Beyond Tom's 31 JC resto

[BlakeH]

Sand, wetsand, block, buff, polish, etc. etc. etc.

Nice Job on the JC!!

What grits do you work through on dry paper and the same question for the wet paper

 

[Beyond Tom's]

What is your method for getting gelcoat to look so good after brushing it on?

Hi Blake, I either roll on or brush 4 to 5 thick coats, no sanding in between just wipe with acetone to remove wax from the previous coat. Sand with 80 grit to get the brush strokes or orange peel from the roller out. Once it’s flat then sand with 120 dry, 180 wet, 220,320,400,500,600,800,1,000 then polish out with wax. The wet sanding goes quick, the time consuming part is getting multiple coats on and sanding with 80. Thank you, learned this method from TJ of the Lady Maureen. What I like about using gel coat is that I don’t have to go crazy with the fairing, I do a once over to get it faired out and then the gel helps fill as well. To be honest I think it’s the same amount of work as using paint. If you want a nice finish it takes work and time no matter what material you use. It’s a great feeling as your working through the grits and each time it gets smoother and smoother. Then as you polish with wax it makes all the work you put in worth it when you see the results. Try it out, you’ll be happy Blake

 

[BlakeH]

Hi Blake, I either roll on or brush 4 to 5 thick coats, no sanding in between just wipe with acetone to remove wax from the previous coat. Sand with 80 grit to get the brush strokes or orange peel from the roller out. Once it’s flat then sand with 120 dry, 180 wet, 220,320,400,500,600,800,1,000 then polish out with wax. The wet sanding goes quick, the time consuming part is getting multiple coats on and sanding with 80. Thank you, learned this method from TJ of the Lady Maureen. What I like about using gel coat is that I don’t have to go crazy with the fairing, I do a once over to get it faired out and then the gel helps fill as well. To be honest I think it’s the same amount of work as using paint. If you want a nice finish it takes work and time no matter what material you use. It’s a great feeling as your working through the grits and each time it gets smoother and smoother. Then as you polish with wax it makes all the work you put in worth it when you see the results. Try it out, you’ll be happy Blake

Thank you for the detailed response. This is an incredible build thread. Keep up the good work!

 

[Beyond Tom's]

Thank you for the detailed response. This is an incredible build thread. Keep up the good work!

Thank you Blake, I learned a lot of things from viewing threads on this site. You could try spraying the gel too but sometimes it’s hard if your in a marina and then you have to mask off everything, brushing sometimes is just easier

 

[05bill]

Hi Blake, I either roll on or brush 4 to 5 thick coats, no sanding in between just wipe with acetone to remove wax from the previous coat. Sand with 80 grit to get the brush strokes or orange peel from the roller out. Once it’s flat then sand with 120 dry, 180 wet, 220,320,400,500,600,800,1,000 then polish out with wax. The wet sanding goes quick, the time consuming part is getting multiple coats on and sanding with 80. Thank you, learned this method from TJ of the Lady Maureen. What I like about using gel coat is that I don’t have to go crazy with the fairing, I do a once over to get it faired out and then the gel helps fill as well. To be honest I think it’s the same amount of work as using paint. If you want a nice finish it takes work and time no matter what material you use. It’s a great feeling as your working through the grits and each time it gets smoother and smoother. Then as you polish with wax it makes all the work you put in worth it when you see the results. Try it out, you’ll be happy Blake

Stupid question doesn't acetone remover the gel coat as well as the wax ?


Thank you for sharing your method it is very helpful .

 

[05bill]

One more question. How does one match gel coat color ?

Any suggestions ?

 

[Beyond Tom's]

Stupid question doesn't acetone remover the gel coat as well as the wax ?


Thank you for sharing your method it is very helpful .

Once the gel is dry, just wet a rag with acetone and wipe it and that’s a wrap, then your ready for the next coat

 

[Beyond Tom's]

One more question. How does one match gel coat color ?

Any suggestions ?

I’ve never really dabbled with that, it can be hard to match… one time before the build I needed to do some repair work and I had cut out 2 vent holes and saved the cut outs. I sent them in to a company to do a match and it was spot on. If you don’t have a sample for them to match it can be difficult to do by yourself but I haven’t had much experience with that. All of the gel coat I’ve used in my boat is a standard white, new construction

 

[05bill]

I’ve never really dabbled with that, it can be hard to match… one time before the build I needed to do some repair work and I had cut out 2 vent holes and saved the cut outs. I sent them in to a company to do a match and it was spot on. If you don’t have a sample for them to match it can be difficult to do by yourself but I haven’t had much experience with that. All of the gel coat I’ve used in my boat is a standard white, new construction

What company.

Thank you

 

[jhill]

bought the a new hull and part of the cabin house from John back in 1985. It took 2 years for me to finish. Had a lot of good times. I had a JT 8.2 for power, 3 kw generator, ac and inverter. Cruised about 15 knots.
The owner is going to enjoy a well designed hull and beautiful boat.

 

[Beyond Tom's]

What company.

Thank you

Here in Long Island Reinforced Plastics. They will send the sample out and have it matched for you

 

[Beyond Tom's]

bought the a new hull and part of the cabin house from John back in 1985. It took 2 years for me to finish. Had a lot of good times. I had a JT 8.2 for power, 3 kw generator, ac and inverter. Cruised about 15 knots.
The owner is going to enjoy a well designed hull and beautiful boat.

View attachment 125150

View attachment 125151

Beautiful boat

 

[Beyond Tom's]

bought the a new hull and part of the cabin house from John back in 1985. It took 2 years for me to finish. Had a lot of good times. I had a JT 8.2 for power, 3 kw generator, ac and inverter. Cruised about 15 knots.
The owner is going to enjoy a well designed hull and beautiful boat.

View attachment 125150

View attachment 125151

Great pictures, thanks for sharing them

 

[steveinak]

Once the gel is dry, just wet a rag with acetone and wipe it and that’s a wrap, then your ready for the next coat

don't ya use unwaxed till the last coat ?

 

[05bill]

Here in Long Island Reinforced Plastics. They will send the sample out and have it matched for you

Thank you sir.

 

[Beyond Tom's]

don't ya use unwaxed till the last coat ?

You can, the reason I use the wax is a lot of times I’m working at night after work and it’ll take me multiple days to get the coats on, I’d rather see the gel coat cure than to be tacky for days. But yes you can do that Steve

 

[jweir]

Tom,
Lost another hour or so skimming through your build again.....I take a peek and get drawn in to the quality of your work. Absolutely beautiful.....I shudder at the thought of dropping weight on that deck, some squid drying on a corner forgotten during the heat of a bite, etc....hehe like taking a canvas painting fishing!
-John

 

[Beyond Tom's]

Tom,
Lost another hour or so skimming through your build again.....I take a peek and get drawn in to the quality of your work. Absolutely beautiful.....I shudder at the thought of dropping weight on that deck, some squid drying on a corner forgotten during the heat of a bite, etc....hehe like taking a canvas painting fishing!
-John

Thanks J

 

[Old Mud]

Great work as always Tom. I was thinking the other day ,if it were me what would i do. Well i would make sure i would have a spot at the next spring boat show in your area. Show off your work and take names of the folks who would like to buy it (In the future) of course. You would probably be amazed at what people would pay for that quality.

It seems to me With you now knowing how to do that quality of work that you will want to do another boat in the future. I would almost bet on it. Keep on Keeping On !!

 

[Beyond Tom's]

Great work as always Tom. I was thinking the other day ,if it were me what would i do. Well i would make sure i would have a spot at the next spring boat show in your area. Show off your work and take names of the folks who would like to buy it (In the future) of course. You would probably be amazed at what people would pay for that quality.

It seems to me With you now knowing how to do that quality of work that you will want to do another boat in the future. I would almost bet on it. Keep on Keeping On !!

Thank you old mud, I’ve learned a lot through this build and this site. Met alot of great craftsman over the course of this build too. Yea I see myself doing something one day, I enjoy building boats and getting through some of the challenges that come with it. Right now one of my challenges is this Bennett trim tab system. The key pads at upper and lower helm are operating the tabs fine but the issue I’m having is with the led indicator lights on the upper helm controller. For some reason these lights are flashing from port to starboard. Rung out every pin of the harness, checked for shorts and even swapped controllers from upper to lower. I basically tried everything the past two days. The next step is to call Bennett this week. Maybe it’s a bad relay module. I’ll figure it out but man it’s been frustrating