the fun of refinishing a predictor

[illMATTic]

well i have just started on the fun. got tired of sitting on the couch so i went out to the garage and started removing anything that stood in my way. since i havnt found a motor yet, i guess i should start on the looks. i plan to refinish the exterior of the hull aswell as the inside. last year i did some polishing on the hull to give it some shine. i also redid the interior. now its time for the floor and finish what i started on the hull. feel free to give your thoughts and concerns at any time.

this is the hull before i did the first sanding last year.


this is after the sanding in its present state. i did some probing and i think i can sand out all the yellow gell to get back to the black.


here is what i have to deal with inside. the back 2-3 feet of the floor are gone. trim mount and batt. mount are gone as well. the transom however, is very strong. no flex at all. i also found that my trim lines had come loose and leaked into the back.

i have a buddy who works at a boating store a mile from my house so i can get all the materials at a price.

matt

 

[merc245]

Don't forget the trailer, rebuilding and refinishing should be the easy part of the of this job.

 

[illMATTic]

my buddy is going to media blast the whole trailer for me. what should i re spray it with?

 

[Chris E]

as a base coat, i have had great luck with Petit "Trailercoat". Its one of those epoxy-poly whatevers. It is designed for trailers and is a great primer. I use it on a box trailer i have that does get used in the winter so it gets salt and sandblasted when it's behind the van. I used tremclad over top of it and it was fine (it is a box trailer after all). It is expensive ($30 canadian/quart) and it stinks, but i think it is well worth it. Just make sure you get it shaken up first - it settles in the bottom of the can.

 

[illMATTic]

so i got this far till i realized i had no trash bags or cans.

all of this garbage is covered in oil and water. the one stringer i did have just fell apart as i pulled on it. im not sur if im going to pull the whole floor up. i dont want to wreck the carpet i just installed last year. the floor is solid about a foot past where it is busted up in the photo. how should i clean all the oil out?

 

[Duane]

if your stringer is that rotted, I think you have a bigger problem then destroying your new carpet...

 

[jrs1958]

When I did my floor, I also had some oil under the floor from a leaking fill cap gasket on my trim pump. I ripped everything out and then poured some sawdust in there and left it sit for about a day. Then I scooped out the oil soaked stuff and kept adding fresh sawdust every day. It took about 4 days before the hull was dry to the touch. I got my sawdust from my local lumberyard.

1984 Predictor 1968 Mercury 1250 I-6 125 HP

 

[illMATTic]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Duane:
if your stringer is that rotted, I think you have a bigger problem then destroying your new carpet... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
well the carpet cost a $100. whats the worst that that will happen from not replacing 3 ft of a single stringer? im not too worried about it.
jrs.... i will try that saw dust. it sounds much cleaner than any solvent i was thinking of.
thanks guys

 

[cooperider]

Hey I'm gonna do a step by step on Bdusteds boat when he finally gets it here. If you want to re-gel I can help you through it.

 

[illMATTic]

you know i'll be watching that thread

 

[illMATTic]

so its been too damn cold here to hang around in the garage. the heater i have cant hold up to the -1 degree f temp we have had here.i have been online reading so much info im about to bust.

i have to realay some of this to my boat.

 

[cooperider]

The colds gonna slow me down too. Longer if I get snowbound away from home. But I do have a big tank of propane on the way. To keep me warm when I get snowbound at home. Got that heater cause I just got fed up with woodburning stoves. For every 4 hrs working I spent 1 stoking the stove or stacking the wood or looking for kindling. Much better with a furnace. Next thing I need is and insulated garage door. So it stays warmer longer.

 

[jrs1958]

I’ve got a big garage, 6 cars. I hung up some tarps I got from Home Depot to reduce the area that I have to heat. I used 1 x 2’s to screw the tarps to the ceiling and I have short pieces of clothesline sandwiched between the tarps and the ceiling. I can roll the tarps up and tie them in the spring so they are out of the way. I use blocks of wood to hold the other end of the tarps at the floor. I have a little portable forced air 30,000 Btu propane heater. Last Sunday it was zero outside but inside the tarps it was 55 degrees F. I don’t seal the tarped area up tight because I don’t want to get ‘gassed’ out by CO2. There has to be some air leakage. The floor was cold, about 40 degrees F, but up at the ceiling it was cooking. I also have a little fan that turns slow to help move the heat off the ceiling. This set up works pretty good until the outside temp gets down to about –15 degrees F.

 

[DONCONVINCER]

I feel for you guys.. I hate the cold.. I'm glad we don't see temps below freezing durring the day very often.. Our weather is up and down.. Saturday it was near 50, Sunday night it snowed 2" Monday morning it was 12, Thursday's prediction is windy rainy and 50... Christmas day it'll be sunny and in the 30's..
I keep my garage confortable with 2 ducts from in the house and a kerosene space heater that probably would'nt even raise your temp 1 degree..
The A/C from the house in the summer is nice too..

 

[illMATTic]

well i finaly got off my ass and started to work on this thing. i went out and purchased some new power tools to help with the restore. i picked up a dewalt angle grinder for taking down the old glass and resin and to clean up the trailer with. i also picked up an 18 volt drill and circuler saw combo. i still have to get a shop vac. i found i needed one tonight when i was pulling out all the wood chips and shredded foam, most of wich was frozen to the hull. i guess there is still moisture from that time i forgot to put the plug in

good new is everything is solid.

 

[175checkmate]

Cleaning up nice. Its funny how the right tools make the job so much easer. When dealing with the fiberglass dust and a shop vac, do not buy a good one. The dust gets in the motor and will kill it slowly before the end of the project. I am on my 2nd shop vac.

 

[The Mate]

Looking good!

I have a feeling I will be doing that same thing soon!

 

[Chris]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 175checkmate:
Cleaning up nice. Its funny how the right tools make the job so much easer. When dealing with the fiberglass dust and a shop vac, do not buy a good one. The dust gets in the motor and will kill it slowly before the end of the project. I am on my 2nd shop vac. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I've had the same luck with the shop vacs. Mainly, that I'm forever burning out the motors. I was talking with one of my good painters, discussing my lack of luck with shop vacs and she was telling me that she bought a Rigid shop vac and it's been bullet proof. I asked her about sucking up drywall dust and such, and she said she does it all the time and has had zero problems. She also told me she had the same issues with the shop vacs, but the Rigid has been great.

 

[illMATTic]

so i purchased a small inexspnsive shop vac. i went right out and started using it yesterday. i pulled it out of the box and sucked up the very large pile of dust i had swep up. just as fast as it was picking it up.... it was going right out the backside of the vacume and all over my garage. well.... apperently they do not come pre assembled.

sure enough the wheels, filter and instructions were inside the vacume amidst all the garbage. i have never cussed so much in my life.

 

[cooperider]

I think the motor unit is the same size for all the tanks so if you get the big one first and the motor goes out on you go and get the small one next and just swap the powerheads.
Air powered tools are best for fiberglass and you can get an air powered vaccum but you could use 3 or 4 shopvacs up before you could come close to the price of a good airvac.

All my electric tools that I use on fiber glass when they die I toss them into a box and get another off the shelf. I keep the junk ones incase I need a part off one or something.