Re: YES RANGER!
I bought my first boat this year. I bought a 1982 Ranger 330v with a 1988 johnson gt150. I really enjoy it. I paid 1200.00 for it and I thought my wife was going to divorce me (haha not really) but for real she sat in the truck and cried as I wrote the check, and then wouldnt speak to me all the way home. (that was a peaceful relaxing ride home
) but anyway;
Got the boat home and the only one excited was my 7 year old daughter. She said "dad we'll fix it up!" It looked awful. Someone had sprayed automotive clear on it and it was peeling off everywhere. I started by sanding by hand until the clear was gone. Then I buffed it and waxed it. I was not satisfied, so I called around local fiberglass and boat shops. (did I mention I heard "I told you so!" somewhere around 30times a week) Anyhow, I got a price of $4000.00 to re gelcoat the boat. Since I have 2 kids I knew that was out of the question. Plus whos gonna spend 4 g's on a 1200.00 boat?? I was told about a product at home depot called Penetrol. Supposed to condition fiberglass. I was fiddling around in the garage one evening and thought I'd run get some and while I was there I started looking at the fiberglass resign and thought, how hard could it be to do the gelcoat myself? I will just do a small spot on the back and see how it goes. A test area if you will. So I bought the penetrol and some fiberglass resin and headed home.
I started by sanding (again) a small spot about 2 feet long by the fuel fill in the back, cleaned it with acetone and mixed up some gel. I had no idea how fast this stuff would set up and that once it starts getting hard you better quit! So after learning what I was doing by trial and error (mostly error) Every evening or weekend whenever I had time I would sand and then apply some gel and sand and sand and sand. It seemed like it would never end, but the boat was not that big so I kept the faith that one day it would.
So to end this story, I applied a ned gelcoat by myself to the boat and it looks awesome. I sanded the resin with 400 grit then 600 the 800 then 1000 then 1500 all by hand, then buffed it with rubbing compound then polishing compound, then waxed it and then finally the PENETROL! whew I am now a very good sander, I have no finger prints, I sucessfully made the entire house smell like a body shop, my wife and daughters Love the boat and I have a beautiful Ranger 330v I am proud to ride and fish in.
