Glen-L.com

Like all builders, there are things I have always been dissatisfied with on my boat.

I have decided that it is time to fix two or three of them.

1) I always regretted staining the sides
2) I have always been bothered by the weave show-through in several spots on the sides.
3) I wish I had seen the "Billy C" method of making a five strake side (versus a strip-planked side)

So here is my thinking. Remove the fiberglass and then either:

A) Refinish the existing veneer
B) add new "5 Strake" veneer above the existing veneer. (would need to find a way to keep the new surface flush under the rub rail)

I really hope to do this with the boat on the trailer.

My original outside veneer layer was about 3/16" thick, so I think I have lots of sanding room.


Issues /questions with A) include:
Will the mahogany be blotchy because of the stain? How deeply will the stain have penetrated? If it is not even, I may need to remove a lot of material to get back to an even natural finish.

Issues / questions with B) include:
Because of the extra thickness,, I could not stop at the boot stripe, but would continue right to the chine. i would need to glass the sides below the boot stripe.

So... I think I'll strip it down and see if the stain is blotchy or if I can easily get the mahogany back to a nice even colour.

If I can, then I can decide how much energy I have for option B) If I can't get the colour even, then Option 2) it will be.



So here is my first question...

What is the best way to remove the fiberglass? Sand/Grind? Heat Gun? Has anyone tried the heat gun method? Is there a risk with the heat gun method of destroying the epoxy in my underlying laminations?

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Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Bruce

My veneer is 1/8. I don't think the stain went a 1/16. Unless you really want the 5 plank look I wouldn't go there.

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

I feel your pain I think that I will have to do mine again too so I will be keeping an eye on this post to see what the guy's come up with. I have been looking at one of these as it comes with a part that will remove gelcoat so it should work to get down past the fiberglass cloth, has anyone any experience of one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhwNTESl ... re=related

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Malahini, SEAN-NÓS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd6vkPjEy4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uDVzcVpdhc
crackerbox build http://s753.photobucket.com/albums/xx17 ... =slideshow

By "wouldn't go there" do you mean "don't even start this" (Because the odds of option A working out are pretty slim)?

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Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

The link goes to the "Paint Shaver Pro" tool.

Thanks Fergal... that looks fun and effective (not to mention, expensive). But my concern is that there is a lot of "shape" to my hull. Most of the demos shown seemed to be on pretty flat surfaces.

If anyone has used one, I'd appreciate your input.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Bruce

I just mean you have a great boat now. Unless you just want a 5 plank look... I think, I might just sand down and rework what you have now. When you think you have it sanded down, wet it. That will tell you if it is blotchy. If it is sand some more!

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

I would be very tempted to try the heat gun method of removing the glass.
West system has said that epoxy weakens with heat, but also hardens again at cool off.
Do you have a test panel you can try the heat gun method on?

I suppose you got 2 different ways to look at option A or B.
Try option A first, then if that dont work, do option B, which you want anyways.

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God Bless our Troops; especially our Snipers

Bruce - As you recall, I refinished my deck last winter. I used a belt sander to take the finish down to raw wood and then used a RO to clean it up. I don't thing I removed a 32nd of wood. I was rather shocked at how little the stain actually penetrated.

Is there a place you can test without showing, for example behind a cutwater or transom band

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Dave

My Riviera build - the Midnight Cry Project

Video of Midnight in Action
Blog

Few things in the world measure up to the thrill and satisfaction of boating in a boat that you built.

I know when I stained my cover boards with gel stain, it did not penetrate very far. I easily inadvertantly sanded through.

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

You guys are awesome!

Thanks for all the advice.

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Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Its boating season now, sounds like a good winter project. I know, I know it must be lovely weather in your region right now for this kinda work though.

I dont have anything helpful to say, just good luck, thats a big job. When I sanded my deck down to bare wood and refinished last fall I think it took over 4 weeks of evenings and weekends and I didnt have any fiberglass to deal with. I removed a good 1/16" of the 3/8" material sanding back to bare wood. Like Dave I belt sanded first the RO. I gotta think the belt sander would take care of the fiberglass but would be tempted to at least try the heat gun method. I am more pleased with the finish now and in the end it was worth the extra effort for sure. Just be sure to have it ready for September.

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My Zip build log...
http://www.vupilot.blogspot.com
http://picasaweb.google.com/vupilot/Chr ... O0x7SvsQE#

"Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape."

Bruce-
seems like yesterday that we built our boats! was great running ideas with you during the build. i am real interested in the work you are considering on your boat. i agree with plan "A" and the responses above. the stain most likely will be able to be removed in the sanding without much material removal. would try the sanding rather than heat gun approach to the glass first to see if that will remove it with as little disruption to the faired topsides as possible. would also try to be near 100 grit when i hit the wood with the RO sander so there would be minimal scratch pattern carried to the mahogany. did a few kayak repairs that had 4 oz cloth on them and it worked well.
-Billy

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(insert witty phrase here)
Billy's Belle Isle website

Any updates on this work Bruce? Last night I glassed one side of the Malahini and there are some milky spots underneath that will show through...not dry glass or starved, but more that the epoxy got a little foamy from the roller going back and forth and some was forced under the cloth and it stayed that way.......

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Bob
Sea Knight on the water/Malahini in progress

Bruce; If you plan on removing the glass by sanding or grinding, I'd highly reccomend you go to cCTC and buy a Simonize polisher /sander. They are variable speed and you can buy sanding pads that will take psa sanding discs. The pad is from 3M and is quite expensive. It comes in 8" and I cut mine down on the bandsaw to 6"...the most commonly available body shop size of discs. The polisher is quite often on sale for 59 or even 49
cdn.
I don't know how I would have finished this soon without it...highly reccomended.

Doug

ps...heading for the Trent system tomorrow with Grace Parker the tug, hopefully for 3 weeks.

While scanning through this forum thinking ahead to the finishing of my Monaco , I came across this subject and in particular a note from Bruce Dow where he stated:

" 1) I always regretted staining the sides. "

If you Bruce or anyone could tell me more about this statement as to what the pros and cons are to staining the mahogany sides?

I also read with interest about glassing above the waterline to the point where I don't think I will take the chance of glassing .

Thanks for any information on this.

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Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.