for that but that is going to take some serious git-r-dun.

I've got a whole pile of bricks and I'm thinking about using those to clamp things down but I like the sand bag idea too.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Due to the curvature of the hull, I REALLY think you should consider the sand bags to get better conforming and pressure dispersement across the patch. Just my opinion. Sand is only a couple of bucks a bag and you only need 2-3 bags

 

[slyoder]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

I soon discovered cutting and fitting the end grain balsa is very time consuming! I got most of it cut last week then we went camping over the weekend/ holiday. I picked up about 5 sand bags yesterday and I also needed salt for my water softener so I figureded those would make good clamps if needed. So this morning I took the forenoon off and with the help of my brother-in-law we got the balsa in. I first vacuumed the whole hull then wiped everything down with acetone. We put down a layer of CSM and then pressed the pre-soaked balsa in on top. The hard part was trying to get everything to lay flat and stay there. I used every bag of sand, salt I had. I had a feeling there were going to be some edges that did'nt stay down and sure enough, tonight when I took all the weights off there were quite a few places along the edges that were not bonded. I mixed up some resin and thickened it slightly and added some chopped fiber. I was able to lift up the loose edges by cutting the mat that holds the blocks together. I liberally applied the thickened resin and pushed them down in and weighted them down. I'm hoping this will take care of the problem. Hopefully tomorrow I can get everything glassed in. I'm running short on resin but I've got another bucket coming on Thursday.

Once that is done I can work on the transom. The next stp will then be fixing the chips and dings on the hull. I'll probably flip it around for this. I don't have any supplies for this yet. I'm assuming I'll use epoxy to lay in some glass in the bad ones. Is there a certain kind of epoxy I should get for this? Also I noticed US Composites has a fairing compound to mix in epoxy. Will I need something like this to use for fairing? I'd like to get some stuff ordered so it's here when I'm ready to get at it.

View attachment 101541

 

[dwolfenbarger]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

I believe you need to use poly resin for the exterior repairs because gel coat won't stick to epoxy, assuming you are using gel coat that is..

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

I'd use 404 Poly resin. NOT epoxy. Get gallon of Cabosil, a qt of microballons, and 1qt of 1/4" chopped fibers. All this will be needed for making the filler you'll need for fixing and fairing. We can discuss how to do it when the time comes. Sorry to hear about the curled edges. Like I said I've never dealt with it so I had no idea what to tell you to expect but I some how KNEW that the curvature was going to be an issue. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[ingalp01]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

it looks like you are moving right along, and I agree with Wood, you are doing some good work there. You'll definitely end up with a much better boat than you started with... Keep up with it. You'll be very pleased in the end.

 

[slyoder]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Thanks for the comments guys! I've been to busy working on the boat to check out Iboats the last few days. I've got the hull glassed in, a layer of CSM over the balsa and two layers of 1708 over that. We glued the transom in this morning with pb. Then i worked the rest of the day on getting the deck glassed in. I didn't quite get finished with that, I ran out of 1708 and resin. I got my second bucket of resin on thursday and it's pretty well gone. Did I mention that right now I'm sick and tired of glassing? I still need to do a few corners on the deck and I need to glass the transom in. Oh and I need to glass the fuel tank supports back in. Today in two weeks we are heading for Canada fishing and I'm still hoping I can somehow get her finished in time.

The bilge area had white gelcoat on it, I was thinking about putting it back in but then I read that it needs to be sprayed, I've only got a paint spray gun and I doubt the gel would go through that. I'm wondering could I just paint the bilge area?

I need a couple of gallons of resin yet but I haven't been able to find a local supplier thats anywhere close to reasonable. I've been using US Composites resin but that takes 3-4 days to get here.

I'm thinking here, I've still got maybe a quart of resin, barely, how much resin would I need to patch my chips? I've got 435 resin, 1/4 chopped strand, cabosil, I don't have micro balloons but I have 3M glass bubbles. If this would work then I would work on the outside of my hull till the other supplies come in.

As far as gel coat goes, to patch my chips, am I best off ordering colored gel or just trying to match myself?

Thanks in advance for any advice on these Items.
View attachment 102142

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Use what you've got to work on your gouges with the micro ballons. I'd use rustoleum pro oil based on the bilge. Wipe it down real good with acetone and paint it with two coats. It'll last a LONG time.

 

[slyoder]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Use what you've got to work on your gouges with the micro ballons. I'd use rustoleum pro oil based on the bilge. Wipe it down real good with acetone and paint it with two coats. It'll last a LONG time.

Thanks Wood, I'll check out the Rustoelum. I don't have any micro balloons, would the glass bubbles work? The micro balloons that US Composites sells are for Epoxy resin only.

I checked with spectrumcolor about getting some color matched gelcoat but they didn't have my boat in their database. They could do a special match but I'd have to buy at least a gallon, I didn't even ask the price for that. I'm wondering If I could get some gelcoat from US composites and add some pigment? I'm not overly concerned about an exact match. After seeing how your boat turned out Wood, I think I might go that route down the road.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Yep the bubble are the same thing. You can tint the gel. Kinda hard so use Small batches at first and it will change when it drys but you should be able to get close. For ME painting is a LOT easier but that's because I grew up painting. Yacht Doctor could Gelcoat your HOUSE but that's because he grew up Gelcoating. It's all what you know.

 

[slyoder]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

Well a little change of plans, I found a resin supplier in NE ohio, www.infinitycomposites.com. Awsome guys to work with, I called then about noon today and they let me come to their warehouse and pick up this afternoon. So I took a little road trip this afternoon. I got three more gallons of resin and some 1708. I also swung by gander Mtn got a few stuff, Bilge pump, 3M 4200. And then to Home depot where I picked up some Rust Oleum Pro and a preval sprayer to apply my gel coat.

Oh I also talked to US Composites today and they told me the 3M glass bubbles are not for below the waterline. He said I need to stick to cab-o-sil. I'll have to do a little more research into this. Right now I need to get some sleep.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Advice Needed on Monark McFast 15

OOPS, that IS correct Bubbles ARE not for WATER!!! MY BAD!!!!! SORRY!!!! I KNEW I said Micro Ballons for a reason.

 

[subliminaltrips]

hello, very nice thread, you do great work! i just picked up a 78 mcfast 15 just like yours that I'm going to be restoring as well. how hard was it to remove the top cap? was it really heavy? how much cutting, if any was there?

 

[jbcurt00]

Sub, its been a year and half since sly even logged on to iboats, and nearly 3yrs since he updated this topic.

Unfortunately, its unlikely he'll reply. Post a new topic w pix and the guys hanging around the resto forum will help you along the way. Thanks

Remember to check for recent activity, after 90days inactive, consider the topic closed and for research only, not to be posted to.

Thanks
John

 

[Bep927]

I also have a 1977 mcfast 5. I have a couple spider cracks on the hill and people are telling me I could have rotton stringer. Where are stringers located on this boat?I was hoping to sand a little and gel coat.