A restore coming to life

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
This boat was lost in inventory and bubbled wrapped for 5yr's. I was well into a project already (major recon) when i bumped into this neglected little lady.

Picture163-1.jpg


You may notice most all of the graphic's are gone, they had curled over time along with the gel coat which had become sheetrock flat white. So with a heat gun they were all removed.

Now to the interior.....
Picture073-2.jpg


Picture075-2.jpg


Picture070-2.jpg




As you can see those pink spot's have stained the vinyl, it was due to a certain type of fungus that occur's in all 50 state's but the at the time of const most mfg's had no ideal it would or could grow in a enviroment of plastic...so some interior work was needed here. Ahh

Actually i an not one for posting pic's and documenting a story, so there are some gap's plz forgive , but most of the boat had just sat and fallen apart........

So i first started with the dash, the burlwood look reminded me of a 95 taurus so i went on a hunt and ended up at TAP plastic's and found a very inexpensive carbon fiber look alike. Simply traced the old facia onto the new, cut it our with a jig saw and blade made for cutting plastic. Up dated the electronic's with a garmin 178 and moved a few thing's around more to my liking....Really it is quite simple once you get the courage to go on...


Picture109-1.jpg



Picture110-1.jpg
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

Picture111-1.jpg




Picture113-1.jpg


Picture191.jpg


Picture195-1.jpg


Picture202.jpg



There i am somewhat satisfied with the dash lay out. Some may notice that the i have sanded out the edges of the carbon look alike plastic ...it's very easy Just use a 200 grit paper and take you time...the polish with any abrasive car cleaning wax.
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

After reading a tremedous amount of info in the archive's here at I-boat' and a good amount of interaction with some of the member's...i decided to do a little painting rather than gel coating...( thank you Ondarvr) i decided to accent the boat a little ,it did have some graceful lines.

The paint used was Interlux, I decided to use a two part paint based on the many recomendedation from forum memeber's.

Spraying paint is genrally thought of as the best way to go in most circle's so that was the way i started. I used there prime kote as a primer and sprayed it with a the avergage joe type of sprayer..

Picture171.jpg



Taped out my lines and wrapped out the rest and let it rip

Picture023-1.jpg


Picture022-1.jpg



Picture018-1.jpg


Picture016-1.jpg


Picture021-1.jpg


You can see in that pic that i tried to tape off the moldings, a ver bad ideal. Prime-Kote dries extremely hard, so hard you cannot pull the tape off. It breaks up every foot or so making for a very tedious job of peeling it off adding hours to the job...I would highly recomend pulling any hardware or rub rail off prior to any painting it will save you a lot of agravation.
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

Now comes the final painting process. a few thing's i learned along the way was to dewax the boat prior to any type of sanding, sanding without doing that will only spread wax or impurities around which will show up sooner or later. As to solvent's the only reliable one was xylene acetone just doesnt get the job done.

Picture001-2.jpg

Picture004-2.jpg


Picture003-2.jpg

Picture024-1.jpg

Picture025-1.jpg

That was the second coat, while it may look decent in these pic's, there
were sag's and imperfection's, so i did the usual and tried to sand them out...
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

JAmi003.jpg

JAmi004.jpg

JAmi002.jpg


As you can see i did make the attempt to finish out what i has started, but in the second pic one can see the waves of sagging that occured from tying to get to much coverage in one or two shot's. I did my best to level it all out with 2000 grit wet paper and follwing up with 3m super compund and a glazing compound, but as you can see the finsih or gloss is somewhat lack luster.. Looking back i can say for my self only a very skilled painter and very experienced in using perfection should attempt spraying...but do what you must..:D

I started back over and using 220 grit and carefully cut off impertion's or sag's. This time i used a method as recomended by Interlux....well almost.
I used a closed cell foam roller that can be found at Home depot. Just as one would use latex take in there home, i rolled out the paint making sure that is was level and no runs occured. I rolled it our for about 3 mins then went back with a another dry foam roller and flattend what ever stippling or bubbling was left, this left a very fine nap on the paint whiched leveled
out like glass.

Here are a few link's on the process......you have the option of watching in high res. It can be found in the ower right hand corner....it will allow you to see just how much bubbling occur's and how it lay's itself down..dammed amazing paint..

watch in standard quality watch in high quality


Rolling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MekW6qu_HT4

Flattening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nH-GWNYBM
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

And the result's

JAmi016.jpg


JAmi013.jpg

JAmi012.jpg

JAmi020.jpg


No sanding no buffing just boom done. But i will tell you this it take's about 4-5 coats to build to a fianl finsh. In between coat's you just take the shine off the paint using a 320 grit paper to create a surface that the new paint will adhere to and along the way you learn just just how to apply Perfection each time resulting in a better job
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

Huh?

Why does this look like De Ja Vu?

Ya think it is as fast as it looks?

Well the fleet has been in port for awhile, with a few minor excursion's just to make sure it's still sea worthy.... and i have posted a few example's along the way.

Back to the interior, i purchased the carpet from Lowe's in/outdoor stuff. It was by far a thicker pile than the orignal...making for a very difficult fit. I could only get a bend around the corner along with many cut's to get any kind of fit. I ended up trimming it to a 1/2" inch length on the back side and the using Noutlex to finish the back side..in the end it worked out to my satisfaction..

Picture015-2.jpg


Picture049-1.jpg


Picture050-1.jpg


Picture051-1.jpg

Picture051-1.jpg

Picture059-1.jpg
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

Removing the carpet was a god awful dirty job Repriator on it was as simple as tearing it out and taking a angle grinder with a 8" adapter slapping on some 36 grit paper...starting in one corner and grind away..it took hour's.

After all of that work i used a two part urethane glue to attach the Nautolex flooring, the stuff was not temp sensitve as most outdoor glues i found.....and dried within hour's job done which i will neva do again.

Picture002-4.jpg


I also cut down those pedstal's two inches...now when i am on the water were below the wind line...much nicer and Ms Gunner allows allow faster speed's...doesn's mess up her Doo as much.....:confused:........ Im not going to say a thing.

New wheel there...it's a automotive type....about 1/2 of the price of the marine version....the gauge trim will be chromed in time iv'e just had a bit to much for now...

Picture005-3.jpg


Ahh some new tune's.....:redface: went with the kid's damm hard to say no sometime's....:D

Picture007-4.jpg
 

vandy21

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
375
Re: A restore coming to life

Looks awesome, I still love the paint job, i remember when that was first posted.
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

The upholstry was a bit out of my hand's, but there are thing's one can do to control cost's...Dismount all of the hardware, buy your own vinyl and know just what you want to do. Give the vendor time to complete the project ....in my case it was 45 day's...plenty of time to use the job as a filler. Pack her all up and go get some bid's...very much the same as getting a estimate for autobody work......In this case the material's were 180.00 and 500.00 labor....believe me bids were wild. And the job they did was excellent i was very pleased.

Picture016-3.jpg

Picture014-2.jpg

Picture015-3.jpg



This one end's here..
mememe.gif


http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/Tail_Gunner_2006/?action=view&current=61408aa5.pbw

Opp's almost forgot the boat was proped with a 19 pitch 3 blade aluminun...with lots of reading and some expert guideance from WH in the prop forums i picked a 20 pitch 4 blade Stilletto...she pulls like a tractor now smooth as silk and went from 49 mph to 56.....

attitude.jpg

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


















Picture019-4.jpg



Time to finsh up what i started 2 years ago.........The adventure continue's..........
 
Last edited:

WizeOne

Commander
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
2,097
Re: A restore coming to life

Yer a real artiste Tailgunner. It all looks first cabin.
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: A restore coming to life

Thanx Coor's the paint itself is amazing......anyone in this forum can do it....;)
 

fishingdan

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,045
Re: A restore coming to life

Great job! I too feel that roll and tip painting is easier than spraying paints like Perfection. As you found, several thin coats is the key.

Love the boat.
 
Top