Re: You Guys Inspired Me!!!!
Good luck with the project, very satisfying to restore one of these classics. i trolled this site for inspiration a couple years ago and redid a Jetstar, wish i had documented my work to contribute like you are....
Anyways, an alternative to consider instead of epoxy for protecting the transom and deck floors is a 'moisture cured' coating sold under the name of Aluthane. The web store peddling this stuff coated a piece of plywood and submerged it for over a year in water and they claim it did not delaminate. It is a bit pricey, but very quick and easy to use, just don't get it on your skin because it really sticks. This stuff seems very durable. I used it on my jet star restore and was very pleased so far...will see if it stands the test of time. Not sure if anyone else on forum has used the product, just my two cents. I've used epoxy before and while it is the tried and true method, it was a lot more time consuming than applying the Aluthane and the Aluthane looks great, dries a nice gray color.
In addition to appearing to have sealed the plywood from water, It also seemed to withstand gasoline spill as I had a leaky fitting that let loose about two gallons of fuel inside the boat as tank pressurized from the summer heat, totally soaked the carpet and ate though the rubber backing, but left the Aluthane coated deck floor underneath unscathed, not even a stain or blemish. Will see how it does over the long haul, just thought I would throw that out there.
Another consideration, On the trailer, if using bunks vs rollers (rollers were out of my budget) topping the bunks with strips of HDP (I sliced a plastic cutting board from wallyword into strips as my source) instead of carpet works well...just be careful because the boat will slide right off - very slippery indeed!
