1974 Ebbtide Restoration - SPLASHED

[mercurymang]

Can I wet sand the primer?

 

[Woodonglass]

Yup, recommended.

 

[mercurymang]

I just mixed up my first batch of paint. I read up on that hardener and it looks like nasty stuff. I'm wearing my respirator. Is that enough?

 

[Woodonglass]

If you can't smell anything, You're good to go. If you can then get new filters. Don't freak out to much. You'd have to have extended extensive exposure to have a major issue. Now I'm not saying that ANY exposure is good and you should ALWAYS take every precaution possible, but...Wearing your respirator and having good fresh filters will keep you adequately protected enuf to shoot your boat. Wear googles with the vents taped shut cuz your eyes can absorb stuff too!!!

 

[mercurymang]

Well I screwed up on my first attempt. Mainly because I went in sloppy and should have my hand slapped. I was concerned about the side affects of the hardener and did a rush job. Now I got a bunch of bubbles. I guess i'll be wet sanding tomorrow. The other issue that I had not foreseen was the corners and 90 degree angles where the roller just cant get to. I had to jab the roller in there for coverage and ended up with runs. I do see where if you get the technique right, this could look very good.

 

[Woodonglass]

All is not lost. We learn the most from our set backs!!!

Get some foam brushes for the corners and tight spots. I Light touch with an almost Dry roller is what's required to get rid of bubbles. Stay with it...You'll get the technique down and when you do..It'll look GREAT. It takes a while to get on to it.

 

[mercurymang]

So I stripped it all off on Monday and started over. So far I've applied 3 coats and I think it needs a couple more. Due the 100 degree temps, I'm having to mix it pretty thin. I have not had much luck getting the bubbles to pop with the roller but I have managed to come up with my own system thanks to tip from WOG about the foam brush. What I have been doing is rolling it on and then going over it with a 5" foam brush. I takes out the bubbles and the lines level out for the most part. After it dries, I give it a block sand. It's starting to look pretty good and fortunately for me, it's a very lite color so it's hard to see the screw ups. I have found that it's pretty much impossible to paint at night due to the bugs so I have to get that done right after i get home from work.
Here's a pic of the current progress.

 

[Woodonglass]

Are you using the Ultra High Density Foam Rollers for Smooth Surfaces and Gloss Paints? If so I'm not sure why you're gettin so many bubbles. Did you Thin the Paint? What I see is Lookin Good! What you're doin is Called Roll n' Tip!!! It works well too!!! What ever Paints Yer Boat!!!!

 

[mercurymang]

Yep, I'm using the high density rollers and thinning my paint almost 50/50 till it's like water. The issue may be the heat. Who knows but I think it's coming out good.

 

[Woodonglass]

WHOA!!!! There's your problem. You should only be thinning the paint using the ration stated in the formula for rolling 50% is to much!!!! That's why it's bubbling on ya. Check the link again and thin the paint as recommended. I bet you'll get better results.

 

[mercurymang]

I ran out of paint as it took me a while to figure out how much I needed to use and my first couple of coats I wasted a bunch. Then I had a spill. So I need to head in to town to pick up another can of Valspar.

I'm also getting ready to re-create the side shelves (what the heck do you call them?) so I ran down to the local hardware store this morning and picked up a sheet of plywood. Here's what I'll be recreating.

Also getting ready to do the cutout on the splashwell drain through the transom. Located my 1" hole saw and created a template/guide so I could get it dead-centered.

Forgot to mention that I got the stern eyes installed Thursday night. Things are starting to come together. Wont be long now. Can't wait.

 

[Corjen1]

Looking Good Merc!!!

 

[mercurymang]

Well, I finally put the last layer of paint on the bow section :happy:.(I think that was 6 or 7 coats. Cant remember). Anyway, it looks pretty good, not perfect but good and appears to be tough as nails although I'm sure over the next few weeks that paint will become even harder.
I also got the side panels finished last night and will try to get them installed tonight or over the weekend.
I got the splashwell drain drilled out. Came out very nice.

I think I'm going to try a test fit tonight, Loosely install the side panels, set the bow section in place and drop the cap to see how it all fits. Make sure the splashwell drain lines up with the hole drilled in the transom.

I'll post up some pics later.

 

[Woodonglass]

HUH??? Did What? When?? Where??? Sounds to me like you laid around and Drank beer!!! I can't SEE a darn Thing!!!!

 

[mercurymang]

Alrighty then. Well here's what I did today. Kind of did a dry fit of everything and I must say it looks pretty good. The only thing I cant get my head around is that on the port side, the cap screw holes don't line up with the holes in the hull. I mean they are like 3/8" off. It makes no sense. There's not enough room for it to move that much. Did someone switch caps on me in the middle of the night.... JK. But seriously, I cant figure it out. I guess i'll just have to nail it the way it is if I can't figure it out.
Anything I'm missing here. The last thing I want to do is PB the bow section and the cap on and then remember something stupid I forgot to do.

Please take a look and let me know what you think.

​

 

[Corjen1]

When I test fit my cap, had the same issues....just kept willigling and massaging and pushing.....finally it lined up. I made my transom too thick and ended up having to cut my splashwell out....to be refit at a later date...

 

[mercurymang]

Ya, i'm going to keep messing with it until I figure it out. Either that or go with it as it is. There is a rather large gap right up in the front but I cant remember if that's the way it was. Gonna have to go dig through all my old pictures and see if I can tell whether that is normal.

 

[Woodonglass]

Don't forget you did a bunch of cutting and reglassing so it might not be exactly in the same dimensions. As long as it's fitting with No major Tweaking needed I'd say you're pretty much good to go. Driiling new alignment holes is NOT that big a deal

 

[mercurymang]

I've been looking at how to do the flooring in aft portion to accommodate the gas tanks and battery. I would be curious to see how some of you have done it. I need to secure the battery tray and would like to maybe install some raised portion that the fuel tanks could fit into. So far, I haven't been real happy with the things I'm envisioning so I like to get some other ideas if there are any.

Thanks

 

[Woodonglass]

Go check out Archbuilders restore in the completed boat section. He did a raised tank that was really nice.