1995 Larson 174 SEI Complete Rebuild

[Mechanicalmike08]

Dang, well if thats your image of "pretty good" I can't Imagine what your version of perfection is!

Those seats are harder than they look for sure, I didn't even give it a try.

Lol, well thanks. I just don't like the wrinkles and "ruffles" in the corners/ seams. Most of that is from my sewing skills lacking. I will say the pictures hide maybe a little more than in real life.

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

Read through this entire thread yesterday and I'm embarrassed to say I started about the same time and have yet to start on my transom! Beautiful job so far! :thumb:
Question: Way back at the beginning I didn't see a lot of pics of what the factory bulkheads and stringers looked like... were the replacements you made a lot different than factory? My project (Campion 185) had just two stringers and one bulkhead at the gas tank and one at the bow and that was it. I'd like to do more framing like yours and wondered if you varied a lot from what the factory installed and if that was advisable?

Thank you, again I'm the kind of guy that cant walk away and will lay in bed at night thinking about the project. Also helps I have a very understanding wife who doesn't give me to much crap for spending so much time out in the garage. My stringers are exactly the same as they were but the original bulk heads only went to the inside of the stringers. I extended them out to the ends of the hull for more floor support. The only other difference is I did not make the shelf in the bilge that is used as motor mounts for the 4.3. I figured if I ever do a 4.3 swap I will build the motor mounts then.

 

[tpenfield]

Dang, well if thats your image of "pretty good" I can't Imagine what your version of perfection is!

Those seats are harder than they look for sure, I didn't even give it a try.

Corjen1 is our forum benchmark of perfection . . . . IMO.

Seats are tough to make . . . tried my hand at it on my 24 footer, nowhere near perfect.

MM - keep at it, you are doing fine.

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

Well last night I got the second bow section seat cover done but not on. Today I got out in the boat and sanded and feathered the last little bits. Then thankfully its over 30F here today so I opened the door and blew everything out again and cleaned everything. I then taped off the sections I was going to texture and mixed up some gel coat.



Went and did some other house work for a few hours then it was time for the big one. The first full coat on the inside. What a workout. I felt like a contortionist. I will not post any pictures of the inside until its done now. But I will say it is awesome to see everything one solid color again.

One issue though, I put plastic down in the bilge area for me to stand on and I kicked off my shoes to not track dirt inside. At some point the plastic moved and I stepped on the gel coat that has been drying for over 2 weeks. the gel coat deformed and got like sticky from my foot being on. It left fuzz behind and felt soft in that spot again. Everything was hard and glossy up to that point. How long does it take for gel coat to really harden and seal. that final layer had surface wax in it.

 

[Chris51280]

it is cold outside and as far as i know it needs to have around 60 degrees. not sure if your garage is warm enough. any problems when you laid the glass

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

it is cold outside and as far as i know it needs to have around 60 degrees. not sure if your garage is warm enough. any problems when you laid the glass

Temp isn't an issue, garage is heated. I never had a problem laying glass. Ski locker seems fine but it's been over a month probably since I did that. Does gel need that much time to really cure? It's almost like the heat from my foot caused an issue

 

[Chris51280]

maybe somebody can give you a better explanation. Not enough hardener?

 

[Woodonglass]

MM, what method did you use to cure the Gelcoat? PVA?? Wax?? Plastic???

 

[Mad Props]

Sounds like a hardener issue... it shouldn't be soft after a couple weeks... tacky possibly if the surfacing wax didnt work but not soft.
how old is the gel and mekp?

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

MM, what method did you use to cure the Gelcoat? PVA?? Wax?? Plastic???

The final coat was waxed, like I said it's hard to the touch and fingernail. Should I be doing more?

I'm a little disappointed in the ski locker because it seems to mark easy with shoe Mark's and doesn't seem to clean easy but that seems to be hard now.

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

Sounds like a hardener issue... it shouldn't be soft after a couple weeks... tacky possibly if the surfacing wax didnt work but not soft.
how old is the gel and mekp?

It's hard to the touch, but it seems like the pressure from my full weight or the heat under my foot resoftned it and left a small impression of the sock texture/ left a little fuzz behind.
nothings that old, less than a month from when I got it. There's only a little MEKP left in that bottle I will toss and use a new bottle.

 

[Woodonglass]

Did you use 2% wax and stir really well. As you probably know Gelcoat is Air-Inhibited cured. If it's not able to support your weight after 24 hours...I'm afraid it will never fully cure and the only option is to remove it and start over. It should be as hard as the gelcoat on your outer hull. Sorry but it sounds to me like if you want it to stand up you'll need to start over.

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

Did you use 2% wax and stir really well. As you probably know Gelcoat is Air-Inhibited cured. If it's not able to support your weight after 24 hours...I'm afraid it will never fully cure and the only option is to remove it and start over. It should be as hard as the gelcoat on your outer hull. Sorry but it sounds to me like if you want it to stand up you'll need to start over.

I did use 2% wax, but I was doing some other searching and read about the wax being up to temp and how it can separate. I remember when I mixed it I thought it looked a little funny. I think my wax had separated, If I read correctly surface wax is just mixed with styrene and can separate. So I basically only had styrene mixed in.

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

Well the first two coats went down really easy, other than having to be very careful and painting myself in a corner. Since the bilge and gas tank hatch had basically no wax as I think the wax had separated I decided to go ahead and get in there and sand them both after the second coat on the deck had dried. I knelt on some plastic and prepped the bilge. After that I wiped everything in that area with acetone. Did the same to the gas tank hatch.

This time I wasn't taking any chances, I set the wax over a heater vent to make sure it was all mixed well again. I got the garage up and over 60°. Double checked my ratios and made sure to mix everything very well. Everything now has a third coat ( 4 on the high tread areas). I'm probably going to also put plastic down just to cover my butt too.

Overall very happy with the results, there's a few areas that could have been sanded or feathered out more but you really have to be looking. One of those things I will always see but on one else ever will.

 

[tpenfield]

Gelcoat,since it is usually put down as a thin layer does not generate a lot of its own heat vs. the amount of heat that can dissipate in a colder environment.

You mentioned the garage being 60 F ish :noidea: That might be OK for layup resin, but may be a bit cold for gelcoat. You can always use a hair dryer to get some isolated areas (like the bilge) up to 70-75 F which should wake up the gelcoat and get it to cure solid.

 

[oldrem]

Looks darned good

 

[Mechanicalmike08]

Thanks guys, I put plastic over everything about 30 mins after I had finished. I checked everything this morning and we are all good. It is hard and solid. No full weight test yet but I can tell a difference just from the appearance. You can tell the surface wax came to the surface more like ski locker than when i thought i have finished the bilge area originally. I am so happy. I can not wait to start the finishing touches now. Still a long road ahead but I think I am done wearing a respirator for a while.

 

[Chris51280]

ok, stupid question Mike. Why the plastic? doesn't the gelcoat cure by itself? What plastic are you using? I have seen some people using plastic over the stringers to hold the 1708 in place on the top. Can it stay there until it cures and won't stick?

 

[Woodonglass]

Any/All Poly based products are Air Inhibited Cured. Meaning they need to be sealed from the environment in order for the Chemical Reaction to properly occur. They WILL eventually cure over time, a LONG time, but it's best to block the air from the surface. Any Plastic covering will make this occur. PVA(PolyVinylAlcohol) will do the trick as well as wax. If you want to way several months for your Gelcoat to fully cure then you don't have to use anything but...It's NOT advisable due to contaminants being able to contaminate the surface

 

[kcassells]

Sure does look nice Mike.