Chrysler Sailors Forum

i have a 1977 C26 that is need of some TLC inside the cabin. The paint on the walls and ceiling are beginning to show their age. In many spots, the paint is peeling/flaking off.

I'd love to be able to put something in that looks like the ceilings that you see in many new cruising boats - Hunter, Beneteau and the like with wooden "beams" and halogen pot lights throughout... enough dreaming.

Has anyone tackled such a project? What did you use?

Thanks
JKB
Barrie, Ontario
CANADA

Just curious, what is UNDER the paint? My Chrysler's interior isn't painted. It has a colored fiberglass gelcoat. If someone painted the interior of your boat, perhaps to match some new interior scheme, you may have a perfectly nice gelcoat hidden beneath the paint, or maybe not, I don't know, just a shot in the dark.

My C22 interior is gelcoat too.

What profile are the halogen lights you are thinking of? I picked up a couple of 110AC lights at Lowe's that I really like. They have 2 brightnesses and the lens swivels to aim straight down or 90 degrees to the front. For my DC lights I went with the brass finish, round, with 2 brightnesses also.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure what is beneath the paint - looks like more paint! I don't think that it's straight gelcoat - not smooth enough for that. The paint is white, so if the previous owner was attempting some new colour scheme, he/she certainly wasn't very imaginative!

As far as the lights go, I've not selected any. The ones that are in the new Hunters etc. are pretty cool looking mounted in the wooden "beams" across the ceiling. I'll probably wind up with a flashlight and some duct tape!

JKB
Barrie, Ontario CANADA
Snowing outside - right now!

My boat has few deep scars on the hull. Anybody would have any idea how to fix this gell coat? It is original coat from Chrysler.

In response to the guy who would like to repair some hull scars. These scars can be easliy repaired, provided that the damage is only to the gelcoat and does not include any hint of damage to the structure.

I patched several scars on the hull side of my boat using a "gelcoat kit" from tap plastics. It's a simple 2 part system, and cured quite nicely. One thing to be aware of is that new gelcoat might need to be matched to your existing old gelcoat on the boat. The system I used, resulted in a VERY BRIGHT WHITE finish, which had I used some pigment to dirty up would have looked a lot better.

Also dont make the mistake I made. Do not let any kind of power sander anywhere near you when making this gel coat repair. I did a slight finish sand on each of the repairs I made (all down one side, pervious owner must have docked worse than I do...) then stepped back to see a slightlly darker hue to an area surrounding each repair. It is ultra smooth, but now there is a little "tint" of something from below showing through the slightly thinner gelcoat, with of course the bright white repair. That'll be fixed maybe next winter with a coat of paint.

As far as you interior ideas, its going to require some above average carpentry skills to trim out the inside the way you want. I have a 76 C22 and have been replacing the original wood laminates with solid red oak, with plenty of finish of course. I too have been thinking of how to improve the lighting inside the cabin by using some new lights. The original ones make the cabin look kind of dingy inside. I will post some pics of my interior modifications when my film come back. Sill holdin on the the 35mm for now. I dont know how the original interior finishes on these chrylsers could ever where out? My interior is a beige gelcoat, which most other chrylers came with. Good luck, Matthew