How To 22.5ft Complete restoration...

[Gil Marlin]

I like the Mexican flag mounted on your boat...

[bburrito]

Awesome work! I was afraid that I was going to have to pay someone to do a lot of the work I need to do on my boat but after seeing this thread it has answered a lot of questions that I have had. I do have a few more though that I was hoping that you could answer.

The bolts and screws that are going through the finished transom, are you sealing the holes first before you put the bolts through so that no wood is exposed? What do you seal it with? How about the deck, how did you seal the space between the deck and the gunwale? Also, there are some places where I have ground out spidercracks as well as some gouges taken out of the existing gelcoat. Would I just use a cabosil paste to fill it in and fair it prior to gelcoating?

[tamezjos]

Originally Posted by bburrito

Awesome work! I was afraid that I was going to have to pay someone to do a lot of the work I need to do on my boat but after seeing this thread it has answered a lot of questions that I have had. I do have a few more though that I was hoping that you could answer.

The bolts and screws that are going through the finished transom, are you sealing the holes first before you put the bolts through so that no wood is exposed?
+++++The holes are sealed with 5200 at the same time the bolts are put in place, all in one and the same operation



What do you seal it with?
+++++ 5200

How about the deck, how did you seal the space between the deck and the gunwale?
+++++ Cut small 1/2 - 3/4 inch strips of mat and using your fingers rub the mat until the fibers are loose. Prepare your resin with hardner and mix in cabosil and then your loose fibers, you'll know you have enough fibers in there when you try to lift some of the fibers in the mixture and the whole thing sticks together. Use this strong super thick paste to fill the gaps. The fibers in this paste are going to make the mix stick together and you will have to use your two hands to separate the fibers and make them go into your crevice, make sure you dont leave any air pockets. You should also prepare the area where this mixture is going to go by removing any gelcoat/paint and cleaning very well with acetone, don't make the mistake many people do by overlooking this very important step, always clean with acetone before applying any resin/fiberglass.


Also, there are some places where I have ground out spidercracks as well as some gouges taken out of the existing gelcoat. Would I just use a cabosil paste to fill it in and fair it prior to gelcoating?
+++++ Depending on the depth of your gouges you might be better off including some small fibers like I explained above to your patch mixture. After this is cured you can cover your work with gelcoat or paint.