Overhaul Lessons Learned
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:45 am
Hey all,
Had some folks PM me some questions after I posted the link to my 2 year C-22 overhaul...
1. Don't look at my 2 yrs as any indication to the time it will take you! I lived 10 miles from Pam at the time and the boat was in her shop. Hours were spent getting there and then getting parts, kinda like the axels, so many days were spent with only a few hours of actual work getting done. A month was spent on the trailer also.
Remember the 5 ft rule, and for the newer folks, this means to step back at least 5 feet (ok some swear by 10) and see how the paint/sanding/fiberglass looks. It is really a lot of time to make things look "new" and for the most part can be unrealistic to expect that outcome. So only post the best picts
A big chunk of time was spent doing the hull blisters, and I did the bottom in gel coat. It would have been a lot faster if I had just done the repair, then a barrier coat and good bottom paint. Multiple layers of gel coat can be tricky to get to bond well. The areas above where the boat was supported by the barrels didn't do this well and have been coming off like onion skin over the last 2 yrs. Getting PVA to seal the whole bottom and not miss one little spot of curing gel coat is showing up also, you can see places where I had wiped and it streaked. The gelcoat has peeled off here also...
Work stopped in the winter. It was just tooo cold. Heating the shop in the spring and fall caused problems also. If I used a propane heater the byproducts of H20 amd CO would 1, give me a headache, and 2, the water would bead up on the cold boat, or get dirty if heated with the wood stove. So every time I would have to do a good cleaning before starting, which was with acetone, yes it's flammable and gives a headache also...
I've looked into heating units for shops, and $$, they should both take air into the combustion chamber and vent exhaust all from the outside, otherwise you could suck those nasty fumes into the unit and blow up the neighborhood, shop and worst of all your boat!
2. The windows were the OEM frames, and I replaced the glass with smoked plexiglass of same thickness. The frames were sanded down and then re-anodized the blue. After 4 yrs they have faded on the outside some, and next time, or on my C-27 project, I'll probably just paint them..
3. The Teak wood step I used to beef up the keel winch is working really well. I had numerous spider cracks and with all that weight wanted to beef that area up. We haven't noticed it being a safety hazard, even after a new Teak oil application. And most the time, it is our snack table too!
4. The spreader set up came from Dyer, and I went with the airfoil just to be be superfast and cool
http://www.dwyermast.com/items.asp?cat1 ... Airfoil%29
5. I took the keel off and had it sand blasted. When fairing it out later and when painting it, I made the mistake of placing the keel in the sun. I thought this would help curing times. Instead it absorbed heat and started "off gassing" which meant little holes didn't want to take in paint. Amazing how long 850 lbs of steel will vent before it cools down again!!
I hear fiberglass will do this also to some extent, so don't put your boat in the sun and then paint...
Enough said for now??
Thanks,
Billy
Had some folks PM me some questions after I posted the link to my 2 year C-22 overhaul...
1. Don't look at my 2 yrs as any indication to the time it will take you! I lived 10 miles from Pam at the time and the boat was in her shop. Hours were spent getting there and then getting parts, kinda like the axels, so many days were spent with only a few hours of actual work getting done. A month was spent on the trailer also.
Remember the 5 ft rule, and for the newer folks, this means to step back at least 5 feet (ok some swear by 10) and see how the paint/sanding/fiberglass looks. It is really a lot of time to make things look "new" and for the most part can be unrealistic to expect that outcome. So only post the best picts
A big chunk of time was spent doing the hull blisters, and I did the bottom in gel coat. It would have been a lot faster if I had just done the repair, then a barrier coat and good bottom paint. Multiple layers of gel coat can be tricky to get to bond well. The areas above where the boat was supported by the barrels didn't do this well and have been coming off like onion skin over the last 2 yrs. Getting PVA to seal the whole bottom and not miss one little spot of curing gel coat is showing up also, you can see places where I had wiped and it streaked. The gelcoat has peeled off here also...
Work stopped in the winter. It was just tooo cold. Heating the shop in the spring and fall caused problems also. If I used a propane heater the byproducts of H20 amd CO would 1, give me a headache, and 2, the water would bead up on the cold boat, or get dirty if heated with the wood stove. So every time I would have to do a good cleaning before starting, which was with acetone, yes it's flammable and gives a headache also...
I've looked into heating units for shops, and $$, they should both take air into the combustion chamber and vent exhaust all from the outside, otherwise you could suck those nasty fumes into the unit and blow up the neighborhood, shop and worst of all your boat!
2. The windows were the OEM frames, and I replaced the glass with smoked plexiglass of same thickness. The frames were sanded down and then re-anodized the blue. After 4 yrs they have faded on the outside some, and next time, or on my C-27 project, I'll probably just paint them..
3. The Teak wood step I used to beef up the keel winch is working really well. I had numerous spider cracks and with all that weight wanted to beef that area up. We haven't noticed it being a safety hazard, even after a new Teak oil application. And most the time, it is our snack table too!
4. The spreader set up came from Dyer, and I went with the airfoil just to be be superfast and cool
http://www.dwyermast.com/items.asp?cat1 ... Airfoil%29
5. I took the keel off and had it sand blasted. When fairing it out later and when painting it, I made the mistake of placing the keel in the sun. I thought this would help curing times. Instead it absorbed heat and started "off gassing" which meant little holes didn't want to take in paint. Amazing how long 850 lbs of steel will vent before it cools down again!!
I hear fiberglass will do this also to some extent, so don't put your boat in the sun and then paint...
Enough said for now??
Thanks,
Billy