1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

[SKIBUM1M]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Mick, Its not that bad looking. Mine was about the same when I flipped it. Just plan alot of time. I had to fill mine, sand it smooth, fill again and sand it, then I would find more so fill those, Each time you finish all the areas you can find you go thru the hull noticing smaller and smaller imperfections. The more time you take the better it will be in the end.

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Thanks guys for the positive comments

I was out to home depot to pick up my sanding supplies and then I was out organizing the garage and going over the boat. I made a video to so you can see a little better what I'm dealing with.

Skibum- not only am I going to be doing filling, but I am going to be getting rid of alot of areas (especially along the keel) where one of the previous owners just glopped on some kind of filler all over the place.

I have some questions:

1. Can I use a orbital hand hander?

2. What grit should I start with (60-80)?

3. How deep should I go (just remove the last paint job and then fill, prime, paint)?

4. What should my final sanding grit be before priming?

5. When I am filling I am using 3m Marine Premium Filler with glass bubbles- I'm assuming this is a good product to use. It says it can be used above and below the water line.

Thanks Guys!

Let me know what you think of the video

If the video doesn't load you can find it on youtube under "boat flip"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQmQp-uM6dE

Goodnight

 

[luv boats]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Man love that heater Good job , cant wait to see this one finished !! John

I'm wondering how Mick is doing on his boat. He hasn't posted anything for some time. Was hoping he would keep posting cause the deck of his boat looks like mine all rotted out. Wanted to see how he repaired it.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

See my thoughts below

I have some questions:


1. Can I use a orbital hand hander? Sure

2. What grit should I start with (60-80)? I would go with 80, 60 is pretty course for pain prep. You could use it to grind down some of those old repairs.

3. How deep should I go (just remove the last paint job and then fill, prime, paint)? Since the old paint job is coming off, I would make sure you get it taken off. Otherwise it may come off later and take your new paint with it. If what is under it doesn't appear to be coming off, I would leave it. I would also spot prime an area first to make sure what is left doesn't lift or wrinkle up. Some of the paints / primers don't like each other.

4. What should my final sanding grit be before priming? Varies, depending on what paint you are using. I would pick out a paint and see what the manufacturer recommends. Mine was 400 grit.

5. When I am filling I am using 3m Marine Premium Filler with glass bubbles- I'm assuming this is a good product to use. It says it can be used above and below the water line. Haven't used it, so I don't know.

Thanks Guys!

Let me know what you think of the video

If the video doesn't load you can find it on youtube under "boat flip"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQmQp-uM6dE

Goodnight

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Thanks for the advice arch.

 

[NetMatrix]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Mick you are doing a really awesome job with this boat. It has given me some new ideas to use when I get back to rebuilding my Ebbtide. You did a great job with the interior. Keep up the good work with it. I look forward to seeing the final project.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Mick,
What's going on man? I gone a couple days and when I get back you have a new Avatar, Your boat wrong-side up, and a new Video. I love it.
I still remember when you said you weren't going to tear it all apart and definitely wouldn't take the keel board out. HA, HA.
You've come a long ways my friend. You may not have done the next phase either but I'm sure it will come out great.
Bob

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Bob! Yeh I went with an Appalachian Trail logo(couldn't find an Arkansas Traveler one). I figured it was time for a change since I moved on to a different part of the project. Yeh, the boat flip was interesting to say the least. The boat was alot heavier with seacast compared to dry rotted stringers, transom, and floor. To think, I took it off the trailer and put it on the supports when I first got it. We had six people to flip it and we struggled!

Tonight I started sanding. I figured I'd start in the middle, on the keel(the worst part of the bottom of the boat) and work my way from there. This is where I started(worst area on the keel)

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After about an hour of hand sanding (I really hate cleaning up dust and I could lose a couple pounds so that's why I'm hand sanding) with 60 grit(the area is rough as you could see in the pic) this is what I was left with before filler(explained more later)

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For the keel, I made a template out of cardboard, and then transferred it to a piece of 1/4 oak ply, and cut it out. I will use this template to get my height and width correct on the keel. I will also use this template when I apply my filler to get it pretty smooth before sanding.

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Here is a pic of the template on the area I sanded tonight. It is pretty close but I still need to sand the other side keel in this area yet

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Sanding kicks up alot of old paint and whatever filler the po used on the keel. By hand sanding I am able to control it though and it doesn't make the whole garage and work areas all dusty.

Here are my tools of the trade for the next week or two.
Hand sander, block sander, 60 grit for the rough areas, 80 grit for everything else, then 100 and 150 probably for the sides because they aren't in that bad of shape. I will probably need finer grit for the final sanding but I have to find out what the pettit paint requires for final sanding before I purchase that. This Norton paper is great. I have used it before for woodworking and it really does last alot longer and hold it's grit better than other papers out there. The bigger sheets I have to cut down to use on the blue sander, the smaller sheets are made for the blue sander or the block. HD just doesn't sell the 60 or 80 grit in the smaller sheets.

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Wow- it's only 11:15 and I'm heading to bed!!! I honestly don't remember the last time I went to bed before 1 or 2 am! The wife has been on me about getting to bed earlier so I am finally agreeing not to be a walking zombee during the day and I am going to try and get to bed by midnight every night. (we'll see how that goes)

Goodnight! And thanks for the compliments guys!

 

[tinkeringwackyone]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

definitely need to keep the mrs. happy, as we all know they can make our lives miserable pretty easy.

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

LMAO That is very, very true Tinkering

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Tonight I said the hell with the hand sanding on the bottom! It would have taken me weeks! I decided to give the orbital sander a try with some 100 grit and I was very happy in a short period of time. About 3 hours of sanding and I was done with the bottom of the boat minus the keel.

My main objective for the bottom was to get off the previous paint job. On the sides of the boat, the previous paint job must have been done correctly- sand, clean, prime/paint. But the bottom must have just been a slap on job while it sat on the trailer. It was peeling and not hard at all to get off- it didn't even take much to get it off with the hand sander let alone the orbital sander.

So I sanded down to the first rib and overlapped into it a bit. I will probably just sand the sides with 200 or 220 before filling nicks and scratches and the final sanding. I have to call pettit tomorrow to find out what the final sanding grit should be.

Here are a couple pics where you can see the difference after the sanding

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This is the area in the back where there was some damage and where water must have been getting in. After some sanding I was down to the silicone that was put in to prevent the water from coming in.
Before

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After

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Here is the stress fracture that was one the bottom after I sanded it out pretty good for filler

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A shot of the front after she was all sanded down. I filled some nicks and the bow eye bolt area a while ago now she's sanded down ready for more filler. At this point I heard the lady stretching out her legs getting ready for a second life!!!

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Like I said I still have to do the keel, the sides, and the transom(transom is going to require a quart of filler!). Then I think I'm just going to bring out the hose and wash her off before filling. She is a dusty middle aged gal!

Question- What do you do about spider cracks in the paint? I have two of them. Do you just sand the down to fiberglass and then fill?

Thanks and Goodnight!

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Looks like you are making progress Mick. Do you have any pictures of the "spider cracks"? Sounds like it might be craze that wasn't filled last time or telegraphed through the paint. Make sure you get all the silicon off, paint hates silicon!

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Spider cracks are signs of normal wear and tear...like the wrinkles we carry around after a few decades. Only way to remove them is redo the gelcoat...another option is to sand them down, fill and repaint...but that just covers them up.

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Arch and Tmcalavy. I sanded them down and will fill them before painting.
Thanks Guys!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Mick,
Looks like your off to a good start.
The orbital sander really does a nice job and saves on sore joints too.
Bob

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Thanks Bob! I was looking in a sportsmans magazine and I found something for you! I'll post it later or tomorrow

Man! 2 hours sanding the transom area. It had som delamination going on at the bottom on the side by where I had the hole from the rollers. Ground that all out. I'm still out here now looking at it

The transom is going to be a good test for my filling and body work skills for sure!

I'll post pics later but I have a question for you guys.

Right where the brackets sit for the motor, there is some uneveness. Prob from years of a 260 pound motor sitting on a rotten transom. Do I just fill those areas with the same kind of filler or do I want to use a courser filler with short strands?

I have two fillers from 3m- marine high strength repair filler which contains fiberglass strands to restore strength which is not for sanding and fairing. And, marine premium filler with glass bubbles used for filling and fairing which is sandable in 30 minutes.

According the 3m- you use the high strength filler first up to 3/8" thick and then the premium filler on top of that. I only have one area (maybe two) that is about 3/8" off and that is where the roller was at the bottom back of the boat. And maybe where I removed some delaminated glass tonight I might do a thin layer of the high strength stuff.

I think I just answered my own question but what do you guys think. I guess basically if I had/have to sand down to glass I will use the high strength filler. If not down to glass I will use the premium sandable filler.

Let me know your thoughts on the motor mount situation though. If I had to guess I would say it's just a bit wavy, maybe 1/16-1/8" wavy. I guess it's not that big a deal the more I run my hand over it

I'll post pics of tonights work then.

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

First- Here you go Bob- weather problem solved!!!

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Here are the pics from tonight. OK- maybe I'm am going to be anal about this project.

Before

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After

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This was the delaminated area after it was all ground down to fresh glass. Here is where I will use the high strength filler to build it back up and then go over that with the premium sandable filler

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A look at the old drain plug area. There was a spider crack her so I ground down to fresh glass. The new drain plug will be slightly higher since I added the additional csm to the hull floor.

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This side wasn't all that bad

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I don't know why the transom area was in such bad shape compare to the bottom and sides of the boat?

Oh well, that's it for tonight. Let me know what you guys think.

We are bracing here for another 12-16 inches of snow coming tomorrow into Friday. Ours schools around here, including mine are already called off for Thursday. We will most likely going to have Friday off too because this snow storm is also supposed to produce 30 mph winds as well so we will have some good drifts! According to the farmers almanac for this area we are supposed to have a 36" snowfall next week yet too, and another 3 snow falls in March! I Love IT!!!

Goodnight

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Mick you can keep the white stuff....we are supposed to get some tonight You might look into one of these

I have a shorter one that I do all my body work with. It will give you a lot flatter surface than using a power sander. The boat is looking good! Remember if you take off very much glass, you might want to add back some CSM. I usually build it up a bit high, then knock it down slightly below the final height with a grinder...and we know you love grinders!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Mick,
Thanks for the info. I was thinking about one of those.
Looks like you have been working pretty hard on the boat. With school closed you will even get more time on it.
As for the snow, you can have all of it. Don't like it, don't want it, and the only ice I want to see is in my drink covered with a little umbrella.
Thanks again.
Bob

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Man, that sandpaper brings back bad memories. You are dong a great job my friend.