carpet, finish, and gauge questions

I am going to restore a boat for the first time. I am very handy but never dealt with a boat or fiberglass before.

I have a 1986 Ranger 335v with a 110 hp Johnson. I have the seats pulled to be recovered this winter. I would like to replace the guages and carpet in the boat.

If anyone has done this if you can tell me which carpet holds up the best and which glue to use I would appreciate the short cut on the learning curve.

I also plan on ordering a gauge kit. It currently has a speedo, tach, trim, and fuel gauge. It also has a lowrance flasher but I would like to use that hole for a radio and cut a new cover to have finished.

I use this boat to crappie/blue gill fish but also use it with my wife and two young sons for pulling a tube and playing on the local lakes.

It sat outside for a few years prior to me getting the boat from my uncle. The top finish is grey with blue and grey Ranger stripes on the side. The finish looks great wet but of course looks awful dry. Is there any short cut to giving it a shine again? Even if it is a 10 foot finish I would be ok with it but it currently needs repainted to be honest but the boat just isn't worth it.

Semper Fi,

Rod

Re: carpet, finish, and guage questions

Re: carpet, finish, and guage questions

Ranger 335v said:

It sat outside for a few years prior to me getting the boat from my uncle. The top finish is grey with blue and grey Ranger stripes on the side. The finish looks great wet but of course looks awful dry. Is there any short cut to giving it a shine again? Even if it is a 10 foot finish I would be ok with it but it currently needs repainted to be honest but the boat just isn't worth it.

Semper Fi,

Rod

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If the boat looks great wet, then the finish probably isn't that far gone. I have detailed a number of boats, and brought many "back from the dead". The best (and proper) way to bring back the finish is as follows:


The proper way to bring back a heavily oxidized/worn finish is a 3-step process: (you have to go over the entire boat 3 times)
1. compound (to remove oxidation)
2. polish (bring back shine)
3. wax. (seal and protect)

The compounding part is where the "tricky" part comes in, you can get some pretty heavy grits which will cut the finish quite a bit, if you aren't careful, it can strip it down to the fiberglass underneath. I would need a close-up picture, then I can make a recommendation on which one to use.

For really bad finishes, you have to replace compounding with sanding. You should wet sand with an extremely fine grit wet/dry paper. I start with 800, then do 1000, then 2000.

Wet sand, go very slowly, and without a lot of pressure to get it smooth, and just to cut enough of the gel to get the color back. Let the sandpaper do the work, do not use a lot of pressure. When the sand paper starts to slide easily, you have reached the point where you have met the grit rating of the sand paper, so move on to the next finer grit.

The biggest point I can make is that Gel coat is extremely thin!!!! So work slowly, and don't oversand. If the gelcoat is thick enough to bring back the color, and retain a smooth finish, you can then polish it and wax it to get the shine back.

If it is too thin, or too far gone, then sadly, you are looking at either painting it, or re-gel.

Hope that helps!

Re: carpet, finish, and gauge questions

Thanks for the suggestions. I will get some photo's this weekend and post them. I will get a couple dry photos and wet photos to show the difference. I would be happy with the wet look but I have a gut feeling I will be repainting.

What is involved in re-gelcoat? Is this easier than a full strip and paint?

THanks,

Rod