Mercruiser Inliner Swap Progress...165 Rebuilt I6 replacing the old 470

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

OOOOHHHKAYYY... well it's been forrrrever since I've had an update, I think I win the award for slowest progress on this site :sleeping:. April and beginning of may were a bust for the boat since I was preoccupied doing work on my truck that it so desperately needed (suspension & brake overhaul). It is going to be my tow rig so I suppose you could say it's helping out the cause tho :thumb:

So I did more work on the ass of the boat, decided I wanted her completely clean and smooth - remove all the bottom paint, holes, cracks, etc. and apply a fresh coat of gel. I decided on spraying and used the cheap gravity feed HVLP gun from good 'ol harbor freight, purple with 1.5mm tip. The gel of course needed to be thinned slightly for which I used the least amount of MEK needed till I got it spraying nice. I used unwaxed for the first 4 or so applications to build up some thickness (about 1 liter of gelcoat). Then the last shot I used the gel with the wax in it for a full cure. I let it cure for at least 24hrs before I began sanding. Here are the results!

First things first..patch up all the holes. I had some previous damage to the starboard corner of the hull, and previously repaired it years ago with one of those gelcoat repair kits. I had done a poor job and it had spider cracks and bubbles in it so I decided to fix it right this go around, sand it all down and feather it out real good. I built back up most of the thickness with patches of 1.5oz csm and 1708, before applying filler to smooth it all out.










I also had some spider cracks in the original gel coat down low on the port side. I grooved them out with the dremel and applied filler as such.

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

After I finished all the fairing, I laid down the gelcoat and as you can see there is quite a bit of texture to it (orange peel) even with the HVLP gun, likely due to how viscous the stuff is. Let me say that meticulously cleaning the gun out after every batch was a giant PITA, the most stressful part of the ordeal for sure. Twice I had it kick too quick on me and almost ruined the gun, yikes! pics...

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Last night I finished 1st and 2nd round of sanding. I blocked with 120(dry) to knock down most of the orange peel, then went over it again with 220(wet). I did have a few touch up spots to take care of (lows, and pin holes) but not many at all. Have to say it turned out pretty great. Pics of it wet really give a nice preview to what It'll look like when it's polished!











That's all for now.

 

[Mark72233]

Looking good Woe

 

[nurseman]

Nice and smooth!

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Thanks fellas! Hoping to do more sanding/polishing tonight

 

[archbuilder]

nice job, I bet spraying and cleaning the gun was a fire drill for sure!

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

nice job, I bet spraying and cleaning the gun was a fire drill for sure!

Yeah, no joke. By the time I was finished cleaning the gun, the surface was ready for another coat lol.

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

BTW what compound do you all use to polish with? I was looking into this:
http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/3M_06039_Finesse_it_Marine_Paste_Compound.html

 

[Mark72233]

Wood sent me these links in reference to compounds.
..http://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-G3501...mpound+meguiar
Followed by this...http://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-M4516...ar+boat+polish
I use one of these from HF... Cheap Enuf with a 25% discount coupon...http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-...her-66615.html
Got these too...http://www.harborfreight.com/7-1-2-h...pad-90451.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-po...pad-61531.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece...ets-93591.html

 

[archbuilder]

Woe,

given its a gelcoat, and a lot harder than paint, you might want to start with something like 3M's super duity, then move to something like the Finesse It II. Superduty is a courser compound, Finesse It is the next step down. Never used the paste Finesse It, the liquid works very nicely. It breaks down as you buff it out. I haven't tried the meguiars, so I don't have a reference point. The 3M compounds are excellent, used them for 25 years. A wool bonnet works nicely also.

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Thanks Mark, Arch. I have used 3M's superduty in the past, the cream colored stuff, worked great. But I've only seen it sold by the quart, just looking for something sold in the gallon cause I've got quite a lot of ground to cover, the entire boat needs polishing, hasn't been done in years.
Mark, that HF polisher looks like a good deal. I like that it has a digital readout for RPM too. Might have to pick that one up and give it a whirl.

 

[Mark72233]

Woe, I bought one yesterday. I will let you know how well it works.

 

[archbuilder]

Woe, you can get it in gallons. I used to detail Peiterbuilts back in the day, we went through a lot of gallons

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Woe, you can get it in gallons. I used to detail Peiterbuilts back in the day, we went through a lot of gallons

Heh, that must've been quite the workout. I'll keep shopping, If need be I'll grab a quart from the West Marine by me, pretty sure they stock the stuff.

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Stopped in at my composites supplier to pickup more fairing putty. Turns out they also supply polishing compound, Aqua Buff 2000, picked up 2 gallon pale of the stuff! Enoygh to cover the entire boat I'd think

 

[archbuilder]

Cool let me know what you think of that stuff, I have seen it advertised but never tried it.

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Will do arch. I just finished up my wetsanding. I need to go out and get a VS polisher now and then I can call the transom done. I wet sanded all the way up to 2000, still a bit hazy, just need to do a little buffing to make it perfect!

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

So I'm getting ready to fiberglass the deck soon. What do you all recommend for layup? I already have a layer of csm down covering the wood, it's been faired and sanded smooth. But to finish it off which type of fabric, and how many layers do I need? Also thinking of using surfacing vail cloth to get a smoother finish with less print thru before I gelcoat, or will a final 2oz cloth fabric be smooth enough? Thanks.

 

[archbuilder]

I just use two layers of 2 oz CSM, and 3 layers of tabbing. I know a few people use 1708, but if you add a layer of that your probably going to need another layer of CSM to cover up the texture. What is your finished surface going to be?