89 Winner Chameleon face lift

[gohiking]

I picked up the seemingly rare Winner Chameleon late last summer. Overall the boat is in good condition and is mechanically sound. The Mariner 115hp starts right up and runs all day long. I top out around 40mph (GPS) @ about 5000 rpm. I try not to push it much further as I have read that these motors will start to self destruct above 5500 or so. Currently, I am working on replacing the old beat down carpet and doing some light sanding and polishing to removes some stains and oxidation from the gel coat. If any one has any tips from personal experience in restoring gel coats it would be greatly appreciated. I will post some pictures.

 

[gohiking]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Here is the boat before I started pulling the carpet. I really like the layout of this boat. I has a bass boat type hull which is nice for getting in the shallows but has deeper and larger cockpit area where the kids can ride in relative safety. Plus it allows me to have a great fishing boat and an ok family fun boat all in one.

 

[gohiking]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Here are some more pictures from this past summer.


This is what we fish for here in New Mexico!


Just kidding. Got to love pulling in those Tiger Muskies!

 

[gohiking]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Pre carpet removal.

 

[gohiking]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Carpet removed and old glue sanded off. Next remove the motor and as much hardware as possible to start sanding the gel coat. If anyone has some helpful tips or lessons learned from installing carpet or restoring the gel coat please share.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Heavy metal flake gelcoat restoration has been discussed ad infinitum here on the forum and the general consensus is... it just really isn't very productive. It's the nature of the beast. Once it goes cloudy, there's no effective way to restore it. Either grind it off and redo it or Paint over it. You can try to wet sand it and then buff and polish and you might get it to look a bit better but if you get down to the metal flakes then you're toast!!!!

 

[gohiking]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Thanks for the info. Not knowing how much clear gel I have to play with before I will hit the flakes is there a product or compound that anyone has had decent success with?

 

[gohiking]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

So far so good. Did some light (2000 Grit) sanding and compounding on a small area and it came out great. I actually did two tests. One with out sanding and one with, and sanding made a huge difference. I will post some pics when I get a good portion of it completed. I am picking up carpet and glue this week.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Do yourself a favor and buy some rollers for that carpet installation. They embed the carpet backing into the adhesive for a positive bond and roll out any air bubbles. These are the ones I use:



The one with the red rollers is a hand held carpet roller, you can find it in the flooring dept. of Home Depot. The smaller one is a laminate roller for tight places the big one won't get into, you can get it in the cabinet/counter top dept at HD.

 

[gohiking]

Re: 89 Winner Chameleon face lift

Thanks jigngrub. I will do that.